I found this dialect quiz via Amritas, and my results were just as I would expect:

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

25% Dixie

5% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

This makes perfect sense, since I basically spent the first half my life in Texas and the other half in Illinois/Missouri.

Posted by: Sarah at 08:02 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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So how shocked was I today when one of the 7th graders quoted my blog to me?

Apparently at least one of my students' parents reads my blog. And may I say, Mr. H, that your son is a dear. He's one of my favorites, and I actually joke with my husband that I want to "keep" him when I leave the school because he looks enough like my husband to be his child. If my son is as polite and cool as yours, I will have done well. One bad apple may spoil the bunch, but all I cling to at the end of the day is the memory of the good ones.

But it never ceases to weird me out when people in my real life cite my online life.

Like I've had much of an online life lately anyway. I just don't have much to say, and I find that the more I write, the more I get uncomfortable in my real life. I find myself wanting to comment on stuff like releasing illegal aliens, but all I can think to say is "that's messed up", which doesn't make for a very interesting blog entry. I just don't spend any time online anymore. (Part of the reason is that my chore load has gone through the roof: I'm back to doing triple the laundry! If I had the time, I would love to talk about this Amritas post too.) But my last day of 7th grade is next Tuesday, so I'll be back on Wednesday.

And can I take your kid with me, Mr. H?

Posted by: Sarah at 10:53 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 "your son is a dear" Whew, I was worried that the one kid who mentioned your blog was a Mike al-Moor in the making. "releasing illegal aliens" I guess you're not with the libertarian program (not necessarily a bad thing). I've had a multi-part series about immigration outlined for weeks with links already chosen to write around, but I don't know when I'll get around to even starting it. Fortunately (well, not so fortunately for America) the topic remains timely. I am going to write a sequel to that post you linked it adding a few more thoughts about women in the military. I find it very difficult to see anything wrong with imagining, say, you in a tank, though I've found at least one counterargument that may be better than "intuition" or "solidarity." I was kind of surprised by learning that DOONESBURY is in STARS AND STRIPES. Who says the military is a Rightist-only institution? Last week's storyline deals with a military recruiter. I have no idea how accurate it is, and I'll leave that for others to judge.

Posted by: Amritas at April 18, 2005 12:19 PM (+nV09)

2 Sarah, We'll all patiently wait for you to post whenever you can. We understand that life goes on, and its time to recharge those life batteries. Just keep living it and post when you have something you want to say. We can be very patient when we have to. Subsunk

Posted by: Subsunk at April 18, 2005 10:13 PM (adHXR)

3 You think it's bad now, wait till you have kids! Not that I'm complaining.

Posted by: David Boxenhorn at April 19, 2005 11:44 AM (7In5N)

4 Not that I'm complaining. Yeah, but that's because you're too tired.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 21, 2005 03:49 AM (AIaDY)

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Oda Mae has been a long-time commenter and a good friend to me here in our community. Her husband leaves for Iraq today with the British Army, so drop her a line in the comments section and say hi...

Posted by: Sarah at 02:18 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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1 Thanks, Sarah! He called last night and his flight is changed to Wednesday morning. I can now see why spouses, even though they love the soldier, at some point say "Ah! Get on the plane already!" It's too much sometimes.

Posted by: Oda Mae at April 12, 2005 02:20 AM (qGwdI)

2 I'm new to your site, but am not new to supporting a deployed soldier. Well, not that it's old hat... All I can say is the support I get from the blogosphere has helped me through many a long day. I really wonder how I could do it without the many helping and supportive hands that hold me up when I'm feeling down. Every day though makes you so appreciative for the little things in life. A 5 min. phone call can have me smiling for days. Gifts? Flowers? Forget 'em...as long I can hear my loved one's voice I'm good.

Posted by: Sue at April 12, 2005 02:57 AM (lRLpG)

3 Oda Mae - today will be rough and sad and filled with pride - thank you for sharing your boy with us for a little while. Although we may never meet and I may never be able to thank you or Sarah or your husbands properly for what you've done so bravely - please know that we appreciate your sacrifice to our freedom and the Iraqi people appreciate it too. I'm glad you have friends like Sarah who have been there and who will be there for you. The families of our soldiers (British, American and all the others) have the difficult jobs that most of us could not hack. Thank you a million times. I'm proud to say I know a British soldier and his brave wife through an American wife of an American soldier through my computer! How whacko is that?

Posted by: Kathleen A at April 12, 2005 08:19 AM (vnAYT)

4 To one of my very favorite people in Germany--Oda Mae, Having met you, I know you will be a real trooper while Husband is gone. Your great sense of humor will get you through alot of tough times, and I know how much you mean to Sarah so you'll be able to count on her for support. You and Husband will be in my thoughts and prayers. Love, Sarah's mom

Posted by: Nancy at April 13, 2005 01:22 AM (YuW6k)

5 Oda Mae, You made me laugh Been there, done that, and everyone thought I was nuts. Hubs had FIVE sets of orders cancelled before he finally deployed. By the time he left we had been on the deployment roller coaster for more than a year. By that point I was ready to wring someone's neck. If you are going to deploy them, do it already so we can get it over with! My prayers are with you and your husband. Thank you for all that BOTH of you are doing.

Posted by: Tink at April 13, 2005 03:41 AM (S6VXg)

6 Oda Mae - Wish him the best from Tim and CPT Patti. The Lord will know we include him everytime we pray for "our soldiers". You too! Tim

Posted by: Tim at April 13, 2005 11:25 AM (UPI1q)

7 When I first saw the title of this post and the first two words, I thought, "Oda Mae's leaving? No!" But leaving is not a bad thing. First, fighting in Iraq (metaphorically or literally) is not a bad thing. (Not a controversial opinion on this blog - I hope!) Second, being Iraq doesn't mean being cut off from the rest of the world. It's possible to comment and even blog from there. There's a lot of WWII romanticism out there, but one downside to that period was the paucity of real-time communication. As I write this, your husband's plane has already left. But I am thinking of him ... and you.

Posted by: Amritas at April 13, 2005 02:14 PM (+nV09)

8 "your" and "you" referred to Oda Mae, of course. Sorry for the ambiguity.

Posted by: Amritas at April 13, 2005 02:15 PM (+nV09)

9 Welcome back, Amritas. I've missed your comments and words wisdom! Sarah's mom

Posted by: nancy at April 14, 2005 01:05 AM (YuW6k)

10 Thanks for the kind words. It's an honor to hear from you - and to post on your daughter's blog. I'm a little embarrassed, because this comments section should really be about Oda Mae and her husband.

Posted by: Amritas at April 14, 2005 03:15 AM (WnSrS)

11 Amritas, you can post anywhere about anything, I just like to read your thoughts! As to real time communication - well the British Army is a tad different. My husband is entitled to a 20 minute phone call a week. (We can get more time if we pay for extra minutes with his credit card, but he put me on a budget as to that expense before he left.) Their computers are on an internal Ministry of Defense LAN - except for the welfare ones for the soldiers, where he can check his e-mail. Even more frustrating, he's an officer like Sarah's husband. If he has one soldier waiting in line behind him, he will step aside to let his soldier get to the phone. AGGHH!! Looks like many 0200 phone calls to come. Thanks so much, Sarah, for eliciting the nice comments. My deployment won't be nearly as bad as everyone else's - knock wood. He's only gone for six months, and he gets two weeks leave in the middle.

Posted by: Oda Mae at April 14, 2005 08:17 AM (FmIVz)

12 Oda Mae, Thanks for the details on your situation. When I wrote my comment the autobiography of a WWII vet* was fresh in my memory (I finished reading it a few days ago). I'm not saying that you will have it easy, but that poor guy didn't get to see home for two years. No phones (I think), and of course no e-mail. And he came home only to find that he and his girlfriend weren't meant to be. I don't know how much contact my father had with my mother during the Vietnam War. My guess is not much. And after he got out of Vietnam, he went to college in Nebraska while my mother stayed behind in Hawaii for years. They weren't reunited for good until I was three. I'm not even sure if my father was around when I was born! *The memoir is in comic book form (the author has drawn comics professionally for almost 60 years). You can see (and buy) it here: http://www.meccacomics.com/issue-gallery.cfm?ID=12

Posted by: Amritas at April 15, 2005 04:35 AM (WnSrS)

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Dear Deskmerc,

I know, I know. I'm sorry I haven't been around much. I now have a job where I can't blog. Hell, I can't even stop talking for more than 10 seconds before the whole room erupts into roars and highlighter fights. And I don't get paid for a second after 1500, so I try to get everything done during lunch and my planning period so I don't have to take anything home. Because when I get home, I tear my husband away from his GMAT studies to just sit on the sofa and, well, sit. That's all I want to do. And we get in bed at 2100. The days are flying by, and I find myself further and further from the computer. Dang, Mitch Hedberg died a week ago and I just found out. I'm out of touch, what can I say. The only thing I really have to blog about is something that happened at school, something big, but it's really too sensitive to blog about. I wish I could though. God help the state of our public schools.

So I haven't been around. But I still think of you guys all the time. And instead of missing me, go ahead and read Notes from the Olive Garden again: even after the tenth reading, it's still better than anything I could say.

Talk to you soon,
Sarah

Posted by: Sarah at 08:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I can't get into my email, but I wanted to wish Tim (of CPT Patti fame) a happy birthday. I hope he reads this...

Posted by: Sarah at 12:29 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Virus be damned, I'm blogging anyway. I spent two weeks with the computer offline, trying to get rid of this stupid virus, when I finally gave up. I'll get it worked out eventually, but I plugged the ethernet cable back in.

My life is about the same as I left it two weeks ago. I'm still subbing, and while things are getting a little better, I was sort of disheartened to find that I likely will be teaching this class for another month. I yell at the kids all day long in school, and then I yell at them all night long in my dreams. I can't seem to get away from them, which is doing a number on my sanity.

The husband is doing great. He's back on a normal sleeping schedule, his feet are healing, and he's studying his tail off to take the GMAT at the end of the month. He's amazing: he attacks everything in his life with the dedication and gusto I only reserve for knitting.

I haven't read any blogs in about two weeks, and I'm not even sure where to start. However, I did feel the blogging pull when I read this nauseating tidbit via Instapundit:

List of Schiavo Donors To Be Sold

If you expressed your support to Terri Schiavo and her parents fight to keep her alive, you may begin to receive a steady stream of solicitations, according to a Local 6 News report.

Terri Schiavo's parents have agreed to sell their list of supporters to a direct-mailing firm, Local 6 News reported.

The company, "Response Unlimited" pays about $150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 6,000 e-mail addresses.

A spokesperson for the Schindlers confirmed that they had agreed to sell the information, but won't say for how much.

I really could see both sides of the Schiavo dilemma. I can imagine not wanting to let go of a loved one, but I can also imagine hating living that way myself. I thought the husband was a rather despicable man, that he kinda gave up his claims to act in Terry's best interest when he started knocking someone else up. But now I think the parents are pretty shameful too, if this story about selling donor names is true.

What a crazy world we live in.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:49 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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