Monday Musings

Dear Google Maps,
If you'd like me to turn left at a specific road, please give me the name of that road. And, if it's not too much trouble, could you possibly provide the name on the road sign at the intersection where I'll need to turn? It sure was helpful to know what the street would be called in 300 feet, but, you see, I couldn't see that sign. So thanks.

Yes, one of the biggest frustrations with my Butterfly Pavilion job is the driving. I don't mind actually doing the driving, I just get a little upset when yet again Google sends me off into the world, confidently wielding directions....that don't quite provide enough information to get me where I need to go. Today I drove past my turn twice, solely because it was not labeled Indiana Ave, as it should have been, but rather, Colorado Mills something or other. Sigh. So I was late to my program. Luckily, the secretary was extra patient with my two phone calls for directions and the teacher was not stressed by my lateness. And the kids were awesome, smart and funny and excited.

Dear self, please check to make sure you have all your belongings before leaving a school. If you fail at this step, you'll leave your favorite sweater behind. I promise.

Yes, my favorite cardigan sweater, that Kimberly gave to me, that her parents got at the thrift store they manage...left at the school I almost didn't find. Sigh.

It's clearly Monday. Here's hoping the rest of my short week goes better than this.

6th grade student, after eating a chocolate-covered cricket: "Is it weird for your stomach to be upset?"
Me: "I think it's normal to feel a little weird after eating a bug. I would feel the same way, my brain would tell me that I didn't feel well."
*Oh, they're so cute!

Public service announcement

Read this before you say we shouldn't bail out the auto industry.

He says it much better than me, but really, we had no problem bailing out the financial firms (who also made multiple, enormous mistakes), but not the Big Three auto firms? Yes, they made mistakes that they should be accountable for, but this doesn't just affect the CEOs who made those decisions. It affects the millions of people who work a factory shift each day, building cars to feed their families. Michigan's economy is already destroyed, and allowed the auto industry to fail will not help. Not only MI will be affected. In my part of Ohio, there are numerous Big Three auto factories that hold our local economies together. Many of my high school friends' parents had worked for Chrysler or Ford for life. These people will not have other options for jobs. Let's not punish the auto industry by allowing innocent workers to be laid off.

At Random

• What is happening today? The sun is not shining in Denver. I filled up my gas tank at $1.96 a gallon. I think the apocalypse is coming!
• I love love love my job (at the Butterfly Pavilion)! It's so awesome to be doing fulfilling work that actually uses my undergraduate training. Today I gave a program for a group of K-5th graders in a childcare program run by a local public school. There was no school for students today. They were attentive and smart, knowing words like biodiversity and omnivore, loved playing the jeopardy style game I had, and asked great questions about the insects I'd brought along. All but one of them wanted to hold the tarantula. All my fears about them being hyper when they didn't have school were unnecessary. Their teacher held the tarantula. They all thanked me for coming and I left grinning. I was made for this job, I think.
• Going along with waxing prolific about my adoration for my job, I had a great time at my after school program this past Friday. The kids got to build their own insects out of pipe cleaners, clay, feathers, googly eyes, and more. They loved it! They each wanted to show me their creation, and they were just so cute and enthusiastic! It's also incredible to me (coming from the world of junior high and high schoolers) that I can very easily get a room full of 7 and 8 year olds to sing a silly song with me about the parts of an insect. 
• You should all go read Sweet Juniper's latest post on an abandoned Detroit neighborhood. He writes so well about the problems of this now desolate, once booming urban city.
• This weekend I went to a big horn sheep festival...saw a number of male big horns, but none of them were headbutting. It was still really great to see them in their natural habitat and learn more about them from the volunteers.
• I've really been enjoying my new spicy rooibos tea. While it's not actually that cold here (yet), it still hits the spot on a dark evening.
• That's all from me for now...I'm looking forward to the rest of my very easy, not very full of work week: 3 days at Parsley and just my after school program on Friday.