If It Is Wednesday Then This Must Be Hodgepodge!

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge! We've got quite a crowd playing along every week which is really fun. Be sure to hop pver to Joyce's blog and link up and then jump around and visit the neighbors once you've added your link. Here are my answers to this weeks questions:
1. Lake Superior University has once again published a list of words/phrases they think should be banished from the Queen's English...here's the list for 2013- fiscal cliff, kick the can down the road, double down, job creators/creation, passion/passionate, yolo (acronym for you only live once), spoiler alert, bucket list, trending, superfood, boneless wings, and guru.  Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why?  I would like to see most of them banished.  Kicking a can in my day was something you did for fun.  The only two groupings I use are passion/passionate and creators/creation.  The rest...can go down the tubes.
2. When was the last time you rode a train? Where did you go?  I have ridden many times, I have even been on a derailed train just outside of Okechobee, Florida when I was fifteen,  and I think my last venture was to Chattanooga. 

3. Bagels-yay or nay? Favorite 'flavor'? Favorite topping?  Yeah for bagels and my favorite topping is cream cheese.  New Yorks bagels are amazing.  Ess-a Bagel is my favorite place....Manhatten, New York.  It is on First Avenue. They are huge and to die for.

4. 'Tis the season of awards shows....if you could star in a movie already made, which one would you choose?  I'm going to go with Joyce and her choice of Under the Tuscan Sun. I too would love to spend a few months in a charming villa set in the Tuscan countryside.

5. The move towards single gender classrooms has been making the news in recent months...what say you? Do you think kids perform better if separated by gender and are taught differently or is that discrimination? If you're a parent is this something you'd support in regard to your own children? 
Education is never one size fits all. I'm sure there are some children who learn better under this model, and others who perform better in a mixed setting.  The thing is that California, Texas, and New York try these strange models and by the time everyone else is on board they have moved on to something else.  As a teacher I say...pay us what we are worth and let us do our jobs!

6. What's your favorite thing about staying in a hotel?  Being pampered and the pool.  That is why I prefer hotels/motels over camping....someone else does all the work for you.

7. Do you have a 'word' for 2013? What's the story behind your choice?  My word for the year is grace.  I want to have more of it and show it more often.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I love chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies.  I especially love them right out of the oven....hot and soft.  What is your favorite cookie and why?