No Country for Old Men

In picking my topic I thought I would write my own movie review for the movie, No Country for Old Men. For those of you who haven't seen it, you're really missing out on one of the best movies made in a long time. I will not go into the story line to much for those of you who haven't seen it but will discuss the underlining message of the movie, because it is so relevant to what is currently going on in our country. The story follows a man who has come across some money that does not belong to him but rather to some very unsavory people. This unsavory crowd then unleashes a very destructive and disturbed individual to retrieve the money for them. The hit man (that's what we will call him) possess no feeling of any kind, no remorse, no guilt, no anger he simple goes about his business destroying everything and everybody in his path. This lack of emotion helps demonize the character to the point that he seems to be truly evil. On the trail of the Hit Man is an old sheriff who is very knowledgeable, but has realized that perhaps his life really hasn't made any difference in the larger picture of things. He realizes that there's evil in this world and always will be and he's started to give up on trying to change things. The movie is very eerie and not once does it use any music to change the slow methodical pace to which it unfolds. I'm not going to say much more about the movie itself but the underlining message is that, all evil needs to succeed is for good men to stand by and do nothing. A very relevant message to what's going on in our country today. To much today people just accept the actions of our leaders and don't question or oppose the machine that is our government. The more we stand by and let or government increase the power it has over us the further we are from what makes this country great. I read a quote once that sums things up pretty good but can't remember the author, the quote goes, "People should not fear their government the government should fear its people. Shouldn't the many have power over the few when it comes to the direction our country wants to take this country. I feel we've lost that power and are slowly heading in a direction that in time may change the way people live in America. I'm rambling - See you in class.

My Best Christmas

It's hard to say what my best Christmas memory is. I had to give this alot of thought and came up with the Christmas when I was 12 years old. In my family we are allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve every year and then get to open the rest of them on Christmas morning. On this particular year I picked a present that turned out to be a motorcycle helmet. Being only twelve my parents told me it was for when I rode my bike around our property to make sure I didn't crack my head open. As I went to bed that night I was thinking this was the worst Christmas present I'd every gotten. What kid wants to ride his bike around wearing a big blue motorcycle helmet. As you've already guessed when I came down stairs the next morning and saw my brand new Honda 80 sitting next to the tree I freaked out. I had no idea my parents were going to buy me a motorcycle. I loved that bike, and some of my fondest childhood memories are of riding it around our property. I think this is my favorite Christmas memory because I was so surprised by the gift as well as it being my favorite Christmas present of all time.

Now this really bugs me.

The CIA is under investigation for the use of certain torture techniques used on detainees from the Middle East. The idea of torture to obtain information from individuals is a nasty bit of business but not the issue that has me up in arms. What has me so upset is the fact that our government agencies now see themselves as above the law. The CIA comes out and says that it is going to investigate individuals involved in the torture as well as individuals who gave the orders. Then the CIA goes and tells several judges that are involved in the investigation to stop because the CIA is going to handle the entire investigation itself internally. Does this make any sense to any of you? When an individual or group (company) is under investigation in the US are they allowed to tell the courts that they will investigate themselves and then tell the courts what they've found. This is absolutely ridiculous, it's just another example of our government as seeing themselves as above the law and not having to answer to anybody. I find the state of our government and acting agencies appalling. They preach that America is the greatest country in the world where everybody has a say but when they are in trouble the only people who have a say are themselves. Our government is starting to resemble a totalitarian state in which the leaders in this country don't have to answer to anybody.

Issue In Education

Let me start out by saying I don't have a link to any article, this blog will address an issue that came up on Thursday in an Adaptive Physical Education (APE) meeting. Next year in the Evergreen School District we will start to administer a written test similar to the WASL in that it is standardized and is mandated by the State. The test will focus on aspects of health and fitness in physical education. At the meeting we were told that all our APE students will be required to take the test. As an APE teacher our only focus is to improve basic motor skills in students, their currently is no health and fitness in our curriculum. After looking over the test the conclusion of the APE members present, is that the language of the test at each grade level is far beyond what our students are capable of understanding. Another problem that exist is that a great number of our students can't even read do to the severity of their disability. As a APE teacher I understand the importance of health and fitness but I also understand that the amount of time needed to teach this information to my students far surpasses the amount of time I have in class. An example of this is a basic muscle test that I give my higher students at the high school each year. The test gives a picture of the human body with arrows pointing at ten specific muscles. The names of the muscles are included on the test so students simply need to attach the name to each muscle. We go over this information each day in class before an activity for two weeks before administering the test. Roughly one third of my students are able to score at seventy percent and above. The state mandated test is eight pages long including seven questions that are response driven. There is no way any of my students will be able to come close to passing this test. My dilemma is do I take the time and try to prepare my students for a test that none of them will be able to pass or do I simple focus on the curriculum that is most beneficial to my students. I have gotten my first taste of what other special education teachers are experiencing with the WASL and I don't like it one bit.

When I knew I made a difference.

When working with the student population that I do (CBC3/CBC4) making a difference in a students life is often something that seems very small to some but is a mile stone in adaptive physical education. A great deal of my students are so impacted that even the smallest change in behavior can be a huge success. One of my students in particular will take off running the minute he sees an open door. This is an extremely dangerous behavior for a very mentally retarded student. There have been numerous incidents in the past were this student will take off and none of the Aids in his classroom are able to catch him. He has ran into traffic on several occasions and will keep running until he is caught. I have to walk this class down from their classroom to the gym each day making sure he and four other students don't make a break for it. I introduced the use of a rope that each student must hold when walking to class to help minimize this dangerous behavior. Over the course of a year we slowly progressed away from the rope to marching in formation (It's the army in me). After a year's time I no longer use the rope and no longer have any students who will run for the hills the moment they see an open door. This may seem like a small victory but I consider it a huge one. I have curbed a very dangerous behavior that may have eventually resulted in the injury or death of one of my students. When working with severely impacted students you often have to look at the smallest changes in behavior as a monumental success.

My Worst Job

I've worked some pretty horrendous jobs in my time. I have crabbed, salmon fished and longlined in Alaska - none of which I would recommend for the weak of heart. I worked at a lumber mill pulling green chain and worked concrete at a concrete plant. Growing up I worked on a farm from 2nd grade until my senior year of high school during the summer. I did every thing on that farm from moving irrigation to bucking hay. My parents are firm believers in Neachies (SP?) philosophy of that which does not kill you only makes you stronger. I'm going to have to say though that the worst job I've ever had was when I was deployed to Iraq. When we first hit ground there was no form of porta potties in place so guess what we had to do with all the waste - you guessed it burn it. Nothing sucks more than having to stir a fifty gallon drum of human waste, with a fence poll, while its on fire billowing the darkest stinkiest smoke right into your face for 3 hours a day. I look back at it now as a fond memory, but at the time it couldn't of sucked more. The fire is hot, it's a hundred and fifteen degrees out and your in a flack jacket with a Kevlar helmet on your head. I'm going to have to go on record as saying this is the worst job in the world.

Vacations/Honeymoons

I've had the opportunity to see a great deal of the world but haven't been able to enjoy it in the sense of a true Vacation or Honeymoon (getting married April 3rd). My definition of a vacation is a time when you have no responsibility in an exotic or historical place. In using this definition I find that I've been on only one true vacation in my 34 years, and that was last spring break. For spring break my 2 foot 9, seven hundred pound girlfriend (Ha Ha) and I decided to go on vacation to Jamaica for 8 days. Why Jamaica? We wanted to go somewhere tropical that was a foreign country. I feel like a vacation offers so much more when it's in another country. With Jamaica you have great beaches and resorts, say like Hawaii but you also have this totally different culture when outside the States. This is what I loved the most about having the opportunity to do so much travel outside of the States. I think it's because once you've been immersed by this totally different culture you truly start to see how big the world is. It makes you feel so small, but still apart of something so much bigger then the borders of the United States. I'm saying all this when I'm getting married and vacationing in Hawaii this spring, but its much easier to get people to come to Hawaii for a wedding then to Guam. OK back to my one and only true vacation.
Jamaica was a great place to go on vacation. The thing that impressed the most were the people. Never in my life have I met people so openly friendly. The resort we stayed at was all inclusive so we weren't allowed to tip. This is what made their hospitality so much more impressive. Never once on vacation did I feel like the people there weren't truly genuine. They seemed to be so happy to be just around one another, that it was infectious. The resort we stayed at (The Royal Caribbean) was amazing. It had its own private island off the beach with its own restaurant and bar. On the other side of the island through the woods there is a private cabana that you can have dinner at, during sun set, right on the edge of the water. This is where I asked Jolyn to marry me. I couldn't of asked for a better place to do it. Other than the occasional mosquito it was perfect. I recommend Jamaica as a great place to get away, or for that matter to get engaged. I hope every body is enjoying their time away from class. See you in three weeks.