fall back

Clocks moved back this weekend. I'm glad I don't live in nor know anyone in Indiana, where some counties observe DST and some don't. Windows XP... sure is nice to have it auto-correct the system time for DST (gave my brother a nice surprise when he woke up in the morning ^o^)... but all my file modification dates also moved one hour back!?

incentives for children

JA in a Day again... a reminder of how quickly time flies by. After having done 3rd, 1st, and 2nd (in that order), E and I decided to give kindergarten a whirl this time. The class we taught last Friday was a SDC class, "special day class", which was supposedly an age-mix... kids who for one reason or another might not be kindergarten-age but were in kindergarten. The kids did seem to have shorter attention spans; I'm not sure if it was the class itself or if kindergarten kids generally have shorter attention spans anyways.

There were a few things that struck me as different from the other 3 classes we had taught previously... one of which was the incentives. Each child had a sticker book. Each page of the book contained rows of boxes, which would initially be empty. Whenever a child did something well (completing an activity, sitting down quietly, etc), he/she would receive a sticker. During an allotted time, the child would place the new stickers he/she received into the empty boxes ("houses") in their books. At the end of the day on Fridays, if the child had collected enough stickers during the week to fill all the boxes on a page, they would be able to visit the "treasure box" to choose an item.

Each child also had a stamp book, each page containing several rows of happy faces. At the end of each day, the teacher goes around the room one by one and the kids get a happy face stamp for each "yes" answer to the questions of: were you a good <listener, helper, friend, etc.> today? When a page of the book gets filled, the child receives a pencil (a pencil with a cool design, of course!). There was also a copy of the happy face page on the board that the children would answer to as a class. I'm not sure what the whole class received for finishing a page though.

I don't remember any similar incentive schemes for the other grade levels we taught. Interestingly, there were actually answers of "no" to some of the questions for the stamp book... how long do kids stay honest?

I was wondering whether the incentive would work just as well if the children were given an imitation penny instead of a sticker. You could teach them a little about money along the way, too. During the week, they could trade up to the higher coins. Then on Fridays, kids who were in possession of a [imitation] quarter would be able to visit the treasure box.

(Incidentally, I collected both stickers AND pencils as a kid!)

welcome autumn

I stopped by the De Martini Orchard stand on my way to the library today... my first sighting of persimmons this year, which signifies that autumn is indeed here. The arrival of persimmons unfortunately also means a goodbye to one of my other favorites... white nectarines. I suppose the abundance of fresh fruit is an ok trade-off for living in an area which lacks the gorgeous visual cues of the four seasons.

Yamato Nadeshiko... which translates into Perfect Girl (?!!). Year 2000 jdrama, 11 episodes total. Yesterday was a day of 2 firsts... first jdrama finished... and first time I ever watched 8 (!) episodes of a drama in one day. Strange thing is the 8 episodes seemed to fly by rather quickly... probably due to watching it with the good company of friends. It's not something K and I could ever do by ourselves.

cold moutain, freakonomics, full metal panic

It's one of those times where there's so much to talk about, but when I actually sit down, I draw a blank on what to write -_-

Recently finished reading and watching...

Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
I started 'Cold Mountain' after it came out during my senior year of high school but never finished it. It wasn't the book's fault... end of senior year... yep. I've been meaning to go back to it for what seems like forever and I finally did. The story is somewhat disheartening in parts and I kept dreading that it would give me one of those "realistic", ie unhappy, endings. Anyways, "it's the journey that counts."

Freakonomics, by Levitt & Dubner
A book with no over-riding theme, except maybe that "conventional wisdom" might not be as wise as many had thought. It's one of those few books that you can pick up and randomly flip to a chapter, read it, and feel satisfied. (I was reading random paragraphs to K throughout.) If anyone does randomly pick a chapter to read, I'd recommend one from the first half of the book. Parts of the second half seemed somewhat more... chaotic (or maybe I was just really out of it when I read through that part). Definitely an interesting, quick read... just look at the Amazon.com table of contents ^o^

Full Metal Panic
The main girl character got more than a little annoying in more than a couple of parts, but aside from that, I liked this anime. It has an "ok" story and some good laughs. (I think it'll be tough to find an anime that'll beat out Fullmetal Alchemist anytime soon though.) Oh, and I've always liked the opening song, which has been in my mp3 collection for years.

As for other stuff... well...

notice of the intent to demolish

earlier this year - apartment complex was sold to another management firm

June 3, 2005 - new management firm officially takes over (property managers don't change though)

June 24, 2005 - we move to a bigger apartment in the same complex, signing a 4-month lease (all new leases by the new management co. are 4-month leases... nothing for longer)

Sept 29, 2005 - our 4-month lease is expiring at the end of October, so we get a new renewal lease... but there's only month-to-month leases offered now

Today... received a letter, sent certified with return receipt... one for K, one for me:
"After considerable thought, the owners of __ have decided to pursue a development opportunity on the existing __ site. The owners are in the beginning stages of site planning and development of the site into for sale living units. Attached is a 180 Day Notice of the Intent to Demolish..."

I feel bad for the people who have lived here for 14 years (yep, they exist). Gotta find a new place to live...

more vacation?

It's benefits enrollment period at work, and the HR people came up with a bunch of changes for the next year... most of them good, at least where I'm concerned. For one, starting January 06, I get 15 vacation days per year (was 10). So instead of 6 2/3 hours of vacation racking up each month, it'll be 10 hours. More than 1 day per month!

K was already getting 15 to start. Even though he has more than twice as many vacation hours accumulated as me, at least we'll be increasing equally now. Well, until July 06, when he starts getting 20 per year. *sigh* Seems like I'll never catch up (especially with all the days I spend visiting my family in NJ each year). Bye-bye month-long trip to Europe for a while more.