A card trick; Here it's other; Christmas is coming

What is the one thing you don't want to show your poker pals while playing the weekly game? Card tricks. Especially good ones. Life according to BOB FM today.
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Now, as you know, my nephew and I have been going back and forth about the whole bi racial Obama thing.
So, as promised, I did my research today. I asked a teacher, a teacher's husband, and even a co worker who has a bi racial child in the Pittsburgh Public School System. Our forms have other on them, and that is what gets checked for bi racial children.
Now, if you read the comment from Shan on my last post about this subject matter, she said theirs used to say "mixed" but they decided that was too degrading. The reason that this is asked on the enrollment form is so that they can track progress by race, gender and so on. So, if the bi racial child's mother is white, and therefore the child is registered white, I think that becomes a problem. Say you have 10 white children in the class that do very well, 6 that do okay and 2 that don't do well at all. Then you have 5 black children that do well in the class, 3 that do okay and one that doesn't do well at all. Then you have 3 bi racial children that 1 does okay and 2 don't do well. That then effects the percentages of how well the white children are doing or not doing. I'm sorry. They should have their own category if that's the reason for it. But I really think that the children should just be children. Why does it matter that Johnny is black and Tom is white and they both get really good scores in their testing. So you have x percent of white kids did well and were in the 90th percentile, and x percent of black kids did well and are in the same percentile, but in a different group cause their black? Doesn't that sort of defeat the whole desegregation idea? They desegregated in the classroom, but not in their scores? That's just so wrong in so many ways!
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Well, as we sit here, Christmas is going to sneak up on us before we know it. Thanksgiving is fast approaching, which is also Dean's birthday. Nov. 27.

( Dar: Dean's birthday is on Thanksgiving! He will be 50! Don't forget. You told me you always forget, so this is your reminder!)

The good thing is, I have stuff on order and some of it has already come in. Emily's present was the first to arrive! The bad thing is, Dean and I (like most of the rest of country) are not spending as much this year. We are cutting way back. We don't want to put anything on credit, as we are trying to get the bills paid down so we can buy a new camper in a couple of years. Dean's car is giving up the ghost and probably will need a new one come spring. So, with all that, we have tightened our belts. I just hope that the economy gets better and soon.