better him than me

#533_Snake charmer
Originally uploaded by eesley.

this is from chuck's page on flickr. i don't think i would have gotten close enough to take this picture. somthing about snakes...

all bottled up

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Originally uploaded by rchanf.

tonight matt and i bottled the hefe-weizen. the ultimate test will be in about a week. today was quite a day for me. besides going to work i managed to: select the parade routes for a levy event, teach private lessons, attend a protest of an anti-levy event, read for my class, bottle the beer and post this. yeah, i deserved a frothy beverage.

a little remodeling

IMG_0406
Originally uploaded by rchanf.

last week was not good. i got off to a bad start on the group assignment i my current class. this is a musicology course and my interest in the content is higher than my previous class but sometimes I still feel like the bart simpson of the group. by the end of the week i decided that preserving my sanity should be a priority. so on friday tom and i took some time to do a little work on our instruments and blow off some steam. it has been years since i’ve done any soldering but i managed to get the job done. i haven’t been online as much lately because i have chosen to spend my time sitting on my porch staring at the pond instead of staring at my computer. i do enough of that taking an online course and my brain and eyes can only take so much.

we don't need no education

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Originally uploaded by rchanf.

as i may have mentioned before, our school district is trying to pass an operating levy for the third time since november '04. at stake are marching band, drama, sports, clubs, ap classes, many jobs and all the things that make a school so much more than a pile of bricks. i posted some pics of our kickoff rally the other night.

there is now an "organized opposition" called TEAM (Taxpayers for Enhanced Administrative Management). it blows my mind that this name is their greatest intellectual accomplishment but they have defeated the levy twice.

anyway, here is what we are up against (from the westland news 3/31/05).

"we have teachers with masters degrees teaching at the elementary, middle school and high school level. those are people who traditionally teach in college and community college. we should have more people who have a bachelor's degree and a teacher's license."

i had no idea that this was 1972. the state of ohio requires teachers to earn a master's degree and more. to see more of their uniformed statements and questions visit their site. feel free to harass them (or me if it makes you happy). since many of them claim to be senior citizens, they are most likely retired and should have time to do research and find answers. of course, they probably did not learn about research in their undergraduate classes.

i wasn't kidding about the snow

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Originally uploaded by rchanf.

yes it snowed in columbus on april 2nd.