andrea's spare time

ok.. happy first day of school everyone! lots of new stuff going on at hisd, but there one thing that sticks in my mind more than the others.

the student code of conduct now prohibits students from giving gifts to teachers in exchange for a better grade.

huh? you mean it was acceptable to do that in years past? there are going to be kids that wished they'd known that!

yes, says hisd spokesperson terry abbott. there was nothing in the code of conduct before about that, therefore a student couldn't face disciplinary action for it.  well what about the teacher? if the gift indeed results in a better grade, isn't that a violation of teacher ethics. "yes" says abbott, and that would be dealt with, but there was nothing to punish a student for trying to do so.

good grief. for starters, it's the wrong thing to do. so why can't we just know that the teachers would nip it in the bud and refuse the gift, especially a gift with strings attached.  secondly, i guess it bugs me that the district thought they couldn't discipline the kid (an example of this happened last year, according to abbott) because it wasn't prohibited in writing. what about cheating? that's in writing.  isn't cheating finding a way to improve what do you guys think?

lots of people are talking about the two tragic deaths of kids locked in hot cars. (one in northwest harris county yesterday, and one in webster on wednesday.) please please talk about what has happened.  the more people talk about it the more people will be aware enough to not let it happen to them.

how could someone forget?? i don't know the circumstanced behind these two incidents, but i have read a few of the heartbreaking stories online.  in one case a dad of a 6 month old forgot to take his child to daycare because he was forced to take a big construction detour and then got a distracting cell phone call. in another, a grandfather forgot about the child because he was preoccupied by his new diagnosis of leukemia.

in 1990, about 5 children died in hot cars. that number has steadily climbed, and in 2005 more than 40 kids died in hot cars! we say our lives have gotten crazy busy? well i guess so. this seems to be evidence.

i know we all think this couldn't happen to us, BUT just to make sure, here are a few things you can do or put in your routine that will be added safety.

i'm thinking of the david bowie song as i write this. i'm actually surprised no one has blogged about the chinese decision to put the "best voice" with the "cutest face" during the opening ceremonies.

if you hadn't heard, the 9 year old that came out before the cameras to sing that beautiful anthem was lip-syncing. the voice was from a 7 year old whom the chinese said was not cute enough... because she had crooked teeth.

give me a break. that girl was plenty adorable! that decision takes my opinion of the opening ceremonies down a notch or two. it's been pointed out for me that that's par for the course in china. they'll do anything to make themselves look good.. and hide the many, shall we say... not so good things that go on inside their borders.

what do you guys think?  do you think anyone in the u.s. would do what the chinese did?

i know the construction is still not complete in a few areas.. but there's a major stretch of i-10 inbound between hwy 6 and the loop that have 5 or 6 lanes open. i drive that stretch every morning at 3:15am. not much traffic then... but if you drive that part during rush hour, is it any better??

i also want to know how the new i-10 tollway is supposed to work. we still will have a FREE hov lane to use when we have passengers right? (the answer better be yes, or i'll be steamed.) i've tried to figure out how the tollway/hov lanes work, but whizzing by at 65 mph it's been pretty difficult to do.

ok.. have you guys heard this speculation? that maybe john mccain might pledge not to run for a second term in office?  it's interesting. do you think you would be more likely to vote for him if he promised just one term? and who do you think his v.p. nominee might be with that in mind??

or i'll just plain ask... do you think that's a good idea?

broken records can be looked at as good or bad... good... for example in the olympics, bad if it's something that repeats until its welcome wears out.

now we've learned that exxon mobil broke the its previous record of record profits... with second quarter earnings coming in at $11.68 billion dollars. its previous record was the the 4th quarter of 2007... earning $11.66 billion.

i can imagine that exxon mobil stockholders won't get tired of this kind of broken record... but what about you? do you feel it's greed like many do? or do you appreciate that that's what capitalism is... and maybe even see that exxon mobil's success helps houston and texas as a whole?

you know one of the crazy things about this record profit announcement. it triggered a drop in exxon mobile's stock price by almost 5%! a drop! analysts thought the company would make even more! i don't even know what to think about that.

what do you think?

big improvements are in store for kirby drive... the section between westheimer and richmond. but last night the live oak trees on the west side started coming down.. dozens of trees... not even a stump left.

for most of us it may be easy to forget what's not there anymore, but we won't forget about the project... 16 months of construction... that will widen the streets, and revamp the storm sewers to alleviate flooding. in the end... it does seem like the street will be beautiful and safe for motorists and pedestrians. we have the drawings of the finished product on our web site... but here's a list of the improvements with some of my observations:

-- Renovate storm sewer system

-- Eliminate continuous left turn lanes (those suicide lanes)

-- Install median  (so left turn areas will be designated)

-- Bury overhead utility lines  (and there are a BUNCH! the many telephone polls will be  gone as well!)

-- Expand sidewalk width from 4' to 5' (even if it were to stay the same width, the current sidewalk needs lots of work.)

-- Enhance pedestrian crosswalks, with "safe haven" half way accross Kirby Drive (safe haven at the median. right now to cross the road you have to get across all 7 lanes... that's 77 feet! yikes!)

-- Replace 135 current trees with 148 new "large diameter" trees (residents are skeptical about the size of the replacement  trees)

-- Establish right of way maintenance of Kirby Drive landscaping and irrigation (this is a first for kirby too. look at it now and you can see there's no organized landscaping effort)

the project is scheduled to be complete november 2009.

 i'll have to admit it was tough to see all the thick branches of the oaks, sawed up into pieces, piled in a dumpster. one man came by and said he wanted the wood for his fireplace, and i looked at it and wondered if the wood could have had some furniture potential... but dumpster diving in this case is a big no-no. illegal and not safe either.  i checked with "waste management" (the disposal contractor) and at least i can tell you that the wood will be mulched... not dumped in a land fill.  

your thoughts on this? do you live in the area or shop there? do you think the street needs these improvements at the cost of the trees?

i'm here on the scene of a horrible stabbing. according to police 3 men busted into an apartment where one of the men had an ex-girlfriend. this is at about 2am. the men allegedly tried to beat up the woman when 2 neighbors heard the screams and came to help. Then there's a huge knife fight. all 5 men get injured... but the two men who came to protect the 2 women and estimated 12 children in the apartment, ended up dying. (one died at the scene and we're told by the apartment manager, the 2nd man died at the hospital.)

detectives have found the three suspect. two were hurt pretty badly and i don't know their condition yet... or if they've been charged... but...

what would you do if you were the neighbors in this situation? they saved the women and children from serious injury (or worse), but they gave their lives. how quick would you be to intervene if you heard something like this going on?

we just did our last family camping trip for the summer... spend 5 nights in a galveston campground right along the beach. i have to say i've never enjoyed the island more than i did this weekend. the weather was great, and the water was the prettiest i had ever seen it. (maybe we should visit in july more often.) the water was beautiful green... very warm and pretty clear. there were people fishing all along the sandbar... standing in chest-deep water. they told us they were fishing for sea trout which come close to shore when the water gets warm.

swimming out there was so much fun! we were swimming in the middle of huge schools of smaller fish. (i'm sure that's why the bigger fish were there.) we had great time watching the bait fish appear through the waves. then they did something i'd never seen before.  the schools jumped out of the water hundreds at a time...  traveling over the top of the water for several seconds. what a sit e to see!   now i did keep in mind that there could be large predators under the water pushing them up. my husband and i kept a watch out, but never said the word s-h-a-r-k in front of our kids. that would have freaked them out.

so anyway...  we got back yesterday, hadn't been in our driveway 25 minutes before the station calls me. our dear ruben dominguez told me to come in early this morning to do my lives in galveston! good grief... we should have never left. but coming back down was fine with me. 

we take our kids to galveston frequently throughout the year but we're going to remember mid-july as one of the best times to come. 

hey you guys! do you have a favorite bread? you thought i was talking about money didn't you. no i'm talking about bread bread.

my husband just discovered that the only reason he likes toast is because the bread we normally buy is so wonderful. to save money (ok save some bread) we tried a cheaper brand, and now his love for his morning butter and toast has slipped away. what's the good stuff he misses? we call it "green" bread. but it's really orowheat's "oatnut" bread. (has a green label.) and i have a hunch that stuff is pretty popular.

a store i used to go to wasn't good at keeping it on the shelves, so when they did stock it, people like me would buy several loavesat a time. (yes, hoarding is bad. i know.) now i don't have that problem... but i usually notice that the green bread is never fully stocked like the other breads. and more than once i've had to climb up the shelves to pull the last loaf of green bread from the waaayyyyy back.

so any other oatnut lovers out there? if not, what's your favorite bread?

such a sad story. you probably have already heard at least some of it.  a 14 year old baytown girl... and 8th grader! is now charged with capital murder.  prosecutors say she gave birth to a 7 lb. baby boy in a school toilet... and then they allege she stuffed toilet paper into his throat and drown him.  her attorney says the girl didn't know she was pregnant.

the girl goes to juvenile court in the morning where the charges will be formally presented. apparently there's been no decision made on whether to try her as an adult. even if they did and she were convicted, there would be no death penalty imposed because of her age. the supreme court made a decision in 2005 that no one shall be executed for a crime committed when they are 17 or younger.

there clearly is a point where kids are way too young to be responsible for their decisions. and then clearly there is an age (at least legally) where they are held responsible. but there are many years in between that are a gray area. the time when we say "we would hope they would know better by now.... but then kids are kids."

what do you guys think about this 14 year old? was she in that gray area? should she be tried as an adult? if she is convicted what kind of sentence is appropriate? would you want to be held fully accountable for all the decisions you made when you were 14?

ok... i don't know if the 16 year old victim was there to make a purchase but let's put it this way.. he wasn't an employee. as pearland police say around 10:15pm yesterday this 16 year old entered the store and struck up an arguement with a 19 year old employee. about the 16 year old's girlfriend. witnesses say the 16 year old got aggressive first... swinging a fist... but the 19 year old is alleged to have pulled out a pocketknife and started stabbing. 5 times in the face and back according to the police press release. the victime rode the chopper to hermann hospital in critical condition and as of this writing pearland police have not returned my request for an update on him.

so... i know stuff happens, but i have to say i'm frustrated by walmart's p.r. department. 1st i have to give them credit... and i do give them a lot of credit.... for returning my voice mail before their business hours begin... AND before my deadline, because i told them i would be doing a live report at 6:30am.

but... this is the frustrating part. the only thing she would say is that it's a police investigation and all questions needed to go to pearland police. sure... questions about the investigation go to police. i get that without being told. but i asked if they would comment on the store safety. maybe they'd like to give a message to customers who might feel uneasy that an -employee- would allegedly pull out a knife while on the job. maybe they might simply express regret to the 16 year old victim. NO i'm told. "all questions need to be deferred to the police department." so i say "you mean walmart has no comment." she corrects me: "yes, our comment is that since this is a police investigation all questions go to them."

sooo... i know corporate p.r. tend to be tight lipped. the rational on this one didn't sit right and i just wanted to explain walmart's position on this matter.

now... what do you think? and i'm not asking what do you think about the corporate reaction really. what do you think about this happening inside a walmart... allegedly by an employee on the job?  does it reflect badly on walmart or do you think it's just an isolated case they need not worry about?

a u.s. coast guard crew plucked 5 texas a&m students out of the water this weekend... saving them after they had been floating on 4 life jackets for 26 hours! on the second sorti by a  coast guard chopper this crew was able to find them at 2am with high winds and 10 foot swells. talk to any of them and they essentially say "just doing my job ma'am" but these guys found the needle in the hay stack and their success should be commended.

the pilots: lt. justo rivera and lt. lee allen... rescue swimmer: chief al shannon.... :hoist operator : louis bishop. they all seem to love their job, and why not right? the people they save have probably already considered they may not live through their ordeal. when they are saved i would think they look at their life in a brand new way. and then there are the people who love them... who get their prayers answered.

i'm on my way to galveston now to hear from a couple of the survivors. i'm looking forward to hearing about their 26 hours at sea... what do you think they talked about? what would you talk about?

the family of officer johnson was clearly disappointed that illegal immigrant juan quintero was not sentenced to death for murdering a houtson police officer.  jurors instead opted for life in prison finding mitigating circumstances... and saying quintero's life still has value and still deserves mercy.

what do you think? how many have very strong opinions and how many of you are on the fence? or perhaps you feel the public needs to support whatever the jury decides?