Being a teacher can sometimes have its benefits. First, I have the pleasure to work in a career that offers a lot of autonomy. Second, it keeps me young. Third, I work with some amazing educators, each with their own political philosophies, which happily are very similar to my own. LEFT! Finally, I have quite a few vacation days, in which to enjoy with my little family.

Many of you might think that vacation days would top the list, but to be honest I love being in the classroom. I used to be in retail. Now that is a living hell! I always enjoy being in with my students, teaching them about the ways of life, liberty and the persuit of happiness. Yes, I’m a social studies teacher. Thank you very much.

With Veterans Day, I was lucky enough to have last Friday off. We actually did a minute of silence at 11am on the Thursday before. The kids were great. We didn’t want them going into a day off without knowing just exactly what it was they we getting the day off for. When they’re at the mall, or playing video games, or even getting stoned with friends, I want them to know that many people, soldier and civilian, died in a just or unjust war.

On Saturday, Kitty and I took Lauson out to enjoy the weather. It was beautiful in San Francisco this weekend. We found ourselves on Height Street, which is a rarity. We don’t ususally dare to hit a tourist trap on a weekend. We hit up Amoeba Records, of course. Ali wanted some music, and I had to feed my jones, and buy a poster, like the little one above. Actually, that’s the one I bought. It’s a Chuck Sperry (Firehouse) piece for NYE 2004 Jello Biafra/Melvins show. I’ve been eyeballing it for a while. It’s actually rather large. 4′ x 3′.

I’ve decided to only buy one poster a month right now. It was a hard decision to be honest with you. I love the fact that these posters are so inexpensive these days. It truly is the working man’s art. The artists know the buyers can’t afford to spend much, so they keep the prices low. This one was $35.00.

The remainer of our weekend included a few parks with the one year old. She’s about to walk; it’s so fun to watch her go up and down the stairs and down the slides on her own. We also went to the 10th anniversary party for Laughing Squid. This is my friend Scott Beale’s site. Check it out, but don’t blame me if you get hooked, and use it every day.

I found myself actually taking about a 30 minute breather last night. Being a teacher is quite amamzing, but the work doesn’t stop when the final bell rings.

Jello Biafra and the Melvins “Plethysmograph”“Yuppie Cadillac”

Enjoy.