joe y-

Here’s some pictures of the area i’m living in right now…They are, East, West, South and North respectively. There was a small storm, which is why they are so dark..

I found a couple of pictures of Georgia sleeping on the couch. She is so lazy!

Nolan found some Corn Nuggets..

Exploring power, ownership, and equity in an early childhood classroom

By Ann Pelo and Kendra Pelojoaquin

Carl and Oliver, both 8-year-olds in our after-school program, huddled over piles of Legos. They carefully assembled them to add to a sprawling collection of Lego houses, grocery stores, fish-and-chips stands, fire stations, and coffee shops. They were particularly keen to find and use “cool pieces,” the translucent bricks and specialty pieces that complement the standard-issue red, yellow, blue, and green Lego bricks.

“I’m making an airport and landing strip for my guy’s house. He has his own airplane,” said Oliver.

“That’s not fair!” said Carl. “That takes too many cool pieces and leaves not enough for me.”

“Well, I can let other people use the landing strip, if they have airplanes,” said Oliver. “Then it’s fair for me to use more cool pieces, because it’s for public use.”

Discussions like the one above led to children collaborating on a massive series of Lego structures we named Legotown. Children dug through hefty-sized bins of Legos, sought “cool pieces,” and bartered and exchanged until they established a collection of homes, shops, public facilities, and community meeting places. We carefully protected Legotown from errant balls and jump ropes, and watched it grow day by day.

After nearly two months of observing the children’s Legotown construction, we decided to ban the Legos.

Read On… 

Charlotte and I talked and I decided that I should keep a chronicle of all the concerts I’ve been to. We go through spurts where we see a few bands all at once and then stop for a while…So I’m making a page here on the website..

Bands I’ve seen and Concerts I’ve been to

Also, me and some of the guys from work are going to do our semi-annual paintball bash. Right now, we’re forecasting it to be Sunday, January 20th. I’m keeping a page which tracks the 5 W’s…

Operation Soaring Eagle (Paintball 2008)

Dear Makers of Corn Nuggets,

You are very mysterious. Have you stopped making Corn Nuggets? Where can we find you and why must you torture me? I love your Corn Nuggets, yet I cannot find them anywhere. Your crispy exterior and warm corny interior makes me salivate like Pavlov’s dog. Where hast thou gone? You are not at Sam’s Club, Giant, Shoppers, or Aldi’s. This is almost a crime. The last time I devoured a Corn Nugget, my roommate at 3/4 of them and I was yet again deprived of your tasty goodness.

Sincerely,

- Joe

So, as you all know, I have been at BNCOC (Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course) for the last two weeks…I’m here at Aberdeen Proving Grounds Maryland…Needless to say, this place sucks.  Yesterday and today have been the worst days of my life..Let me see if I can summarize why..

•  A friend of mine dropped my laptop (accidentally) yesterday and dented the housing. It still seems to work but ‘dropping’ is not covered under the extended warranty (which I didn’t buy BTW)
• We had out first test (of two) yesterday. I felt that I did good on it but was told I made a 55%. All the questions were “Fill In The Blank” , which means no multiple choice…So, I had to wake up this morning and retest.. I scored a 97.5% on the retest, which was a relief, because I was very close to coming home. I asked my instructor to investigate further into the scoring (because I didn’t think I scored a 55%) but she blew me off.. At around 10.30am, she called me out into the hallway and informed me that my scores were “mysteriously” switched with another students and that she was sorry. Oh, and that my lower score would be the one that counted. I am feeling a bit vindicated right now.
• Just before dinner last night, SSG Scheckman (another NCO in my unit who is here at the school with me) asked me to try and fix her smoke detector because it was beeping loudly every 4 minutes, leaving here awake at night. As I was fiddling with it (standing on a chair with a screwdriver), I determined that it could not be fixed by me and that I should put it all back together and goto dinner..Just as I reached this realization and started pushing the housing back into the ceiling, the entire floors fire alarm went off and the entire unit (hundreds of soldiers) were forced to evacuate onto the basketball court. Apparently, the fire department had to come and turn off the alarm. I wasn’t there because I got the hell out of there to get some dinner (I missed it because I was busy getting counseled for failing my exam).
• And now, I still have to meet with the Company 1SG because I marked “My SGL did not assist me in retraining for this test” on my counseling statement. (My SGL is my instructor). Also, she blew me off when I asked to have her look into my grade, which would have alleviated this entire problem.
• So the day is still young! I’ll let everyone know how it turns out.

BEST

- Joe

Here’s a picture of me and my Orthodontist, Dr. Herbert M. Hughes.