Hello on Wednesday Morning

Dear Friends,

Tuesday went as planned. I visited Mom at the hospital. Once again, she enjoyed my soda bread. When I left hospital, she was sitting in a chair.
Dad, on the other hand, is not doing well. His cold has entered his chest, and he didn't sound well over the telephone.
Mentally, he is not doing well home alone since December 25, 2008. I don't know which parent needs more help from my sister and I.

The wake service went well last night. I was in the background, and didn't have a speaking role in the service.

After the short service, I quickly drove to the Pittsfield Library (1/2 mile away) where we had our Irish Sister City Meeting. They were only on the second agenda item when I walked in, so Linda quickly turned the recording secretary job back over to me.

When the meeting ended, Linda and i were supposed to go to O'Laughlin's for a little food, fun, and merriment. Linda decided to to go to the Pub. She is suffering from a new disorder which I named DSTCAD -->Daylight Savings Time Change Affected Disorder. She has been out of whack ever since we moved the clocks one hour ahead.
I represented the family at the Pub.

Politics -- Obama wants to award teachers Merit Pay. As a former Union President, I will give you some examples of things which could make this a not so good idea. When I was still in the teaching business, some teachers at a middle school used to play golf with the Middle School Principal several days per week. Do you seriously think that these teachers ever received a bad evaluation?
Most States are in a strangle hold because of State mandated tests. Do we measure the merit of the teacher by how the students score on these tests? One of my teacher friends happened to be one of the best mathematics' teacher in his school. The school administration decided to have him teach the lowest level of students. Administration assumed that he could improve the test scores of these students. The students, who were in his classes, lack so many core skills, that they still couldn't pass the standardized test. Super teacher did have these students attain a higher level, but still not high enough so that the students could pass the test.
As a final example, Texas, the home of the presidential Bushes, has standardized testing. The teachers teach to the test every day of the week. Some schools have an over 90 % standardized test passing rate. The college teachers who eventually get these students in there classes have noticed that a good number of these students have no ability to think and reason. They can't spot a student who came from the Texas schools in a heartbeat. These students really struggle in college.

Social Calendar -- After doing the visiting Mom and Dad thing during the day, the Curleys are doing a cultural thing this evening. We are meeting another couple at at Patrick's Pub at 5:30 PM for supper, and then we are off to the Colonial Theater. We will be seeing a Chinese Acrobat Show which starts at 7:30 PM. The program did receive rave reviews.

Our Irish Sister City guest from Ballina, Ireland arrives this evening. Since she will arrive exhausted, us Irish Sister City members will let her adjust to the Eastern Time Zone. We have her on a full schedule right through to next Wednesday.

After visiting Mom yesterday, I went home, and took down every single out door decoration which was Christmas related. I had to chisel out my motorized deer since they were frozen into the ground. Yes, I took a nap after that project.

Well, I have to end this e-mail, and get to writing up the minutes of last night's meeting.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad