Steve Rossi


.Useless Facts of the Day. Click Here to check it out. Brought to you by Barry Bolduc.	Click here to check out the Rossi Italian Bakery	Take the first official srossi.net survey. Click Here.

03/28/06

The official Red Team photo, the team that I coach for the after school Indoor Soccer league. We started out kicking butt, undefeated in the first half of the season. But because of a few player changes (because it was decided my team was too strong and we were kicking butt too much), we've been on a bit of a loosing streak. I've got some really good players, but they haven't meshed the way the original team did. Oh well, it's still fun, and I have to admit it's cool being called Coach Rossi. Click Here to check out some of the pictures of the last game....

03/26/06

Livin' in Utah : Yesterday was a beautiful day. High somewhere in the mid to high 60's, even though a little bit breezy. I opened up the house, flipped on the swamp-cooler (on vent, not cool) and then went out for a cruise in the convertible. It was a great spring day. But, not uncommon in SLC, by the time I left work around midnight there was an inch and a half of snow on the ground. Spring to winter in less than half a day. And of course this morning (well, it was almost 11) when I looked out the window the streets were clear and dry and what snow was still remaining was slushy and on it's way out. It probably won't get up to the sixties today, but it isn't going to be cold either. Man, I miss those Boston winters where the snow and cold stuck around until the end of April or middle of May.......

Little kid - tough guy : Friday night these two guys (early 20's) come in to buy some stuff. One of them is in full gangsta regalia, baggy pants, oversized sweat shirt and even a bandana around his neck, ala Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. They order up some stuff, including some smokes, and right after I check his ID he pulls the bandana up over his mouth and hands me a $100 bill. Now, after dark we try to keep as little cash in our drawers as possible, so I had just made a drop and didn't have the change for a hundred, so I tell him I can't take it. Gangsta boy freezes, and just looks at me, stuck without a way to respond to my refusal and keep up his tough guy persona, probably fully aware that neither I nor Barry were buying it. I don't know if it was just my mind embellishing the moment or not, but I'd swear tears were on the verge of appearing in his eyes. As always when I have to refuse a big bill, I ask the person I'm working with if they happen to be able to break it and fortunately (for the kid) he was just about to make a drop, so he still had the cash in his till. Without a word the kid takes the change, his stuff and leaves.

In the News : Friday, March 24th, 2006 in the Sugarhouse section of the Salt Lake Tribune : "Five Second Finding, Winning science project tested old maxim about eating food that falls on the floor."

Ever wondered if the 5 second rule was real, or if we were just conveniently convincing ourselves just so we could eat that french fry that fell on the floor? Well Max Meyers and Tony Anderson from Hillside Middle School decided to check it out. They took pieces of raw potatoes and dropped them on their classroom floor, (NOTHING is dirtier than a Middle School floor, and that includes the inside of a septic tank), for 5, 10 and 30 seconds. Rest easy folks, because they discovered "little or no bacteria" on the 5 second potatoes whereas on the 10 second and more potatoes they found a "considerable amount of bacteria." So now you can pick up that hamburger that dropped on the floor and with a clear conscience consume it. Well, as long as you get it within the 5 seconds.

Not Rocky XIV, Kanab Mayor doesn't even have the guts to take on a 17 year old. Kanab, Utah. Right on the Utah-Arizona border, a short drive along route 59 to those infamous towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona (you know, Warren Jeffs, polygamy, the Feds have been looking for him for a while?) Anyway, the Mayor and City Council of Kanab passed a non-binding resolution in favor of the "Natural Family", defined as between a man and a woman, with a "full quiver of children", promoting young women to become wives and homemakers and men to becoming husbands and homebuilders. Well, Matt Livingston, a senior at Kanab High School, didn't quite agree with the Mayor and Council, and in an article he writes for the Southern Utah News, blasted them for their resolution. Kim Lawson, mayor of Kanab, was furious. Did he offer to have a debate with Matt, or even try to talk to him in person? Nope. He woosed out and instead sent complaining letters to the Kane County School District (Um, no the Southern Utah News is not a school newspaper) and Matt's church leader. Tried to get him in trouble with his school and church for something that they were not involved in. Makes you wonder about a guy that isn't even sure enough about what he did to have an intelligent debate about it with a 17 year old. According to reports the school district and church leaders pretty much ignored his letters. Smart move.

On another note, the Kanab business owners have banded together to show their disagreement with the resolution. They're printing up stickers for all their businesses that say "Everyone Welcome Here". Now, regardless of their motivation, at least they acknowledge that there is some economic impact to being discriminatory....

03/22/06

Kids!	Funny facts I got in an e-Mail.
Well, on Saturday Scott, Jenn and Danny came over and helped me put in a new water heater. Now I have 50 gallons of hot water at my fingertips. The old one was having a hard time keeping enough water hot for me to even take a shower. Now I can do a load of laundry, run the dishwasher, and take a shower. Yeah! The fun part was when draining the system loosened some of the rust in my age old pipes and I had to go around tearing apart faucets to get it out of them so the water could flow properly. Ah well, at least it's all flowing properly now, and the water is nice and clear, not brown like the first little bit. Thanks again for the help. And to Alex, who I know would have loved to be there if he wasn't out of town at the time. And to Rachel, who had to take care of the two kids while Danny was helping. And to all the people who were involved in the making of the water heater that now supplies me with clean, hot water. And to....yeah, I could go on for ever, but I don't think it's funny anymore, so I'll stop.
This week I officially took over the web site at the school. Yup, not only am I webmaster here on my personal site, but thanks to what certain people at school saw here they asked me if I would like to take over the school site. And I just couldn't say no. First of all, I love working on websites. I've spent hours here working on this one and have enjoyed every (well, not every) minute of it. But added to it our tech dude, who is trying hard to keep the 450+ computers in our school running, along with other stuff, and who asked me to take it over, stuck his neck out to get me a really cool blue tooth interactive writing pad. For those of you who know what a Smartboard® is, it's kind of a wireless, portable Smartboard®. I have a pad, about the size of a pad of paper, that I can roam around the room writing on. It's linked to the computer, and is projected on the screen in the front of the room. So, it's kind of like having a remote-control chalkboard. With it I can also access, and work on, any program on the computer, including the internet, and the kids can all see what I'm doing. Which also means the kids can "come up to the board" and do problems, without leaving their seats. Other than that, I'm also a coach for our after-school indoor soccer league. It's through the same people who set up the cooking class I taught before, and up until yesterday my team was undefeated. I had such a strong team that I had to give up Carlos to another team, and so many team members were absent that I had to borrow a couple to keep from having to forfeit the game. The two guys we had to borrow were good, but they didn't mesh with my team until the 4th quarter, when we rallied and brought the score from 7-1 to 8-4. But we still lost, which made our team sad, especially since we were playing against the team Carlos defected to, and, um, well, it seems they had made some wagers on the outcome of the game.

03/18/06

Happy Birthday Jeff

03/14/06

Happy Pi Day

Yes, I am coaching an Indoor-Soccer team after school. It's a lot of fun, and so far (5 games out of 16) we're undefeated. We lost Carlos last week because our team was too strong and Dave, who runs the after-school show, wanted the teams to be a little bit competitive. He thought it would be more fun for the kids if the games ended up closer than 16-1. Yeah. 'Suppose he's right. If you want to see some pictures of the last game (tie 4-4 with the Yellow team), just Click Here. There's also pictures of my house in the latest snow storm, and a few from the Pi Day activities in 4th period.

03/13/06

Happy Birthday Josh

03/11/06

Kids are kids, even with 8 teachers in one room. Every now and then we try to find the time to get a bunch of teachers together to observe another teach, to get some new ideas on ways to teach. On Thursday I had the pleasure of having 7 teachers in my room 2nd period to watch me teach. Now, I'm perfectly comfortable in front a classroom of students, even ones that get up around 42 kids. But the prospect of having a group of my peers watching me, well, I was a little bit nervous. After all, they were looking at me for new ideas on how to keep a bunch of kids engaged in what I was doing. All in all it went really well, 2nd period is a good group, which is why I volunteered that period for them to come visit. The lesson went very well, we were working on systems of linear equations, and we were even learning something new on the graphing calculators. That part was a little bit bumpy, I had to spend a bit of time going around the room fixing mistakes they made. But the kids were helping each other, and from the debriefing we had after the class, the teachers were impressed with how smoothly it went. I was actually surprised that I did a good job of ignoring the teachers in the back of the room, of forgetting that they were there, or maybe just blocking them out. I would have done an even better job of blocking them out if it hadn't been for Jesse. He sits in the front row, is a smart kid with a sharp sense of humor. As I'm walking around the room, going over the lesson, every now and then he would look up and quietly say something like "you look a little nervous" or "is that sweat on your forehead". Thanks Jesse. But actually, it kind of lightened up the mood in the classroom, so it didn't set me off my train of thought. Well, that was my highlight of the week.

For the pictures of Berneau getting his head shaved, and other school pictures, Click Here.

03/10/06

Got a bunch of new stuff on here that I got in e-mails from various people. (Thank you all). Click here to check out the 6 new videos and 3 new slideshows. For some more really cute pictures of animals, Click Here and more funny cartoons & such, Click Here. But if you want to see a really important bulletin that I got in an e-mail, Click Here, and then click OPEN.

03/09/06

Happy Birthday Scott

OLD MAN AND TEENAGER

An old man was sitting on a bench at the mall. A teenager sat down next to him. He had spiked hair that was red, orange, yellow,green, blue and violet.

The old man stared. Whenever the teen looked, the old man was staring.

Finally, the teenager said sarcastically, "What's the matter, old boy, never done anything wild in your life?"

Without missing a beat the old man replied, "Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. Just wondering if you were my son."

ACTUAL AUSTRALIAN COURT DOCKET 12659 - CASE OF THE PREGNANT LADY

A lady about 8 months pregnant got on a bus. She noticed the man opposite her was smiling at her. She immediately moved to another seat. This time the smile turned into a grin, so she moved again. The man seemed more amused. When on the fourth move, she had the man arrested.

The case came up in court. The judge asked the man (about 20 years old) what he had to say for himself. The man replied, "Well your Honor, it was like this: When the lady got on the bus, I couldn't help but notice her condition. She sat under a sweets sign that said, "The Double Mint Twins are Coming" and I grinned. Then she moved and sat under a sign that said, "Logan's Liniment will reduce the swelling", and I had to smile. Then she placed herself under a deodorant sign that said, "William's Big Stick Did the Trick," and I could hardly contain myself. BUT, your Honor, when she moved the fourth time and sat under a sign that said, "Goodyear Rubber could have prevented this accident"... I just lost it." "CASE DISMISSED"

03/06/06

Questions and answers from the good ol' days of "The Hollywood Squares" (these are great!). Click Here

And you thought your Monday was bad.....Click Here to see someone who had an even worse one.

03/05/06

Happy Birthday Jenn

03/03/06

Happy Birthday Lynda

03/02/06

You might be a "Utahn" if..

You keep your clothes in "Chester Drawers"

You don't pronounce T's in the middle of words. (Moun'n, Lay'n)

If there is a G at the end of a word you treat it as if it were silent.

You know what Fry Sauce is made of.

You go to the duck pond to feed the Seagulls.

Green Jell-o with cabbage mixed in doesn't seem strange.

You can pronounce Tooele.

The U is not just a letter - Neither is the Y.

You have actually eaten funeral potatoes.

You've gotten both heat and frost burns off your car's door handle in the same month!

You are not surprised to hear words like "Darn, Fetch, Flip", "Oh, My Heck" and "Shoot".

Your tulips get snowed on three times after they come up and twice more after they bloom.

The largest liquor store is the state government.

You can go skiing and play golf on the same day.

30% humidity is muggy and almost unbearable.

You know the difference between a 'Steak House' and a 'Stake House'.

You've broken down on the highway and somebody stops to help you.

You can see the stars at night.

You were an aunt or uncle before you were three.

You have more children than you can find biblical names for.

Your family considers a trip to McDonald's a night out.

You feel guilty when you watch Monday Night Football.

Your kids believe the deer hunt is a national holiday.

You drink Coke from a brown paper bag.

At least two of your salad bowls are at the homes of neighbors.

There is a similarity between a ward basketball game and the L.A. riots.

You think Jack Daniels is a country western singer.

You negotiate prices at a garage sale.

You can make Jell-O salad without the recipe.

You've heard about BYU football in a testimony meeting.

You have two gallons of ice cream in your freezer at all times.

Your father-in-law thinks Ronald Reagan was a liberal.

A member of your family wrote in Lavell Edwards for president in the last election.

Sandals are the best-selling shoes.

Hotel rooms all have the Book of Mormon.

You buy your wardrobe at the local grocery superstore.

You learn about the Mormon Church by taking history in elementary school.

You live in a state where Democrats always come in third place, unless a zoo animal is running. Then they come in fourth.

Schools stay open, even if two feet of snow falls overnight, but closes for the opening of hunting season.

People wear shorts and T-shirts if the temperature rises above 32 degrees.

People wear socks with their sandals.

There is a church on every corner, but they all teach the same thing.

The most popular public transportation system is a ski lift.

In-state college football rivalries are bigger than the Super Bowl.

You don't have to breathe cigarette smoke until you walk outside the building.

Every driveway has a minivan and a pickup truck.

When you buy a new vehicle, cigarette lighters are optional equipment but ski racks are standard.

Every time a new family moves into your neighborhood, the local elementary school has to hire a new teacher.

Every time a new family moves into your neighborhood, your whole family has to go and meet them the next day, after you helped them unload their moving truck.

Your paycheck has an additional 10 percent deduction.

More movies are filmed in your town than in Hollywood.

You've never had a Mormon missionary knock on your door, unless you are having them over for dinner that night.

You make a toast with red punch at your wedding reception.

You have more raw wheat stored than some Third World countries.

Your idea of a good time is playing Pictionary in the cultural hall.

Your idea of a wild party is a six pack of Pepsi and a PG-13 movie.

You and all your friends come to your mother for a haircut in her kitchen.

You measure Kool-Aid by parts per million.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Utah.

02/28/06

Yep...that's what happened...
We all get heavier as we get older because there's a lot more information in our heads. So I'm not fat, I'm just really intelligent and my head couldn't hold any more so it started filling up the rest of me!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Saturday, March 4, 2006, Check Your Health and the Utah Summer Games invite Utahns of all ages and fitness levels to attend the Kickoff for the 2006 Get Active Utah! Fitness Challenge at the Olympic Oval in Kearns.

This is a fantastic - and FREE - opportunity to try a new activity - like speed skating, hockey, figure skating, strength training, and more. Plus, if you walk a mile you get a FREE Olympic Pin!

See the attached flyers for more information, and visit www.checkyourhealth.org for ideas to help you and your family Eat Healthy and Be Active!
See you on Saturday! (Did I mention that it's FREE?!!)

Click here to download the facts sheet.