I'm back.
I'm back on my quest to lose the weight put on from law school. As of yesterday morning, I was at 155, so 20 pounds would take me back to 135, which would be heavenly. So far, yesterday and today, I've done well, and tracked all my points. It's going to be hard-the vending machines are a huge draw here, and because of the amount of time I've been spending at school, there are usually at least 2-3 days that I eat both lunch and dinner at school, and that usually means eating out. So my goal is to bring at least 1 meal with me on days I'll need to eat something here. Plus, I need to drag my lazy ass out of bed in the mornings and go running. I'm not going to be able to do the Army 10-miler, because I absolutely have not been training for it, and I just can't deal with another miserable time like at the 10K in June-too depressing. *sigh* No matter how much I feel like I have the depression under control, it's always there, lurking under the surface. I'm thinking I might give my therapist a call, and have a few sessions with her. We'll see. It's not even that I'm unhappy-just feeling a bit overwhelmed again. Anyway...
Switching gears-I'm going to go into a mini-rant. For my Con Law class, we had to read one of the cases challenging NCLB, specifically as relates to Congress' spending power as detailed in the Constitution, essentially arguing that states shouldn't be required to make changes in the schools/school districts that are above and beyond the amount of federal funds they receive. I'm not going to get into the rest of it, because it would probably bore people. To be upfront, I hate NCLB-have ever since it was passed. It was a seriously ill-advised, and in my opinion, has done more harm than good. Anyway, after reading the case, and driving into school (giving me plenty of time to think about this), it just really makes me mad that, no matter how ill-advised it was from a policy standpoint, once it was on the books, it hasn't been properly funded. Putting it next to the current bailout plan for the economy (I'm not claiming these are really related, and don't really under the economic stuff), and you know that money is going to come from other funding, and so NCLB and other things will become even less well-funded. It just really burns me up that education seems to be so low on everyone priority list. I realize it's not as "sexy" an issue as the economy, or foreign policy, but if you look at how far behind our students are compared to a lot of the rest of the world, it's seriously distressing, and I feel should be considered to be reaching critical levels. I realize I have left the teaching world, and I don't have kids (yet), so it's not like it's an issue that directly affects me, but someday I will have kids, and they will more than likely be going to public school, and it scares me that they'll be taught to a test that doesn't accurately portray how schools are doing, if NCLB remains in place in it's current state. And the funding issue probably won't be as big of a deal since Fairfax County is one of the best school districts in the country, but it still bothers me that less privileged districts have to deal with things like that.
Ok, I'll get off my soap box now. On another completely different note, I've been having really bizarre dreams lately, mostly involving either being pregnant, or having a child, or of friends/family have children. I don't know, I feel like 90% of the people in my life outside of the DC area have either had a child recently or are pregnant. And I'm really jealous of them. But Ben's not ready yet, and we want to save up some money before getting pregnant, and want to take a trip overseas before kids, but really, I'm ready now. Even though I know school/starting a job and a new child will be...difficult at best, I just yearn to start a family. But I don't want to push Ben, and it certainly has to be a mutual decision. It's gotten even worse since my sister and BIL announced they were pregnant. I'm so excited for them, but it's bittersweet. Dennis' family all lives within (I think) 2 hours of them, and they see each other often, so their children will grow up with their cousins on that side, but not really their cousins on our side of the family. I knew this would happen when Ben and I moved out here, but it's one thing to know it intellectually, and it's another thing for it to be happening in real life. I'm not going to be able to be there for the birth of my niece/nephew (they're not finding out, so it'll be a surprise), although I'll be trying to get there soon thereafter-she's due at the end of February, so I'll probably be spending my spring break at home. And then it makes me think about when Ben and I have kids, and they'll be so far away from their Aunts/Uncles/Grandparents/cousins (on both sides of their family-at that point, the IL branch will be the closest). It also really bothers me that my mom is so concerned b/c she and dad are an hour and a half away from Dennis and Elizabeth, while Dennis' parents are 1/2 hour or so away, so she's worried about having enough time with her new grandchild. I find it difficult to not start yelling at her that at least she's THAT close, and that it should be relatively easy for them to get to see the kid-especially since Eliz and Dennis, at least right now, have no problem driving all over Chicagoland to see people. Sure, that'll change with the child, but really, it's an hour and a half. Right now, I'd kill to be that close, rather than 12-13 hours. So...Yeah...I guess that's been bothering me more than I thought it was.
Ok, I'm done. If you've made it through my rants, you deserve a cookie. A nice, fat-free, calorie-free virtual cookie. :) Or a real one if you want, but you'd have to get that yourself b/c I'm staying away from cookies at the moment. ;)
Switching gears-I'm going to go into a mini-rant. For my Con Law class, we had to read one of the cases challenging NCLB, specifically as relates to Congress' spending power as detailed in the Constitution, essentially arguing that states shouldn't be required to make changes in the schools/school districts that are above and beyond the amount of federal funds they receive. I'm not going to get into the rest of it, because it would probably bore people. To be upfront, I hate NCLB-have ever since it was passed. It was a seriously ill-advised, and in my opinion, has done more harm than good. Anyway, after reading the case, and driving into school (giving me plenty of time to think about this), it just really makes me mad that, no matter how ill-advised it was from a policy standpoint, once it was on the books, it hasn't been properly funded. Putting it next to the current bailout plan for the economy (I'm not claiming these are really related, and don't really under the economic stuff), and you know that money is going to come from other funding, and so NCLB and other things will become even less well-funded. It just really burns me up that education seems to be so low on everyone priority list. I realize it's not as "sexy" an issue as the economy, or foreign policy, but if you look at how far behind our students are compared to a lot of the rest of the world, it's seriously distressing, and I feel should be considered to be reaching critical levels. I realize I have left the teaching world, and I don't have kids (yet), so it's not like it's an issue that directly affects me, but someday I will have kids, and they will more than likely be going to public school, and it scares me that they'll be taught to a test that doesn't accurately portray how schools are doing, if NCLB remains in place in it's current state. And the funding issue probably won't be as big of a deal since Fairfax County is one of the best school districts in the country, but it still bothers me that less privileged districts have to deal with things like that.
Ok, I'll get off my soap box now. On another completely different note, I've been having really bizarre dreams lately, mostly involving either being pregnant, or having a child, or of friends/family have children. I don't know, I feel like 90% of the people in my life outside of the DC area have either had a child recently or are pregnant. And I'm really jealous of them. But Ben's not ready yet, and we want to save up some money before getting pregnant, and want to take a trip overseas before kids, but really, I'm ready now. Even though I know school/starting a job and a new child will be...difficult at best, I just yearn to start a family. But I don't want to push Ben, and it certainly has to be a mutual decision. It's gotten even worse since my sister and BIL announced they were pregnant. I'm so excited for them, but it's bittersweet. Dennis' family all lives within (I think) 2 hours of them, and they see each other often, so their children will grow up with their cousins on that side, but not really their cousins on our side of the family. I knew this would happen when Ben and I moved out here, but it's one thing to know it intellectually, and it's another thing for it to be happening in real life. I'm not going to be able to be there for the birth of my niece/nephew (they're not finding out, so it'll be a surprise), although I'll be trying to get there soon thereafter-she's due at the end of February, so I'll probably be spending my spring break at home. And then it makes me think about when Ben and I have kids, and they'll be so far away from their Aunts/Uncles/Grandparents/cousins (on both sides of their family-at that point, the IL branch will be the closest). It also really bothers me that my mom is so concerned b/c she and dad are an hour and a half away from Dennis and Elizabeth, while Dennis' parents are 1/2 hour or so away, so she's worried about having enough time with her new grandchild. I find it difficult to not start yelling at her that at least she's THAT close, and that it should be relatively easy for them to get to see the kid-especially since Eliz and Dennis, at least right now, have no problem driving all over Chicagoland to see people. Sure, that'll change with the child, but really, it's an hour and a half. Right now, I'd kill to be that close, rather than 12-13 hours. So...Yeah...I guess that's been bothering me more than I thought it was.
Ok, I'm done. If you've made it through my rants, you deserve a cookie. A nice, fat-free, calorie-free virtual cookie. :) Or a real one if you want, but you'd have to get that yourself b/c I'm staying away from cookies at the moment. ;)