Things That Piss Me Off #1: Close Talkers

You know the type. You expect to have a perfectly normal social interaction, but they insist on being so "in your face" that you constantly feel like taking a step back. Here's an example from Seinfeld:

Now, this example is exaggerated a bit... I've never had anyone quite that close. But the idea is the same. Some unfortunate souls are just oblivious to that zone of personal space that we like to keep around us at all times.

As much as the situation pisses me off, though, I have a hard time getting mad at the actual person. I see these folks as terribly devoid of social graces, but pitiable. Thus, I wouldn't want to do anything too nasty. There are some amusing ways to deal with close talkers without being too big of a jerk, though. Off the top of my head, here are some useful strategies for dealing with this issue:

• The "accidental" head-butt. Obviously, you wouldn't want to use this on someone significantly bigger or tougher than you (or if you have a relatively soft head). However, leaning forward as you "trip" and smashing a little face might be a motivator to keep some distance. 
• Talk like Daffy Duck. Random? Yes... but talk like this long enough and eventually some spit is going to fly. That brief moment of wiping spit from the eyes is the perfect time to put meaningful distance between yourself and the offending close talker. 
• The intentional use of bad breath. You might have to set this one up, but if your close talker is a repeat offender, this can work wonders. Eat something notoriously pungent (such as garlic), or give it a personal touch and eat whatever food they absolutely hate. Then, when they zero in on you, accentuate all of your "H" sounds so that you're blowing that horrendous aroma right into their nostrils.

That'll teach 'em.

Trying to Look Gangsta? Try Again...

There's nothing like a scrawny white kid trying to act gangsta. It has worked for some... just look at Eminem. But for most, the attempt blurs the line between embarrassing and amusing. For this kid, we'll call it embarrassing for him and amusing to everyone else.


see more Epic Fails

Where all my Twilight thugs at?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Rubistar: Rubrics Made Easy

I loved using rubrics when I was a teacher. They front-load quite a bit of the decision-making and work of grading, which makes it extremely simple and much less subjective. They also allow for very open ended instructions while maintaining a very structured grading system. The problem with rubrics is that they are really easy to do, but can be difficult to do well. In fact, I have to admit that I have often found myself getting bogged down in the initial phases of creating a rubric only to find out later that I should have spent more time in the fine tuning stages.

Rubistar does almost all of the initial phases of rubric creation for you so that you can spend almost all of your time fine tuning. And best of all? It is free. I'm sold. Or rather, not sold because I didn't pay anything. But still, this site is awesome. Check it out by clicking here.

I haven't taught anything since the fall semester of 2009, but this is still a quality resource for my teaching buddies.

Awesome Site for Background Images

In my constant search for awesome background images (both for desktop backgrounds and for websites), I found tons of high quality images over at http://www.randomwalls.com.  I immediately subscribed to the RSS feed and downloaded a few of my favorites.  I'm looking forward to their future updates.

New Beginnings in the Blogosphere

Alright, so this blog has existed for quite some time, but it has been relatively untouched since its creation. Originally, this text was on the front of the page:

Stalk Josh?!?! Okay, so the title of this blog sounds crazy. This is just a little experiment I'm trying out to see if I can make a blog work with as little effort as possible from me... 

Yes, I know there are products out there that will do the same thing... but I want to do it FREE, and I don't want to reuse (aka STEAL) anybody else's content. 

You'll see RSS feeds, automatic posts from Facebook, and anything else I do online that I can rig to automatically post here. Feel free to become a "stalker" by adding yourself in the top right sidebar. The more stalkers, the better! 

If this works out the way I want it, I'll have an extra buttload of links to my other websites without having to do a whole lot of work... and in theory, that should help beef up my more important blogs in the search engine rankings.

So that was the original intent of this blog. Things have changed a bit since then...

I've been blogging for quite some time now, beginning all the way back in 2008, and I've had varying levels of success. I've done everything from a blog for my classroom to a personal blog to a gaming blog. The gaming blog has been the most successful by far, with over 162,000 page views. Aside from that gaming blog, I've either lost interest in or lost the need for all of the others. As my life has changed, I have dipped in and out of several special interest blog projects. In each case, I was really excited at first and then they just fell by the wayside.

What I've finally decided is that I need one that is generic enough for me to use for the rest of my blogging career. At one point, I used Crazy Teacher Musings for that... but even that blog was connected in too many ways to my profession. When I stopped teaching, it felt a little awkward posting there, so eventually I stopped.

This blog, as creepy as the title may seem, will only be structurally tied to me as a person, rather than my profession or my hobbies. I hope you enjoy the randomness that shows up here! I'm going to be re-posting some of my better content from my scattered blogs here at some point, so that will be an interesting peek back in time.

So welcome, everyone... this is bound to be an interesting venture.