Julie's Journal

If you’re a regular reader here I’m sure you know all the trouble I have had with my son Justin, and school. He was suppose to get held back for 7th grade, but his school let him advance to 8th grade, but he couldn’t take any electives. He had to take his Math7 over again.

Well, as much as I thought it was a fresh start for him, it didn’t end up that way. All of the classes were just too much for him, and he was failing them all. I spoke to his counselor who was no help at all, and I thought there was just nothing we could do. I started looking around the school district website and found a program called Back On Track. We had a meeting with the principal on Thursday, and she accepted him into the program.

Basically what happens is he doesn’t go to school, and he’s on independent study. He has his text book, and his all his work assignments that he does at home, then on Wednesday he goes in to test. Normally he would do one class at a time, but he told her that he wants to go to the high school in August of next year (the scheduled time he would normally go), so she gave him two classes. He has Math7, and English8 to start.

So he is responsible for doing his school work at home, while we are both at work. I know…scary huh? I’m going to see how he does for the next two weeks before the holiday break, and if he’s struggling then I want to find a college student to come in and help him. Maybe. I’m not too sure about that part yet. I have someone in mind, but I know she’s busy. I may call her and run it by her to see what she thinks.

We do think this is a positive thing though, and he seemed like he was really listening to the principal as she was telling him how important it is to stay on track, or they will drop him from the program. After the meeting we went to In N Out and had lunch. He was really happy and smiling, and I think a weight was lifted off his shoulders. I know one was lifted off ours. We laid down to watch a movie at about 4:00PM, and we slept until the alarm went off this morning at 5:30AM!!!

[tags]junior high school, 7th Grade, Independent Study, Back on Track[/tags]

I came home last night to a brown paper package on my doorstep from Courtney. I thought, what the heck is this thing, and we quickly ripped the paper off to find a Roomba! Courtney sent me a iRobot Roomba!

We immediately opened it up and let it run around the house, and the cats were just freaking out. Staring at it in amazement. It was funny.

It went around the great room for awhile, then it found it’s way into our bedroom and went under the bed. It was there for a long time, then it started beeping at us. We got it out, and it was full of cat hair! I honestly don’t think I have ever vacuumed under my bed, and the paperwork says it “hunts out dirt” so it did it’s job, that’s for sure!

It’s really going to help out a lot because I can no longer run the vacuum without having back pain. That repetitive motion just throws my back into a frenzy. Courtney is such a giving person, and I’m so happy to call her my friend. Thanks again Court!

[tags]iRobot, Roomba[/tags]

It’s that time of year again to vote for the Merriam-Webster 2007 Word of the Year. They’ve chosen words from popular searches, and submissions on their web site, and came up with this list of 20 words. You’ve got until Friday, December 7, 2007 to vote, so look over the words and make your decision.

Make sure to tell me which one you picked, and why you chose that particular word.

1. apathetic – having or showing little or no feeling or emotion.
2. babymoon – a short vacation for a couple before the birth of their child.
3. blamestorm – sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
4. charlatan – one making usually showy pretenses to knowledge or ability.
5. conundrum – a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun.
6. cruft – an element in computer coding typified by lack of style, quality, or relevancy.
7. eleemosynary – of, relating to, or supported by charity.
8. facebook – to get on a facebook website.
9. hypocrite – a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.
10. linkability – the attractiveness of a Web site’s overall quality of content as a measure of potential Internet links made.
11. melancholy – an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and characterized by irascibility or depression.
12. Pecksniffian – unctuously hypocritical.
13. pretentious – making usually unjustified or excessive claims (as of value or standing).
14. pugnacious – having a quarrelsome or combative nature.
15. quixotic – having a quarrelsome or combative nature.
16. sardoodledom – mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama.
17. sputum – expectorated matter especially from the air passages in diseases of the lungs, bronchi, or upper respiratory tract.
18. subpoena – a writ commanding a person designated in it to appear in court under a penalty for failure.
19. vanity sizing – A term used to explain arcane practices attributable to sizing evolution or inflation.
20. w00t – an interjection expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word “yay.”

It took me awhile to decide, and then I went with the word linkability. “I would like to think that my blog has linkability.”

EDIT – (December 12, 2007) w00t made the Merriam-Webster 2007 Word of the Year!

[tags]Merriam-Webster, 2007 Word of the Year, linkability[/tags]

Life is filled with amazing things just waiting to be discovered.

[tags]Burger King, Double Cheeseburger, free wifi, hotspots[/tags]

I finally signed back up for Netflix today. We had it years ago, and I swore we had rented every movie they had in stock, so we canceled it. I was looking at it again this morning and saw they have tons of movies and series now, so I took the plunge. 4 movies at a time, and 24 hours of movies online, $23.99 a month. Not bad.

I added the following in my queue:

• 300
• 300 Bonus Material
• SpiderMan 3
• Blades of Glory
• Reign Over Me
• Night at the Museum
• Premonition
• 28 Weeks Later
• Wild Hogs

Then I got tired of looking, so that leaves me at 9 movies. I need to add more since 4 at a time is going to deplete my queue rather quickly. Do you have any suggestions for me?

[tags]Netflix, movies, DVD, movie rentals[/tags]