Online stress

So after browsing and making a lot of comparisons, you click the 'checkout' button and wait for your online confirmation and paperless tickets. Is there anything else to think about when buying airline tickets on the internet? I didn't think so either, until today.
For the last 24 hours, a friend has been waiting for a confirmation email that might or might not make its way to her inbox. After buying some holiday tickets online, she received an email asking for additional information. Surprisingly, this information included a copy of her credit card and her driver's license. Unwillingly, but without options, she sent the information and kept waiting for her paperless tickets. To her dismay, she had to wait over 10 hours before her tickets were confirmed.
Now that the panic over the ticket is over, she fears for her identity. Not only there is a copy of her ID and credit card in an online file, but who knows where in the world wide web is her information being classified, confirmed and checked. That is what I call Online stress.

What would you do?

It was 2002 when I first saw 'Office Space', a movie about unhappy office workers. At a point, the main character tells his neighbor that he wishes to have one million dollars, so he does not have to do anything. "You don't need a million dollars to do nothing", the neighbor responds.
Oftentimes, I wish I had all the day to myself, so I can do the things I want to do. Then I remember the movie's neighbor. Would I accomplish what I want, or would I be oppressed with all this unscheduled time? What would you do with 24 hours to yourself? Peter's response...

The faces of poverty

After working at a public school in Dallas for 8 years, I wonder about the many faces of poverty. At my school, it does not appear in the shape of hungry kids or dirty uniforms. Less than one third of my students ask for breakfast in the classroom. They all bring clean clothes and enough supplies for the year.
Poverty is only evident when children talk about their living conditions. Here and there, I hear about ill parents, multiple families living together, violent neighbors, and run down houses shared by rodents and insects.
In preparation for Thanksgiving, our students shared the canned goods they have at home. In return, some of them received a colorful box with a frozen turkey and, possibly, some of the cans they gave. It is a nice gesture, but I wonder... are we really fulfilling a need, or are we missing the real face of our students' poverty?  

The sun also rises

One post a day. One worthy thought a day. Hemingway quoted Ecclesiastes, and I will too: "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose." How, then, not to write about what happens in between?