Dang, them radishes are spic-ay!

For about a year and a half now, I've heard a friend of mine raving about a sub sandwich place near my house. "Oooh, sweet torta subs!" I pass it all the time, but in the four years I've lived in my place, I've never gone there. Frankly, it's one of those places that just looks a little sketchy. And it probably is. But I finally went there yesterday with another friend for a late night snack as I was driving her home. She recommended the apple spice donut - kind of like a jelly donut, but different. As I discovered, it's not so much a donut, really, as a sweet powdery apple-filled piece of paradise. We got one to share and then also split a Vietnamese chicken sub. (The sandwich was little, and we were starving, don't judge me! ;) The bun was hot and crispy, the chicken was nuuuummy, and the sandwich was filled with cucumbers, carrots, and the spiciest radishes I have ever eaten. At least, I think they were radishes. They were long skinny white things (julienned something or others) that made my mouth almost burn right off. RIGHT! OFF! Haaaaat! It was strange, normally I'm good with spicy things. Oh, but it was THE best sandwich I have had in a very very long time. My friend was definitely right! Torta subs are my new nemisis. They're healthy, right? Please? Make it so?

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Speaking of radishes... In yesterday's Monday Meeting at school, I was getting the kids all fired up about giving compliments. Trust me, this relates. Stick with me here.

"When we talked about our hopes and dreams for this year, we all said that we want this class to be a positive place where we all belong and feel welcome..." Yadda yadda yadda. All that good teacher talk. (It's all true, but there's just something about the way a teacher says it that makes it sound so... well, teacher-y.) Anyway, this week's challenge is to pay a compliment to every person in the class. So, we were talking abuot compliments, and I had the kids give me examples. We talked about being specific, making sure you really mean it, all that good stuff. I was getting things like, "Good job," "I like your sweater," "Nice work," "Good try," "Your hair looks nice today," "You're funny." You get the picture. Then PuppyDog (so named because follows me around the room wherever I go and I'm constantly telling him to sit down, put his hand up, and wait his turn) pipes up with this, said with flair:

"Your shirt is ravishing!"

I couldn't help but crack up. "Yes, PuppyDog, that would be a compliment!" We were sure to define the word and then I carried on, smiling to myself.

After the meeting, BookWormGirl came up to me to clarify: "Ms., what does radishing mean again?" HA!

"RaVishing, my dear, not raDishing," I say, amused.

"Ooooh. That makes more sense."

Yes. Yes it does.

Ah, I love how these kids make me giggle! *grin*

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Aaaand, just to make this the most random post in the world...

Holy cow (or should I say, holy wildebeest!) I have discovered, THE coolest thing. It's called Africam. I found it thanks to Troll Baby, and it's a live 24 hour webcam of a natrual watering hole somewhere in South Africa. During the day, the camera pans around to where the animals are, zooms in and out, all that fun stuff. At night, it switches to a night vision cam. I had it running all evening last night while I was working on the computer. So far I've heard all kinds of birds, really really screechy monkies, and seen a deer, a rabbit, some unidentifiable creature, AND a whole herd of freaking water buffalo! This morning (yes, I checked before work!) there was a great gang of wildebeest there. It is SO cool! Check it out, but be warned, you'll get hooked! (By the way, the clarity is sooooo much better than what you see here!)