The Midas Touch

Today, I talked about business tycoons during the Industrial Revolution and the words "he has the Midas Touch" was discussed.  I also talked about idioms in my English Conversation Group for ESL Adult Learners on weekends. This idiom is not as popular as the others we have brought up in class so I thought I'd write about it briefly here.

He has the Midas Touch:
(A person who touches everything and turns it into gold). Refers to a person who can make anything profitable. Having the "Midas touch" allows a person who can take anything that was failing and make it profitable and successful.







On another note:
A song "Midas Touch" was actually written and recorded by Midnight Star.  You can listen to an mp3 sample on itunes or Amazon.com.   

A simple video I found on YouTube:

Change of Weather

Freezing!  That's what it's like around here. The last few weeks, we've had weather here in Chicago in the mid to upper 90s, tons of  humidity and sunshine, that the heat index was near 100.  Then of course, a sudden change in weather:  In the last two days, it was in the 60s during the day; the temps last nite was in the 40s. A big change--a 30 degree difference and my fingers are a little frozen. 

Just like my heart.  I've gone cold towards certain people I've known in the last decade.  Have you ever met someone for the first time, and as soon as that person opened their mouth, you were just "turned off" by them?  That you can "smell" their sneaky, dishonest personality? You're hoping you never have to deal with this person again?

What if it turns out that you have NO choice? You have to deal with that "rotten spud" is what I will call him.  It turns out that your best friend decided to go out and keep dating Mr. Rotten Spud and the relationship gets serious.  You try to warn her in an ever subtle way, but hey, it's her life and you can only say so much of how you dislike spoiled taters without breaking your own relationship with her.  After all, it's only a gut feeling I had when I met Mr. Rotten Spud and my woman's instinct kicked in uncontrollably, that there was something just not right with this potato.

So, in the last decade, I had to talk (nice) to Mr. Rotten Spud and include him in our parties and get-togethers, because I really didn't have a choice!!! I was trying to be cool, pretending to "get along" with him all to please my best friend.

My best friend called to tell me that Mr. Rotten Spud was becoming a maggot. ( as if I didn't foresee this) It turns out he was lying to her, being mean to her friends, and actually thinks he's righteous.  I listened to the details unfold in their relationship in the past years. He promised her many things and change his ways, and after so many years) of dealing with "his noise", she was fed up; I grew weary, and emotionally upset with her.  My instinct was right nearly 10 years ago, that Mr. Rotten Spud, couldn't possibly be the right person to stay with her forever.  Should I have spoken up then?  That's my regret now.

Change of weather around here? You bet it got very cold.  My friend who's still with Mr. Rotten Spud, (on and off again) needs to get strong and confident to help herself grow emotionally. I myself quit talking to him as I told her not to bring him here anymore because there's no need for spoiled vegetables--they belong in the garbage!

Life of Fred - A Math Curriculum Review

(This is from Amazon.com)
Just one of the books in the Life of Fred Math series.

Who is Fred?  Fred Gauss is a fictional character created by Dr. Stanley Schmidt is a retired college math professor who decided to write books on teaching math.  According to his website, he began with drawing a face of Fred to help his then, high school students understand Algebra at that time.  He worked for many years, using his character he drew and made up: Fred, the rest is history.  His book series began and now everyone can enjoy the rich concepts he explains thru Fred in an easier way. Whether you want to learn fractions or decimals in elementary grade or Calculus, Statistics, or Linear Algebra in college. 

I purchased our very first Math book for this year's homeschooling of my 7th grade (gifted) child.  The book came and so far, we are very amused and learning at the same time.  My child enjoys the story and also found the math problems challenging and easy to grasp.  The hardcover book has picture drawings in black and white. There are some answers included but if you want more (answer) keys, then an option would be to order the Home Companion Algebra book, which not only gives the answers but provides more practice questions.

I really like this book so much because Algebra is so much more interesting (not to mention funny; you'll chuckle along the way), that we also ordered the Advanced Algebra book and it's Home Companion. We read that since we do math everyday, we can probably cover the whole Algebra book in half  of our school year.

I highly recommend this series! Dr. Schmidt's website (you can order books thru his site too.  Psst! It's cheaper and the shipping is free in the United States as an option) is:

http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html

You can also download sample pages (pdf files) to check out the lessons for yourself.

Keurig Coffee Maker

Keurig (B70 Model)

Every morning, the first thing I have to have is my cup of "Joe". Yep, COFFEE!  It's my "peaceful, morning ritual", along with watching TV to get the weather forecast or catch the early morning shows, or sometimes, I read my magazines.

Unfortunately, I had another problem with my replacement Keurig Coffee machine. It seems that the little dispenser where the coffee comes out is clogged.  I heard the water going through the reservoir but instead of coming out of the spout, the grounds were overflowing from the K-cup itself.  I was very irritated and decided to just get ready for work that day.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the Keurig machines. The first machine I bought had to be replaced within 3 months since the reservoir wouldn't even move the water to the other part of the machine.  While they (Keurig) have an excellent customer service, and sent me a brand new machine immediately, I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to have yet another machine break down. 

I'm planning on calling the company to voice my problems again; I hope that they have a solution and resolve this problem with either this machine or a new one.