I have always heard a lot of talk of a “life verse” within the Christian community. I must admit, I always thought it was hooey when I was a kid. The verse people picked were usually because of 1 life altering incident but never really seemed applicable to their whole life. Well, I am reversing my previous position. The year I was married to NerdDad I found my life verse. It is Romans 8:28(NIV version here):

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

It has always helped me remember that God is bigger than the junk and jerks in our lives. It is also important for me to remember that God is also bigger than the good and ourselves in our lives. So when you are asking why or think you have it all handled, remember that God has had it all planned and handled from the beginning. Read the rest of the chapter if you get a chance, it is life changing.
(HT: With Reckless Abandon)

Our winner is NerdDad! The quote is from Lord Acton.

If you really want to laugh you need to read the next few posts. I was going to put them all into 1 large post but a)it would be to long and b)your sides would hurt from laughing. So I will start this series with a story in which the Nerdling (9 months old) is at the center. So the enire Nerd Family went out of town for Easter to NerdDad’s parents. A day and a half before we left the toilet handle in the master bath broke (actually the plastic arm connected to it, but it isn’t important to the story). So we arrive home Monday late afternoon but I must go out to get a piece for the toilet and dinner while I was at it. So I get home and NerdDad greets me at the garage door. “I have something to tell you but, you have to remember we have 3 kids”, he saids. Ok, all you moms out there, imagine what is going through my mind. We have 3 kids so… if we have only 1 permantly scarred that is good odds? It was a matter of time until we had a broken bone? Emergency room trip time? So NerdDad goes onto say that the Nerdling was playing nicely on his little blanket. NerdDad was being productive. The other kids were watching VeggieTales. All of a sudden the NerdBug (4 1/2) yells for Dad. The Nerdling has managed to (we assume) crawl about 4 feet and no one has seen it. He has not crawled since so we are not sure if he scooched or crawled. It figures……
Click here for the escapades of the NerdPie…

I recently caught a discussion in one of my groups as a little known eBay policy.

Teacher’s editions of textbooks and solutions manuals that are intended solely for use by teachers are not permitted by eBay.

Come to find out, Amazon and Half.com (owned by eBay) have the same policy. Now, some people feel this is against homeschoolers. For those of you who don’t know, buying used books in order to bargain homeschool. There are 2 real solutions to this quandry. A)You can make your own answer key or B)pay full price. Personally, I think this is an unintended result of this policy. I truly believe this policy is to prevent student cheating. Am I being naive or are others paranoid?

I think this is so cute. I believe that this is a quiet truth. It is unfortunately indicative of the public school system.

So over in the Weekly Standard is an article about the expansion of Title IX into math and science departments. Can you say over reaching? How about useless? Here is the premise

Assistant Secretary of Education Stephanie Monroe announced that the Department of Education would be teaming up with the National Science Foundation to investigate the sex disparities in hard sciences–particularly engineering, physics, and computer science–that got former Harvard University president Larry Summers into so much trouble when he broached the subject in an academic meeting last year.

This is the part that really urked me:

She told Inside Higher Education, for example, that because the discrimination faced by women in math and science is often “subtle,” the government would investigate policies that result in women “feeling unwelcome” in their pursuit of advanced degrees or tenured positions in the hard sciences. Although Monroe promised to “not simply look at the numbers,” the unwelcoming environments for women she intended to investigate were in fact schools where a relatively small number of women pursue postgraduate work or where relatively few women are hired as faculty in math and science.

Now remember that I am a female math and science nerd (and found my loving husband that way;). I think that Sara, over at Reckless Abandon, will agree that we never felt as if we were outsiders. Frankly, nerdy math and science guys are very happy to see girls at all, much less ones that will talk to them. I do know that most math and science departments want women (and not just as eye candy;). Frankly, the more girls they have as students the more $$$ and having female faculty means you can qualify for more grants. Now I do believe that there is a disparity between the male and female enrollment in math and science programs. I do believe that a little part of it does have to do with natural interests but I think more of it may be society based. I think that aiming at younger girls (less than 8th grade) may be a more apropriate effort. Unfortunately, I do think this non math and science bias is past from woman to girl and not male society, but more thoughts on that later.

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
Think you know? Email me here. Due to the lateness of this post, I will not post the winner until Thursday Afternoon!

So I am watching Gilmore Girls with with NerdDad and it happens. Lorelai Gilmore says, “No frakking way”. I knew Battlestar was popular but this popular?1?! I am pleased!

20. Your kids never tell you that you’re a lot dumber than their
teacher.

19. If you can’t find matching socks for your child first thing in
the morning, who cares?

18. Cleaning out the refrigerator can double as chemistry lab.

17. Your kids have good reason to think they might get spanked in
school, but no reason to think they’ll get beat up by a gang.

16. If the principal gives the teacher a bad evaluation, she can
stick her icy feet against his legs at night.

15. You can post the Ten Commandments on your school room wall and
won’t get sued.

14. You never have to drive your child’s forgotten lunch to school.

13.Your child will never go to their 20th high school reunion, meet
an old flame, and recklessly abandon their marriage.

12. You get to change more than diapers, you get to change their
minds.

11. If you get caught talking to yourself, you can claim you’re
having a PTA meeting.

10. It’s better to be slightly concerned about socialization than
very concerned about socialism.

9. Your child will never suffer the embarrassment of group showers
after PE.

8. The only debate about the school lunch program is whose turn it
is to cook.

7. You never have to face the dilemma of whether to take your
child’s side or the teacher’s side in a dispute at school.

6. If your child gets drugs at school, it’s probably Tylenol.

5. The teacher gets to kiss the principal in the faculty lounge and
no one gossips.

4. Your kids recognize that this list is numerically in reverse
order.

3. Your honor student can actually read the bumper sticker that you
have on your car.

2. If your child claims that the dog ate his homework, you can ask
the dog.

1. Some day your children will consider you to be a miracle working
expert and will turn to you for advice.

(HT: Shasta)

The winner is Melissa Markham. FDR said this during his First Inaugural Address. Next week will have a new quote and perhaps a new format (I am still refining;).