weekend and random bits

[cellio]

I got a nice surprise in the mail from magid Saturday. Thanks! Yummy!

Today we stopped at a GetGo which had a big sign saying "get in, get out, get going". It took me longer than I expected to get my few items, and I commented to Dani that there's little their slogan can do to compensate for a slow customer ahead of you in line ("wait! I have 37 cents in here somewhere!"). Dani pointed out that maybe it's not a slogan but instructions, which some people do not follow.

Last night ralphmelton and lorimelton had their annual December party. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see people I haven't seen in a while. There was, as usual, plentiful food, including some really tasty orange cupcakes with chocolate icing. Tonight Ralph, Lori, and mrpeck joined us for dinner, which was pleasant and low-key.

Erik saw the vet Friday morning. All is going well, and they pulled the feeding tube out. He has to go back once more (there's still a dressing on, in large part because of said feeding tube), and then things should be back to normal. He's eating a lot more and was up to 7.1 pounds Friday. He's also now eating dry food, so there is hope of weaning him mostly off of the canned food.

Some school guidance counselors (and probably parents) are lobbying the College Board to split the SAT into multiple tests because it's too long. I don't remember it being overly long; on investigation I found that it's 3 hours, 45 minutes now. This is a test intended for people who want to go to college. If you go to college, you'll probably find 3-hour final exams (possibly worth half your grade) to be common. Sounds like students should get used to it now.

From unspace: Cuteness Overload.

Comments

37 Cents

[(Anonymous)]

Monica,

I'm hoping like crazy the person counting out the 37 cents wasn't me. If it was, it's a shame you didn't introduce yourself!

Glad to hear about Eric.

Re: 37 Cents

[cellio]

It was an elderly woman with a very large purse. Assuming this comment is from Rob, I'd say that's not you. :-)

[mortuus.livejournal.com]

The SAT thing seems stupid. In addition to the fact that there are plenty of exams in college that are that long, breaking it up seems like it would just add more stress. I kind of like standardized tests (yes, I do realize there is something wrong with me ;-)), but they are very stressful to many students. Why stretch it out? It seems like it would be better to just get it over with. And really, 3:45 really isn't that horribly long.

[magid.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Glad it got there ok :-)

[cellio]

It also adds a travel/scheduling burden for some, unless they retain the option to take it all at once. If you live out in the boonies and have to drive two hours to take the test, you'd probably resent having to do it three times.

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Kids at the school where I work take the SATs during the school day (special ed accommodations) and those needing extra time take it during the course of two days. The extra time may be necessary for them to get through the material, but I don't think any of them enjoy having an extra day of sitting for the exam, worrying about the exam, worrying about having pencils &etc for the exam, missing classes (okay, maybe missing classes is okay, but making up the work later not so much)...

[cellio]

I took the SAT during the school day (alone), too, and it annoyed me. (I actually did mind the lost class time.) This was the only way to get a larger-print copy of the test.

(Actually, there was one aspect of that that offended me: I was given a larger-print test and unlimited time in which to take it. I argued that this was fundamentally unfair; I should be given one of those advantages but not both. I was ignored, so I timed myself while taking the test and made sure not to go over. As it turned out, I wasn't close to the time limit anyway.)

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear Erik is doing better.

S

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

We've got kids who need readers, scribes, and/or I-don't-know-what. I think there may be some sort of blanket accommodation thing set up that because we're a special ed school we can host it during school time, and because they're special ed students they can request to take it here...

I also took the PSAT & SAT at the high school I went to, but on a Sunday rather than during school hours - my school was a Sunday test center (probably volunteered as such 'cause it's a Jewish school) and as a Jewish student I had to take the test on a non-Saturday, and that was where I (and most of my classmates) was assigned. I was surprised when I signed up for the GRE to find out that the non-Saturday day for that was Monday rather than Sunday.