En Espanol por favor

Today we were finishing up our school day with a review of our Spanish vocabulary flash cards. After we do that, we practice conversational Spanish. So I said to T1 "Hola T1"
and he replied "Buenos Dias Senora"
I said "Coma Esta?"
and he replied "muy mal".
Fine.
I turned to T2 and said "Buenos Tardes T2!"
and he says "grande"
I give him the skunk eye and repeat "Buenos Tardes T2"
and he says "I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH, DUH!"

Ok, everyone I've told this to today has laughed hysterically. I don't think it's very funny. I mean,, yeah,, I guess it's funny but it drives me out of my mind!!!
Thank you for wasting my time.
How many times did I tell him this today? UGH.

On the subject of accountability, I ordered a cute little book from Amazon about a month ago. It's called Pulling Weeds to Picking Stocks by the Beatty Brothers. It's written by 8yo Deric, 14yo Devin, and 16yo David. They decided to write a book on how they became financially rich as teenagers. I've read about half of it and so far I'm very impressed. Not by their finacial plan and definately not by their sentence structure (wow,, an editor other than mom might have been a good investment!) but by the insight these boys seem to have into personal accountability and work ethic.
The reason I decided to buy the book was because it was a fund raiser. They want to give $25,000.00 of the proceeds to the Marine Corp and the Law Enforcement Fund. I first heard of the book on the Rush Limbaugh Show when the oldest called in to ask how much advertising would cost. Here's the transcript of the conversation:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let's head to the phones to the Tri-Cities,
Washington. This is David. I'm glad you waited, sir. Welcome to the
program.

CALLER: Hello, Mr. Limbaugh?

RUSH: Hi.

CALLER: This is an honor.

RUSH:
Thank you very much, sir.

CALLER: My name is David Beatty, and I'm 16 years old.
I want to thank you for the work you do to educate America and reinforce what my
parents teach us. Something I believe needs to be re-taught is the value of a
strong work ethic. I want people to know that the American dream is still alive.
I live in the northwest where many people sing songs of socialism. Kids at
school have no idea what it really means to have a socialist society, giving up
their freedoms to, quote, "Spread the wealth."

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: That's what I
try to talk about with people at school, but sometimes actions speak louder than
words. My brothers and I decided we would prove anything is possible, set a
goal, towards a goal and accomplish the goal. So we wrote a book that reflects
just how standing for your own convictions and believing in yourself --

RUSH: You
say you're 16?

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: This is amazing. Very proud of you.

CALLER: And
last year, we had the opportunity to have grace shine on our family. We had lost
our grandfather and the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, Pete Haas
stepped in and Pete was like a pillar of silent strength which we will never
forget. He helped us go out and see our grandfather buried in Arlington, and
these two things tied together because we wanted to thank them for their help
last year, and we want to try to raise $25,000 for them from proceeds from our
book, and we were wondering how much it would cost to advertise on your show,
and I just wanted to talk to you person-to-person about that.

RUSH: Well, I have
sales representatives standing by. They're always here. Should I answer this
question honestly? (laughing)

CALLER: I'm fine with that. I'm a little bit scared
to hear the numbers there, but I'm fine with that

.RUSH: Yeah, you'll be scared
to hear the numbers, I think it's safe to say, but we have ways -- how far along
are you on your book?

CALLER: Oh, we had it published like about a month
ago.

RUSH: How many pages is it?

CALLER: It's a hundred pages.

RUSH: Is the book
now in stores?

CALLER: Yes, it is.

RUSH: What is the title of the book?

CALLER:
Pulling Weeds to Picking Stocks.

RUSH: Pulling Weeds to Picking Stocks?

CALLER:
Yes.

RUSH: Okay. It's a hundred pages. Is it soft cover?

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: How
much does it cost?

CALLER: It's eleven dollars.

RUSH: It costs eleven dollars to
buy it.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Is it available nationally or is it just in your local
neighborhood in the Tri-Cities?

CALLER: I believe it is nationally
available.

RUSH: Who published the book?

CALLER: Tate Publishing.

RUSH: Tate
Publishing. All right, you have just received about a $35,000 commercial.

CALLER:
(laughing) Thank you.

RUSH: And it didn't cost you anything because your cause is
worth the donation of busy broadcast time. You want to sell this book so that
you can donate further to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.

CALLER:
Yes, sir.

RUSH: And you're 16. You know, I've been getting a lot of calls from
people your age over the summer, as people are out of school, and there are a
lot of you, and I just want to tell you, please don't change, because you are
going to become an adult and grow and mature at about the time your
participation in changing the direction of the country is going to be
crucial.

CALLER: Yes, sir.

RUSH: Oh, we have found out your book is also available
on Amazon.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: So people can go to Amazon and pick it up with their
credit card. Well, here's another $10,000 worth of advertising for you, Pulling
Weeds to Picking Stocks, 11 bucks, my gosh, you can't beat that, and some of the
proceeds will go to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. Well, David,
you learned a lesson here. It never hurts to ask for what you want.

CALLER: Well,
thank you very much, sir.

RUSH: How else will people know?

CALLER: How else will
people know.

RUSH: Thank you very much for your effort and your work here, and
all the best to you, David, thanks for calling.

CALLER: All right, thank
you.

RUSH: You bet.

END TRANSCRIPT

So yes, I thought, I have to read this book and I don't mind buying it outright because it's such a good cause. I'm definately going to read this to the boys and I hope they will heed the words therein. I also hope that they will see this little book and hear the less than stellar writing and know that these boys succeeded in the task that they set out to complete. It's not perfect but it's good and they gave it their all.

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I wonder how many shipping boxes they went through sending out the Beatty Brothers' books!

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