This is a warning to kids everywhere… you may enjoy watching hours of television every day now, but someday it may come back to haunt you. Someday you may be driving down the road or working your job or whatever and some useless, stupid commercial may pop into your head for no reason! For me, it happened on Sunday. I was running the fifteenth mile of my 18 mile run when all of a sudden I heard the voice of the one and only Shaquille O’Neal imploring me to use the Icy Hot Sleeve ™. I also saw him lifting weights and talking about how when he has to deal with pain he “works through it!” with the Icy Hot Sleeve ™. I don’t remember what programming I happened to be watching when I would see the commercial but I obviously saw it several times. I cannot find the commercial that actually popped into my head on youtube, but I did find one similar to it:
Yes, the fifteenth mile was a bit painful, but I did not use the Icy Hot Sleeve ™ when I got back home. Does anyone use the Icy Hot Sleeve ™ besides Shaq? I mean, besides Shaq when he’s getting paid to film a commercial?
This is how I would like to remember Shaq:
Or maybe this:
Or maybe when he had that “deer caught in the headlights” look he had when my beloved Detroit Pistons were destroying him, Kobe, Phil, and the Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals!
If you ever have to go through pain, remember to “work through it!” with the Icy Hot Sleeve ™.
Posted in Uncategorized on April 23, 2012 by jasonscottrussell
It was recently brought to my attention that some people actually read this blog and want to read more of what I write. I just want to assure those readers that I will return and have many ideas down. But I’m celebrating the birth of my third child, doing a lot of housework and changing many diapers, training for a marathon (more on that here later, of course), and back to work. I do love writing on this blog and will be back to writing regular posts sooner or later. Thank you all for reading my stuff and thanks so much for the kind words and encouragement. You’re the best!
Anyone who read my blog entry about unsharpenable pencils knows I hate pencils that cannot be sharpened. I lamented the end of good pencils in this country. Pencils that are wrapped in thin paper that have SpongeBob or some other character on them are the bane of my existence as an elementary school teacher. Well, I have found the World’s Best Pencil! It is at the Dixon Ticonderoga company. Check it out! I cannot rave enough about these pencils! They cost a little extra but they are so worth it! If you are ever in the market for some pencils, this company isn’t kidding… they are outstanding. They actually sharpen the first time with just a few cranks of the sharpener! Just like the old days! I LOVE THEM!
I rented a movie tonight. It’s just come out on video and it’s called American Teacher. I thought it would be a bit of an inspiration. I figured it would show what it’s like to be a teacher and be a good, honest film to counteract the anti-union, anti-public school crap movie Waiting for Superman. Teachers have been taking it on the chin verbally by bloviating blowhard talking heads in government, on FOX News, and elsewhere for about a year now and I thought it would be nice to see a viewpoint that gives a different point of view. One that shows the challenges of teaching and shows what really concerns teachers like me. Standardized tests being used as the only yardstick for student achievement, computer assessments being used across grade levels to decide if a child is “meeting benchmark” or not, the lack of basic respect from politicians, administrators, and others who have forgotten what it is like to be a child or have no clue what it’s like to be a teacher, the list goes on and on. How about how hard it is for teachers in big city schools who keep getting hammered by politicians who take their school funding away because their kids are not passing the standardized tests? Gee, I would think we should give those schools more and not take more away!
Boy, was I disappointed. The movie doesn’t really do any of that stuff I just mentioned. It is a whiny, oversimplified, disappointing mess.
The film interviews several teachers, some of whom whine about all the time they spend outside of the classroom or about how little money teachers make. One woman does a “video diary” in which she whines about how long she has spent in her classroom and whines about the many students she has to teach. ”Here I am and it’s 5:15 and I’m finally going home…” Wah, wah, wah! So go home earlier! Take some stuff home and do it with some music in the background or with the idiot box on!
Another guy seems to blame teaching and coaching for the failure of his marriage because he wasn’t getting enough money and had to take a second job at Circuit City and was never home. He only made $27,000 and that wasn’t a lot of money. He had some kids and never saw them because he was always working! You can make your own conclusions about that. I did!
Look, all these teachers in the film seemed like good people. But the documentary, to me, did all teachers a disservice when it makes assumptions about all teachers, like we all work 65 or more hours in a week or we all want to make more money. That is just not true. And it’s a little outrageous. One teacher interviewed said something like, “No teachers that have my respect don’t take things home and work all the time.” It is a hard job mentally, and you do have to do some extra paperwork, but if you manage your time wisely you can still have a life outside of the classroom. In fact, it’s quite healthy to have a life outside of the classroom and it would do some teachers some good to stop overdoing it all the time. As a teacher, yes, there is always something to do. But I prioritize the tasks I have to do and keep the important stuff important. I get all the important stuff done and I do it well. A lot of extra things I would like to do get put on the back burner, but I think I do a pretty effective job. And I still have time for my family. I don’t cry about the money I make. I have worked hard and I think I am compensated fairly. I have to pay for a portion of my health insurance, but I don’t whine about that, either. I know I am very fortunate to have what I have. How about instead of coming at the argument from the “teachers work 65 plus hours a week and spend so much of their own money on supplies” position to show that their breaks are deserved, how about just showing how mentally taxing the job is and how those breaks are necessary? Teachers do make a crazy amount of decisions every day and have to be counselors, parents, nurses, custodians, cheerleaders, etc. at any given time.
The movie shows how hard these teachers work, but it also makes incorrect assumptions about all teachers while only interviewing a few teachers.
The movie is an argument for higher salaries for teachers and will probably be used as a tool in the current “merit system” debate in our country. ”Why don’t we pay the best teachers more and get rid of the ones who are less effective?” I’m hearing that a lot, mostly from people who have no stake in public education. They are older, have no kids, send their kids to private or parochial schools, or are tools named Joe Scarborough.
Well, who gets to decide which teachers are the “best” and which are “less effective?” I’ll bet it’s not the students! They will be the last people they ask, won’t they?
I could go on, but I just didn’t like the film. Oh, and the music was horrible, too. I admit I half-watched the last twenty minutes or so as I started writing this post. I felt just like Jake Blues when he saw the drawbridge.
