Forgive the rehashed content. This is advice given to me a long time ago and I still feel it’s true. See, I was looking at our savings accounts and it occurred to me that some of you may not have ever heard this particular advice. My grandfather is the one who gave it to me. It goes like this:

Pay yourself first.

I know. I know. Quite a short piece of advice. But there is a lot of meaning in those three words. Here’s a couple of those meanings:

• When you pay your bills, make sure one of them is an account you use for entertainment. This kind of goes with the whole “all work and no play makes Joe a dull boy” type of advice. But it’s true. What good is making money if you can’t enjoy it some? If you don’t enjoy it, then you’ll resent your job, you won’t do your best work, and you’ll never get further with your career. The most successful people have expensive toys for a reason. Of course, that goes against my consumerism post from a couple of days ago. But that was about money that was given to us by the government for the specific reason of faking a good economy. This is different.
• When you make a schedule for your week, give yourself time to enjoy yourself. Schedule in some time with your favorite gaming console, book, television show, etc. Make sure it’s something you enjoy doing. Again, what good is time if you waste it on serious stuff? Are we truly meant to work, sleep and repeat? No. We’re meant to live.

What are your ideas? Are there other ways to “pay yourself first?”

Posted by Saphrym | 5 Comments »

The answer is yes. I’ve seen multiple ways of handling school systems. I’ve lived in many different places. And I can tell you that school can not only be fun, but in my opinion, should be fun. At least a little.

My daughter got perfect attendance. We went to the award ceremony today. This school system is relatively new to us (as we’ve only lived here for 2 years), and they surprised me yet again. Last year they had the “Kiss the Pig” contest in which the class that raised the most money for a certain cause got to see their teacher kiss a pig. (It was one of those cute baby pigs, but still…) This year, it was a much different cause. One of the students is having a major operation to have his sight saved. Here’s a link to the news story about it: Ryan’s Sight Fight. It was also a much different contest. This time, whoever raised the most got a pie in the face. That’s right. Someone got to throw a pie in their teacher’s face. Not only that, but the administration got involved. Imagine throwing a pie in your principal’s face. Now, if you’re a teacher, imagine throwing one in the face of the superintendent. That happened too.

It was quite fun to watch. The surprise part is that it even happened. Back in Louisiana, we didn’t do stuff like that. Everything was very strict. Here, they have fun all the time. Yet, the students are more advanced educationally than they are in the stricter environment. Does that tell you something? It tells me something. Sure, discipline is important. But the students are also kids. Let them be kids at least a little bit and they’ll love you for it.

Even the high school has some great activities. They had the “Powder Puff” dance. Basically where boys (mostly football players) dressed as girls for fun. They have a couple of those old fashioned popcorn machines in the gym and I’ve seen them get full and then used for pranks instead of eating. By the teachers, mind you.

I’m quite happy with the school system out here. I’m glad we moved. And seeing as I want to be a teacher (and finally only have a year left before I’m certified), I’m glad I’m in a place that allows the teachers to make school fun for their kids.

So are you of the mind that I’m a total nut for wanting and liking this kind of educational atmosphere? Do you think discipline is the only route to educational success? Or do you you think it should be all fun all of the time? Or maybe, you like a mixture of both, like I do? Feel free to comment. I know some of you will have great stories about the fun things you did in school when you were younger. And some of you might attend schools you enjoy now. Let me know. I’d love to read the stories and opinions.

Posted by Saphrym | 4 Comments »

Ever watched ants? They’re very interesting little insects. If you put a sugar cube a distance from their nest, one of them will go and find it. Then it’ll go back and tell the others, and then they’ll all swarm all over that sugar and take it back to the colony. It’s a very concerted effort, and it’s amazing to watch. However, they are ants. This kind of thing is their job. As a blogger, swarming for the same sugar cube is not your job.

Recently, WordPress 2.5 came out. Almost immediately, there were over 100 posts, if not more, announcing the release. When Entrecard changed their pricing system, the same thing happened. Those little nuggets of news were the sugar cubes and the bloggers rushed all over it. It’s great that you want people to know these things. It really is. But, and I’ll try and ask this as nicely as possible, don’t you think the people who read your blog that actually care about that information… don’t you think… they already know?! Heck, I got that neat little yellow stripe in my WordPress dashboard telling me to update. My price at Entrecard changed dramatically and the blog and forums told me all about it.

You want to know which blogs I read every day? The ones with original content. The ones that make me laugh (and not because they copied some comic strip from some other site.) The ones that make me have some form of emotions. The ones that tell me something I didn’t already know. If CNN already said it on their front page, it’s likely you don’t need to say it on yours.

Don’t get me wrong. When a celebrity dies and you want to pay tribute to them, that’s perfectly ok. If you want to do an opinion post on the latest headlines, I’ll be happy to read it. But if I see one more post that basically repeats what the news has been saying all day, I think I’ll… well… nothing too drastic… I’ll just stop reading that blog.

Now, see, snowflakes are awesome. Each and every one is different from all of the others in some way. That’s what you should be. In some small or big way, your posts need to be different than all the others. For example, if your blog is about WordPress and 2.5 has just launched, don’t tell me that it just launched, instead, tell me about the obscure new feature and the original way in which you managed to use it. Or another example, if the news announces that the world is about to be forced to go vegan, don’t tell me about the obvious stuff like food, tell me about the vegan shoes. That would be original, especially if you posted pictures of yourself standing on top of the bookshelf at the local library with a pair of them on. (No, I’m not trying to tell you that standing on top of a shelf at the local library is a good thing. I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m serious. Unless you’re changin’ a frickin’ lightbulb and have permission to do so, don’t go standing on the shelves at the library.)

Don’t be an ant. Be a snowflake… wearing vegan shoes and eating spaghetti with a spoon. Oh, and blogging about something original, which was the point of this post to begin with.

Posted by Saphrym | 27 Comments »

Doing the MWF Read posts has helped me learn a few things by watching the traffic going out of my site from them. What I have learned is that sometimes a blurb is much better than a review.

Have you ever had a friend say something like, “Oh, by the way, I’m pregnant” or “Actually, she’s my sister” and then walk off and not explain? Remember how you ran after them to start asking questions because now your curiosity was on full force? That’s what a good blurb does.

When you write a review for a web site, it tends to tell the reader so much information that they make a decision based on the review as to whether or not to visit the site or not. However, a review can be biased, be missing information, etc. You might leave out some feature or item that would have gotten your reader to immediately visit the site. Or you might have added something that turned them off to it, but they would have liked it if they’d actually gone to see it. There are so many things that can go wrong in a review. The more words there are, the more of a chance you can make a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, reviews have their place and are quite important, but when you want as many people to click as possible, the blurb is the way to go.

Now, when I talk about this, I’m not talking about paid reviews and such. I’ll reserve my opinion on those for another post. I mean when you really want someone to visit a site of a friend or a post that you’d really like to share like I do with the MWF Read posts. This is where blurbs come in handy. For example:

“This site is really great. You should visit it.”

Does that one really get you? I think it’s something like “Absolutely marvelous!” or other such blurbs found on the back of novels that tell you absolutely nothing about the book and sound mostly like hot air. But, what about this one:

“The things that man can do with a can opener. I just can’t stop watching.”

Aren’t you wondering what “things” I’m talking about? Aren’t you curious enough that if there was a link there you’d click to at least see what “things” I’m talking about? Isn’t that something like how “By the way, I’m pregnant” sounds? So, in my opinion, a good blurb is one that gives a few details about the site but leaves you wanting more. Almost like a mixture of poetry and those parts of a television show right before a commercial: Say as much as you can in as few words as possible but make them want to find out the rest.

So tonight’s assignment is this: Write a blurb about the last site linked above you in the comments (usually found by clicking the name of the commenter). For the first person, that would be this site since no one else has commented yet. Be creative. Leave us wanting more. Make us want to click.

Posted by Saphrym | 16 Comments »

I’ve been getting comments and praise about my writing style, so I decided to share some information about it and explain it as well as I can.

My style of writing is a bane to college professors everywhere. I normally end up with lower grades because of it, but I don’t really mind. It’s the way I write and I like writing this way. See, my mind works a little different than some people. I write better than I speak. When talking, I forget words. For example, one day I had to look at my wife and say, “You know the word. It’s got pages and you read it.” “That’d be a book, dear.” “Right. Book.” However, when I’m typing, words flow out of me that I sometimes didn’t even know I knew. It’s funny, but I “overthink” when I speak, instead of when I write.

When I write, I just let the words flow and put down the ideas as fast as I possibly can. I don’t take many pauses and I don’t do much editing like people would say needs to be done. I fix spelling mistakes and such as I find them because I tend to type in a dyslexic manner, but otherwise I let the language stay natural. I also tend to put my thoughts in wherever they may show up. One example would be the quick dialogue I put in the middle of my explanation in the previous paragraph. Another would be (and this happens often with me sometimes) when I put things in parentheses right in the middle of my sentences. That last sentence was an example of this. Those are the “asides” that my brain may branch off to while I’m typing. I don’t think about it, I just put them there. I think it feels more “natural” to do so.

Sometimes I also put words in a visual manner to make the pauses and necessary inflections. For example, I could type, “That was incredible!” or, I could type “That was in-cred-i-ble!” There is emphasis on the different syllables in the word and the reader tends to read it that way with the dashes. I like to make the words look the way they sound in my head. My creative writing professors have always loved that style. Grammar professors, not so much. (For example, that was not a complete sentence just then, but you got the point, and probably grinned just like I did when I thought it and typed it.)

So, as an exercise, as you comment on this post, type exactly what you’re thinking. Patsy tends to do so when she comments on my site, and it makes it feel more like I’m having a conversation with her instead of a “formal typing experience” which sounds much less fun.

(If people like this post, I’ve got some ideas for some other writing tips in the future. Just let me know.)

Posted by Saphrym | 15 Comments »

The “robust exchange of ideas” is the concept that information should not be withheld. We can’t fully learn unless we have access to information. Ignorance may be “bliss” in some situations, but it’s not helpful to a society.

Adults like to control the information available to kids. They don’t want their kids or even other people’s kids to learn things that may be contrary to their beliefs. This is why people try to ban books, theories, religious teachings, etc. from school. As a parent, I can understand this, but I don’t agree with it. We have a tendency to protect our children from offensive material, but who is to say the material is truly offensive? We use our own beliefs to determine this, but to limit our children to our own beliefs is to lead them on a path to ignorance. “Oh my gosh! They’re talking about spells in Harry Potter! That’s just wrong!” “They can’t teach German! That would cause my child to think like a German!” “Theory of Evolution!? There is only one creation that my child is allowed to learn!” Those are the cries of ignorance. Can we not let our children make up their own minds after having a full education on the material? My father had me attend multiple churches. He wanted me to learn about the other religions. I applaud him for that. It has taught me to be understanding of every religion.

As a teacher, I know I am not allowed to present my opinion on topics. I am there to teach the children the facts. But, in my opinion, it is also my duty to have the kids think for themselves and come up with their own educated opinions. Therefore, I will teach them any information that I deem useful for that goal. I will teach Slaughterhouse Five, Maus, Mythology, etc. I will deal with complaints as I see them. There was an old saying that “the mind is a terrible thing to waste,” well I modified that years ago to “the mind is a terrible thing to close.” Information is the currency of education. My students will be rich.

DIET DIARY

Numbers from Today

Blood Sugar: 110
Weight: 284.0 (Ack!)
Fat Percentage: 48.2
Water Percentage: 30.1
Muscle Percentage: 34.7

Food and Exercise from Yesterday

Fluids: Water (16 oz - 5 times a day)
Exercise:
20 Curls of 85 pounds.
Monday from my exercise plan.
Meal 1:
Oatmeal
Multivitamin
B150 Vitamin Complex
Snack 1:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 2:
Philly Cheese Steak Omelet (from a local diner)
Biscuit
Snack 2:
1 Slim Fast 220 Calorie Optima Bar
Meal 3:
2 Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Chips

(For more information about my dieting and weight loss, click here. For more information about the specific foods I eat, click here.)

Posted by Saphrym | 8 Comments »

People have asked and wondered about why I always use the tagline of “father, husband, teacher, thinker, reader, and writer.” I’m going to answer that question right now:

Father:

I have a 7-year-old daughter. Her name is Nicole. A recent post showed a little bit of my pride about her, but no one knows the half of it. That little girl has had to deal with deaths in the family at a young age. She’s currently in a violin class and tried to quit but her teacher wouldn’t let her because he believes she’s great at it. She’s part of the Student Technology Leadership Program, of which she won a district contest for doing greeting cards for the elderly and will be competing at state level. She created a poster about bats that she researched, drew, and wrote the words for on her own and it has also been chosen to compete at the state level. She’s part of the girl scouts. She’s reading at a 5th grade level. Her teachers call her the best student in school every time we see them. She’s currently writing and illustrating her own book about the holidays because she WANTED to and is doing it on her own (I’m going to get it published if it kills me). She’s been in the gifted music class, the gifted P.E. class, and is now in the gifted reader class. And with all of this work, she only complains about missing Social Studies and Science classes because of violin class twice a week. However, I’d love her if she had accomplished nothing. She’s currently sleeping on the couch with the cat and has the cutest sleep face I’ve ever seen.

Husband:

My wife of over 10 years is the love of my life. She is my heart. She is my everything. And I’m proud of her too. She graduated with a Family and Consumer Science degree. She has also finished her Masters in Teaching with a 3.8. She’s part of an honor society for teachers. She’s always been the hardest worker I know. She’s my best friend. She keeps me on my diet. She cares for me. She accepts me for who I am and doesn’t try to change me. She played Star Wars Galaxies with me. She played World of Warcraft with me. She plays board games with me. She accepted my recommendation for books I’ve read and has enjoyed them with me. We’ve laid in bed reading Harry Potter together. She is my beginning and end. Always.

Teacher:

I’m currently working on my own Masters degree in Teaching. But I’ve been a teacher since I was quite young. At the age of 14 I was chosen as the Music Director for my church. I taught Sunday School. I was youth director by the age of 16. I’ve been a computer consultant, a tutor, and a trainer at every job I’ve ever had. I love to impart my knowledge to others. That is one of the reasons for this blog. If my information can benefit others, then that is icing on this family man’s cake (cake I can’t eat because of my diet, but cake nonetheless).

Thinker:

I pride myself on thinking. Not the “big headed” kind of pride, but the kind of pride in which I enjoy the fact that as a human being I have and use the ability to think. I came up with a quote that played off an old anti-drug ad: “The mind is a terrible thing to close.” And I live by that motto. I encourage people to tell me every side to every story so that not only can I learn more and have the information necessary to make an informed decision, but so that those people hear each other. The world would be a better place if people would truly communicate. And communication requires listening. Listening requires thinking, or at least true listening does. Thinking is not a skill to be learned. It is a trait we all have as human beings and it is important for us to use it.

Reader:

I love to read. I read about 200 blogs every single day (with more showing up on my list). I read fantasy novels, science fiction novels, horror novels. I read textbooks and non-fiction. I enjoy the English language (and would enjoy others if I could read them). Reading is a form of listening, whether you’re listening to the words of a mother talk about her family or listening to the words of the famous and brilliant philosophers of our time, it’s listening on a level that speech just can’t provide. You can read them over and over if you enjoy them or forget them the next second if you don’t. Reading is a very personal experience. And since reality is truly based on our perceptions at any given moment, a good fantasy novel can change my reality for the briefest of hours, just long enough to feel like a traveler.

Writer:

Last but not the bottom of the barrel is writing. When I speak to people, the words tend to stumble out. I forget words. I’ve had to look at my wife and say, “What is that word? You know the one? It has pages and you read it?” She’d respond, ” A book?” And I’d reply, “Yeah. That’s it. Book.” But when I place the pen to the paper or the fingers to the keys, my mind suddenly starts working again. I can envision the words that I need to say. They flow out of me freely. I once tried to plan a short story for college and received a “C” for my efforts. But the story I sat down and wrote in less than an hour received an “A” and was published in the college chapbook. Writing is an obsession for me. I’ve loved to write for years. I’ll write anything. I liked writing book reports (combined two passions of mine). I liked writing essays. I was one of “those students” and I feel no regret for being so. When I’m writing, a thesaurus opens up in my mind and I start putting down words I never even knew existed. It’s like I’m a different person when I write. That’s the major reason for this blog. Sure, people show up now because of my weight loss. I’ve been told I inspire them to diet. But I want them to stay because of my writing. I want them to hear the thoughts I so desperately try to speak but can only type or write. I want them to see the world through my eyes because it’s a truly beautiful world with wonderful people. But mostly, and here’s my ultimate dream, I want to inspire them to write.

Conclusion:

I profess to be a father, husband, teacher, thinker, reader, and writer because I am those things and am proud to be so. What are you proud of being?

Posted by Saphrym | 17 Comments »

“Bad Company”
One Act Play
By: Teresa Huffstetler

MCHS’s Drama class presents “Bad Company”. This play is about a high school girl who is sidetracked from her friends and her goals for the future by a young man who is truly bad company.

Dates: Monday May 14th and Tuesday May 15th
Time: 7th Period

Yep. I went. I have a picture to prove it. It’s on the left. You can click on it to see the bigger one. And of course I had to attend. They sent a personalized invitation to me. Just about brought me to tears. Well, not really, but it made me feel good. So I went.

I have to say I am quite proud of the class I student taught with most of this year. They had fellow students in the audience, it was their first time in front of an audience, and it was the first time with that “stage”. They did awesome! The parts were well acted. Lines were memorized. The story was a good one. It was about 30 minutes long, but they managed to make the audience understand the plot and got laughs at all the right moments. Again, I’m proud. And I’m proud to have taught them some this year.

Posted by Saphrym | No Comments »