I really like this photo, even if it is mostly out of focus. Check out the large version.
In other news, I’ve updated this weeks ESL links page to our current topic: articles.
Flowers- the definite article
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Jack: Count or Noncount?
Here is a photo of my parent’s dog Jack, a rambunctious Airedale. I was thinking of him earlier this week when I heard an interview with Marley & Me author John Grogan and then read this article about the book on Slate.com. I don’t think Jack is a misbehaved as Marley, despite what my parents claim.
The interview with Grogan was broadcast on one of my favorite radio shows: Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? To hear the interview find the show archives for April 8, 2006. It is currently the most recent show but that may change by the time you read this.
On an unrelated note you may notice a link on the right for count and noncount nouns; this is a page I set up for my morning class. We go to the computer lab every Wednesday and I’m trying to make it easy for my students to get to the pages I want them to visit. The past two weeks or so we have been studying food which leads in to count and noncount nouns.
(Foreign Babes in Beijing)
During my first stay in China, as a student in 1994, there was a very popular television series titled Foreign Babes in Beijing. It was the story of two American women who come to Beijing to study only to end up becoming evolved with a couple of Chinese men and their family. It was social commentary thinly disguised as light entertainment. The characters were painted with broad strokes: stereotypes were plentiful. One of the women was all that was good about America and the West, the other just the opposite. The “bad girl” (Jiexi) was by far the more interesting character and when I watched the show it was for her storyline. A couple of years after the show ended I met the actress who played Jiexi, Rachel DeWoskin; she had a small role in a film I worked on, Restless.
Rachel has written a book about her time in China, titled Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China. Book came out last year and I finally got around to reading it a few weeks ago. The book paints an appealing portrait of expatriate life in Beijing during the 1990’s. I found her experiences very similar to my own, even though I didn’t star in a television series. I suspect things are very different these days; the pace of change is one the things I like most about Beijing. For more info on the book check out these links:
All that studying finally paid off.
On Monday afternoon, I got a phone call from my academic advisor. He told be I had passed the comprehensive examinations I took on the 4th. This is a huge relief. Coincidentally, I had made my final tuition payment earlier the same day. So, as long as I don’t totally bomb the course I am taking this quarter, I am officially finished with my Master’s of Education. I would like to thank the academy and my family for their support. Also my colleague Kris, who gave me a pair of earplugs, I couldn’ thave done it without them!
If you are curious about the exam: It is a four hour written test, either on the computer or blue book. I was given seven questions and had to answer four of them. Going in, I felt very apprehensive; I hadn’t taken a class in the program since summer. My main study method was walking around feeling anxious about how unprepared I was. I guess it worked.
Random Photos
I’ve installed a modified version of Mike Cohen’s “Random Image” theme for WordPress. There are ten photos of mine that should appear randomly in the header. If you are still seeing the old header, try deleting your browser’s cache. Some of the photos work better that others, the text tends to disappear. I’ll work on that next. For more of my photos visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewsnews/.
You are my Hero(s)!
I just wanted to tell every one of my loyal readers (hi guys) that I am determined to write more frequently. I also want to say that stewsnews.com is now Google’s #1 result for the terms “snoopy and prickly pete”! Thank you loyal readers! (Both of you.)
UPDATE: It seems that my page ranking is only #1 some of the time. Thank you Google for ruining my whole day!
Hartsfield
I’ve been spending a lot of time in airports lately and while they are all pretty much the same, a few stand out. These two photos were taken at Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport which is note worthy because of its immense size and innovative vending machines. More than once, flying in/out of Atlanta someone within earshot mentioned that it is the world’s busy airport and a plane lands or takes off every 30 seconds. I don’t know if those statistics are true but I know that getting from one gate to another in order to make a connecting flight can take days.
And then there are the vending machines selling iPods and iPod accessories. Although I am not as anti-iPod as some people, I don’t quite see the point of buying a music player from a vending machine in an airport. How are you going to put music on it? I suppose you could use your laptop but what about charging it? Maybe they come preloaded with songs and a full battery. It might come in handy if you are looking for a last minute gift.
Jack & Louis
Jack is my parent’s dog, he’s only a few months old (5 or 6?) and is quite the trouble maker. Every week I hear a different story about his antics, such as pulling an entire cantaloupe rind out the garbage disposal and swallowing it whole. The Pug is Louis, formerly of Seattle, who moved in with my parents when my brother and sister-in-law moved to Paris. I guess there was some tension between the two of them when Louis first showed up, but when I saw them last week everything seemed okay. Jack does get a little jealous of Louis, but his extreme short-term memory allows him to get over it quickly.
End of Summer Flower
I’m teaching my last class of the quarter tonight, which means the majority of the night will be taken up with paperwork. It has been a great quarter. Most of my students are Meskhetian Turks newly arrived in the US with the help of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). They are highly motivated and enthusiastic students of English; hopefully I’ll be teaching them when fall quarter starts in the next couple of weeks.
I took this picture last year. My friend Rick helped with the cropping.
Random Quotes
I’ve added Zombie Robot’s awesome random quote generator to the About Stew page. Thanks Zombie!