Picture This

Fun personality test. It's based on a series of pictures you select from a list. Here are my results!!!! You should try it!

Here is what my result was:

You're romantic in your outlook with a bit of a taste for the exotic. You love feeling the sea breeze in your hair, sun on your skin... You always take the first dip. When it comes to art, you're definitely unconventional. You like to think differently, always from another perspective. You have a good sense of humor.

I Love Fishes 'cause they're so Delicious!

Jaime! I love your fish! Every time I read your blog, I get sucked into watching your fish swimming for about 5 minutes. So, I decided to add them to my page. I did have to change my background so they would fit, which was a little sad, but I think I will get over it. Now I need to find out how to feed them! Yea!

What I really want to do is figure out how to make fun backgrounds like Laura's. I think playing with the extras on this page will make me blog more... but it will probably just be another way for the Internet to waste my time without informing anyone about my life. (much to Jason's chagrin - he told me to write that) :-)

Well, that's all I have to say about that.

Happy Birthday Laura!!!!

Are your Diapers Green?

To all my "mommies" out there, please don't answer that question literally!

I heard something very interesting information on the radio this morning. They were talking about diapers. A U.K. study found that disposable diapers are more earth friendly and that the cloth ones are more damaging to the environment.

However, there are ways to make cloth diapers more green (again, not literally) such as washing them in water that is 60 degrees or below and hanging drying them. There was more, but I'm not in any rush to make diaper decisions so I didn't get it all. Just know that some of my girls out there are contemplating diaper products.

Here's a link to the article on FOX News:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,441201,00.html

Or Eco Child's Play:

http://ecochildsplay.com/2008/10/20/shocking-buried-uk-government-report-disposable-diapers-are-better-for-the-environment-than-cloth-nappies/

Or just Google Disposable Diapers, U.K.

GCTM

I got to go to the Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference this week! It was a 2 day conference in Rock Eagle (about 3 hours north of where I live). My principal had to let me to since I was presenting.

The presentation went really well! I am very happy with the turnout for my presentation. We were told to plan on 50 participants (which I did, but honestly only thought I would get 3) and ended up getting well over 70 people! It was crazy! I had people sitting on the floors and standing in the back just to listen to me talk about Student Math Portolios! It was really cool and I got a lot of awesome feedback. I spent about an hour last night e-mailing people back who came to the presentation and wanted more information. It was really really cool.

The rest of the conference rocked! I am feeling so re-energized for Monday and can't wait to implement some new ideas in my class. I just can't believe how awesome every presentation was. I even won 2 door prizes Friday!

They also had a pi mile race Thursday after all the sessions ended and I WON!! It was really exciting and I got a free shirt out of it.

What shocked me the most was the amount of crazy math people that showed up! It was nice to know that I'm not alone in my love of teaching math (I knew I wasn't, just haven't met many people who share the same affinity for numbers and adolescents as I do). Anyway, I'm already looking forward to next year and trying to think of a new topic to present.

Yea! Go Math! :-) This comic kinda sums up my presentation. Tee Hee...

Blogging

I usually only post unusual things that happen, not my daily events. Mainly because I don't have time, but I'm off today so I figured I'd give it a try.

Went to the oral surgeon today. He only wants to take out the wisdom tooth that is hurting me. Not sure when. He needs to talk to my orthodontist to see if he wants all 4 taken out or if we can just take out one since the others aren't causing pain. I have to call back and schedule an appointment for the procedure.

JAIME! Did you have your baby yet?!?!?!?! Where have you been?

OK don't have much more to say. Continuing to sell buttons! Now I made enough to purchase a button for myself (fun). Off to lunch with Lee and Annie soon. Laura, I'll call later. :-) Have a good Monday.

I go back to school tomorrow and I'm starting a unit on irrational numbers. Here's a fun comic:

There are more of us!

OK so I posted some fun (and by fun, I mean nerdy) math related paraphernalia on a couple websites and... SOMEONE ACTUALLY BOUGHT THEM! OK so only one button was purchased and I made $1.12! Almost enough to purchase a button for myself. I just think it is too funny.

What is even more exciting is that I am not the only nerd out there. Others are coming over to the "Dork" Side. After all, we do have pi. (tee hee... another math funny.)

OK, I'll stop for now... NO I WON'T! Here's a fun geek comic for all to enjoy:









I need a LIFE!!

And the Geeky Continues...

Here are some more geeky products! :-)


http://www.cafepress.com/mathfashion

You can still visit Zazzle for the first ones... I've added to it! :-)


buy unique gifts at Zazzle

You've Got Mail

I've changed my e-mail address. You can now reach me at sopko.amanda@gmail.com.

My Kent account still works (it's been mine for so long and I'm a little partial to it, besides, I don't feel like sending out a mass e-mail to everyone I know) and will be forwarded to my new account so use whichever. I have not gotten around to setting up my outlook on my new laptop so my Kent mail was always overflowing. With gmail, I don't have to set outlook up because it has a program that will work the same on my desktop with less crap to deal with when setting it up.

So give it a try, shoot me and e-mail. :-)

Just for Fun

OK, some of you may have noticed that I have become obsessed with my geeky math flair on facebook. In an attempt to obtain some real buttons to wear in school (while still avoiding the stereotypical "teacher pin"), I searched the web for flair. Shockingly, I found it!

My goal was to find a great piece for each unit I teach... and maybe a t-shirt or two to wear on Fridays (spirit day - teachers can dress down) AKA math test days!

In my obsessive searching, I was unable to find a few of my favorites. Fortunate for me, you can create your own flair!!!!!!! You can also post it for others to purchase. Here are a few I made:


create & buy custom products at Zazzle

This is my webpage:
http://www.zazzle.com/tatordink

I know I will not make a penny off my nerdy flair, but it was fun to make and if I do make $0.70 here or there, that will be fun too! I can still tell everyone that I run an internet business. Look out for more in the future! Give it a try... you know, just for fun! :-) (Tee Hee)

Friends

Jaime stopped by with her adorable kids!

















It was so nice to have Ohio friends around. Those are the people I KNOW will be in our lives for many years to come, despite the geographical distance between us. Her visit also made me realize how precious even a brief time with good friends means to me. We love our southern life but really miss being able to stop in and see our loved ones without having to rearrange work schedules, buy plane tickets or prepare cars, and figure out what to do with the kids (dogs).

Thank you Jaime for taking the time out of your busy trip to stop by. Can't wait for you to come again! Love you and miss you!!!!!!

As for everyone else, please stop by! As is a southern custom, our door is always open... unless we aren't home. (We aren't official southerners yet!) :-)

Hair Cut

I got my hair chopped off today. I wanted to send my ponytail to Locks of Love, but they would not be able to use it with the bleached highlights. Oh well. Here's what it looks like.

It's called an Inverted Bob which means it is shorter in the back than the front. I think I will go even shorter in the back next time. I'm actually thinking of going back soon to get it done.

I took the picture in a mirror since no one else was home. Here it is:

Vacation is Over

We are back from our Florida/Bahamas Anniversary Vacation. It is hard to believe that we have been married a year aready!!!! Check out our pictures on flickr. We are in the process of downloading the rest of them and they should all be up by tonight.

What a DORK!

We have been lax with some of the rules of the house lately since the whole place was under 2 inches of dust. Jovie began taking her cookies on the couch to eat them. As a result, there was crusy cookie drool all over the coushions. Before the party this weekend, we spent a long time cleaning cookie drool the furnature and made a new house rule. NO EATTING COOKIES ON THE COUCH OR SNUGGLER. Jovie does not like the new rule and seems to have forgotten how to eat cookies on the floor. This morning she ate her greenie standing on two legs attempting to get onto the couch as I continuously pushed her off. This afternoon, she would not eat her cookie and walked around confused as to why we would give her a cookie that she clearly could not eat on the floor. In the end, Sadie grabbed half of the cookie and Jovie finally ate the remainder on the floor. Luckily, I caught the confusion on video. All I have to say is What a DORK!

Bomb Threat

At 7:12 and 7:15 this morning, two bomb threat messages were made on my school's voicemail. The secretary, who does not get in til 7:30 got the messages around 7:50 and we had to evacuate the building. We stood in the baseball fields (a good safe distance from the school) until about 9:45. The students were not shaken and the day continued as normal. This experience was much different from the one my senior year. It's sad that things like this almost seem common (although it is not common in my school) and students are not phased by them.

Usually we have fire drills on pay day (yesterday) to make sure we are getting in our monthly drills as well as letting the teachers know it is actually a drill and not real. We knew something must be up when we were told to evacuate before all of the students arrived and most of the police department showed up to search the school and stopped traffic on the surrounding streets.

On a lighter note, as we re-entered the building and returned to our homerooms, one of my students asked if what had just happened was a drill or for real. Another student promptly responded, "You know it's not a drill when Reading is cancelled!" The statement was so true, I had to laugh. As much as I can't stand the insulting "reading" program (which does not involve reading), a visit from God Himself would have to wait until 9:05 so that the students can get in their daily dose of "reading".

Something...

This just in:

We have decided that we want to spend a few more years out of Ohio... and the U.S. We are considering moving to Thailand for a year or two after we leave San Antonio, TX. They love Americans and EVERYTHING is way cheep. We are going to buy a phat house with servants and then move back to Ohio with our children (not pregnant) one of which will probably be adopted from Myanmar, former Burma. (the country next to Thailand) If all goes according to plan, we will be keeping the house as our summer home. All are welcome to visit us and the BEAUTIFUL beaches :-)

Sorry Laura :-( Call me!

There's a Monster in that cage!!!!

One day last week Jason got home before me and recorded Jovie's greeting.

Since Jovie is not completely trained, she still sleeps in her cage and hangs out there when we are not at home. Whenever we come home, she get very excited and begins shaking the cage. We are waiting for the day that we come home and release a gremlin from the cage instead of our "sweet" puppy :-)

P.S. Please excuse the mess. We are currently under construction.

OK

So I have started a Blog. However, since we are sooo busy all the time, it probably won't be updated often. I'm hoping to figure out how to put video from our camera up here since you can't get them from our Flickr page.