thepoorteacher.com » Television http://www.thepoorteacher.com smart but broke Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:48:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 History Channel Store sale! http://www.thepoorteacher.com/history-channel-store-sale/ http://www.thepoorteacher.com/history-channel-store-sale/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:55 +0000 tpt http://www.thepoorteacher.com/?p=191 I love the History Channel.  Many of my favorite programs are on the History Channel.  All of my teacher friends watch it, and we talk about the programs we enjoy.  It informs my instruction.  I pepper my lectures with trivia I pick up from all of the shows I watch.  I just received TWO EXCLUSIVE coupon links in my e-mail and I thought I'd share them with you.

Take an ADDTake an ADDITIONAL 20% OFF all orders of $50 or more. Plus get $1 Shipping at The History Channel! Use code Pres20.Exclusive! Get an additional 30% off at The History Channel wtih code HISTORY30

Act fast! The offer on the left expires on January 21st. Click the banner to go straight to the History Channel store. Use code Pres20 at checkout to get the inauguration savings!

The second offer does not appear to have an expiration date. Click the banner to go straight to the History Channel store. Use code HISTORY30 at checkout to get the 30% exclusive savings!

Think of all the great DVD sets you can get! The Universe, Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, The Presidents, Modern Marvels, Cities of the Underworld, and more!

]]> http://www.thepoorteacher.com/history-channel-store-sale/feed/ 0 R.I.P. Dr. Gregory Pratt, or, why I’m glad to be a teacher and not a doctor. http://www.thepoorteacher.com/rip-dr-gregory-pratt-or-why-im-glad-to-be-a-teacher-and-not-a-doctor/ http://www.thepoorteacher.com/rip-dr-gregory-pratt-or-why-im-glad-to-be-a-teacher-and-not-a-doctor/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:49:15 +0000 tpt http://www.thepoorteacher.com/?p=70  

Although my mother wanted her only son to follow in her father's footsteps and become a medical doctor, after several attempts in other careers, I became a teacher. Throughout my education, she encouraged me to go into medicine, claiming that she needed someone to take care of her in her old age. I went with her vision for a while and told myself that yes, I would be a doctor someday. Repeating it now reminds me of how false it felt to tell myself that I was interested in human medicine. For a time, I was interested in becoming a veterinarian, but after realizing that I'd spend a whole lot of time sedating animals out of this life and into the next, I decided to go another route.

I'm glad that I'm not a doctor. Sure, the money would be nice. I'd have a big house and a fancy car. I'm beginning to understand why there is so much reward for the few who risk it all everyday in those death trap hospitals and dangerous suburban offices.

R.I.P. Dr. Gregory Pratt - this ain't no ER, there's no Mekhi Phifer.

R.I.P. Dr. Gregory Pratt - this ain

Dr. Gregory Pratt, the latest cast casualty from ER, lost his life in the lamest possible way.  First, my man Pratt survives an ambulance explosion, the cliffhanger from last season, and we can tell he has some injuries, but he looks alright.  In fact, they think he has a compound fracture in his leg, but it turns out that he was impaled by a bone fragment of some poor, nameless schlep in the back of the rig.  Next thing you know, we've got Pratt on a gurney in one of the trauma rooms, all hooked up to machines, conscious enough to prescribe a course of treatment for his own injuries.  Everything is going well until he starts to lose his breath and his conciousness, requiring intubation.  The incompetent staff of Stamos and friends cannot get the tube in and improvise a tracheotomy with the bottom of an IV bag.  Now, you'd think my man Pratt would have a chance of surviving, but he is doomed once again, as a part of his broken mandible, which caused him no discomfort while talking earlier, clipped part of his carotid artery, leading to some giant goiterish like condition on his neck.  They manage to stop the goitering after a quick surgical procedure, but Pratt never recovers, suffering some kind of stroke during this life saving maneuver.  The rest of the episode is spent mourning our dear friend Pratt.  Sad, sad, sad.

I'm glad I'm a teacher and not a doctor.  It must be a dangerous job.  It seems like every year, some TV doctor gets killed in the name of health and human services and is quickly eulogized and memorialized in 10 or 15 minutes before moving on to the next episode, where some other unfortunate sap who spent years and years working toward a medical degree will meet an untimely end.  Medical dramas work so well because they play on the ultimate drama: life and death.  Writers, bored with killing and curing patients, decided somewhere along the line that the medical profession is an unsafe one, and began killing off doctors, nurses, orderlies, helicopter pilots, and emergency medical technicians.  

This is not limited to ER.  If you watch Grey's Anatomy, you'll see the same thing, except they haven't killed of any main cast members yet.  Cast lives have been put in peril and damn near death, but no one has officially pursued a residency in the great trauma center in the sky.  Just this week, during the two hour premiere, one cast member suffered an icicle wound to the abdomen!  Ridiculous!  Once Grey's sinks in the ratings, we can be sure to lose someone.  In fact, the hospital appears to fall apart in the next episode.  You would think after all of the explosions and damage over at ER that the people at Seattle Grace Hospital would have the foresight to prepare for such emergencies and shore up their facilities against any possible attacks or malfunctions. 

I never watched Boston Public, so I don't know if they killed off any of the teachers on that show.  Teacher shows tend to be on the lighter side.  Remember this one?

 

R.I.P. - Head of the Class

R.I.P. - Head of the Class

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