Voodoo Child v. 16: it doesn't have to be eternal to be immortal.

Hey Team Voodoo, take a moment to read this and pass along to friends and family. Let's bring Nikki home. -Voodoo 

Hi All,

My sister -- Veronica Ruiz (sister of Maricris Ruiz)-- has been missing since Monday, December 3rd (perhaps you may have seen her story on the news lately). On that morning, she went for a run near her home in Mill Valley, possibly in or around Mt.Tam.  Unfortunately, she never returned that day, nor has she been heard from since. The authorities and media were notified soon after, which resulted in a massive search and rescue effort. Along with ten agencies (such as the sheriff, various police depts, special units, fired dept, feds, etc), family and friends participated in locating her, namely within the Mt. Tam vicinity close to her home. Trails were hiked and flyers were distributed in Mill Valley, Sausalito, Tiburon, and the surrounding area.  Two sightings were combed thoroughly - First sighting Blithedale entrance at 11am and West Point Inn at 12pm.  After two full days, the authorities have decided to indefinitely suspend their search efforts. Naturally, those closer to Nikki want nothing more than to continue the search. We have faith that she's out there and want nothing more than to see her return home safely.

Therefore, we've decided to take it upon ourselves and organize our own search and rescue mission. Volunteers are needed! The attached flyer contains all of the search information. If you are unable to  join us in the search, then please forward this email to as many people as you can. We all know that this is a small world and one tip may lead us in the right direction. A website is also in development and will be up very soon. Please refer to the upcoming site as it will contain updates and information pertaining to the search for Nikki:

www.HelpFindVeronicaRuiz.com

P.S. If you are able to hike with us, dress in layers, wear the appropriate shoes, and bring bottled water. Thank you again for taking the time to read this and please keep Nikki in your prayers.

-- Family and Friends of Nikki

PS: Updated all BRL sites with the correct(!) addys, stalkerati my twitter updates, and put the brl clique back on the page. Sorry I've been really busy. I'll be back soon. Promise.

Posted by Voodoo Child at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good morning all. I would, by pure function, be a morning person because I'm just so much more productive here in the AM than in the evening, but really, I'm exhaustedly tired. Not to mention it's cold as BALLS in my office.

Oh yah, and it's Saturday. Don't ask. I'm here because I don't have to be, and because it's a nice thing to do for some students. I have a plan of attack for my work, like write a final exam, but it'll be some time before I get my eyes to focus for a minute to get that done.

A few days ago, I had an incident where a student plagiarized her work, and it was really troubling to me. She's a senior, ready to graduate, and an international student to boot. It's easily an offense that could give the student an F in the assignment, an F in the course or some other sanction. I chose the 'other' option, and it's a nice one, really, but she's taking it really hard. Crying, coming to my office to talk to me, my intern about it. I feel bad, really, that she's so ashamed and having a hard time dealing with this. But I don't feel bad about my choice to have her go through the sanctions I chose; I feel they are more than fair.

My intern said, perhaps it's too harsh. I asked her to think of another student who is performing less to his ability and it honestly quite a handful. Would you say it's too harsh for him? She said no. I said to her, then that's an appropriate judgment. I'd treat any student, even if I knew them well, the very same way. She didn't pause. You're absolutely right, she said. It's fair.

I should hope so.

I love being a teacher, but nothing pushed me as far away from the love of the job like this semester. Part of it is having two co-teachers (argh), but all in all it's been a learning experience for me. I am going to be very glad when this semester is done, honestly.

***

Husbandido and I went out to dinner last night with FULL intentions of taking advantage of the Banana Republic friends and family sale (Mommy wants cashmere). We got hungry though...Husbandido got stuck in Friday traffic at the bridge that took him 1.5 hours to get through. Poor thing, he hates traffic, but gets stuck in it so often it's a sign from god to get over it. I wound up staying late at work to talk to the students as always. 

Husbandido loves tapas because he's not one of those big plates kinda guys. He likes to sample everything. Seriously. A little this and that. We had to hash out where to go, and we decided on E&O because it's close to BR, but there was a wait. The food is good, but not ALL that to me, but it's easy. Whatever. We wound up walking over to the French District, as I like to call it, and had dinner at Cafe de la Presse. Say what you will about the French. I swear I'm a French person underneath this saggy clothing, but I loved my dinner, and the experience was wonderful with the exception of the surly host. Yes it was super expensive, but it made my night. That and the two Swatch watches I picked up afterwards too. that was a nice gift to myself. I love Swatches so much. What a nerd.

Anyway, I should write this final exam. I hope you're all doing so well, warm and snuggly in your beds. I hate all of you.

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)