Yeah, I'm a junior in high school, too, and am starting to think about careers and colleges and all that jazz.

I've thought about majoring in something with Education. I've always wanted to be a high school teacher, especially after having some of my teachers this year. Does anyone know what specific major you would go for if you are looking to become a history teacher when you're out of college? 

What Chris said is pretty good advice.  I taught U.S. History to high school students for two years in the DISD (Dallas Independent School District), and did it without an education degree or a teacher certificate.  But most states will eventually require that you get some kind of teacher certificate.  I decided after two years that teaching high school students was not my calling (and trust me if it's not your calling you DO NOT WANT TO TEACH -- you'll be doing yourself and the students a huge disservice), and thus never went back to get my certificate.  My biggest fear was ending up like all the other teachers, who obviously saw the job as simply a paycheck, hated kids, and were just very bitter about everything.  I said to hell with that and got out.  As far as what history knowledge you should have ... well I had a B.A. is U.S. History and a M.A. in American Civil War History, as well as dabbling in 19th Century Germany, Imperial Russia, and WWI; but they had me teach U.S. History from 1865-Present (... so I did at least get to cover WWI).  But the overall impression I got from administration and teachers in other subjects was that the history teachers were expected to be able to coach a sport, or monitor the ISS room.

...but then the DISD has historically been a very poor school district, so if you get a position in a good school with forward thinking admins and involved parents you'll probably have a much better experience.  Teaching can be very rewarding.  It's been 8 years since I taught high school and I still miss being able to interact with the students and help them make good choices, and just teaching them about life in general.  I still recall taking one class and teaching the boys how to put on a tie and the boys/girls how to look professional so that they could impress potential employees.  The class had nothing to do with history, but that's the sort of thing that I miss about teaching.

Got most of my 2008 Wave 1 figures from HTS  (still waiting on the Panning Droid to come in a separate box).  I haven't seen any evidence of Wave 1 or 2 here in the Richardson/Plano suburbia of north Dallas, but then the 3 or 4 big-box stores I go to suck ass, and haven't stocked anything new since about Dec. 20th.  (I still have never seen a McRebel or Destroyer Droid w/Shield in the "wild."  ).

Thanks for the UGH Mace Windu figure and the Ep. I and Ep. III coins!  Figure & coins arrived safely and in great condition.  Free coins =

Payment sent for the Mace figure.  Thanks a bunch! 

PM sent.

How Many Five-Year-Olds Could You Take in a Fight?

Says I can handle 21 of the little buggers.  As the father of a five-year-old myself I know that it'd only take a well-aimed headbutt to take the fight out of me real, real quick.

...and the last couple of questions are so very, very wrong...

Okay, here's my take on "Who's in the coffin?" and "Why is Kate so repulsed by the thought of attending said person's funeral?" ...and most of this is based on an off-the-cuff comment my wife made the other day while we watched the Season 3 DVDs (and please tolerate the first observation that may seem racist, it is simply an observation based on the limited clues available in the funeral-home scene).   The funeral home appears to be in a black neighborhood, as indicated by several black men seen standing on the corner when Jack pulls up in front of the funeral home.  You don't see black men casually hanging out in Asian, Hispanic, or Caucasian neighborhoods (especially in a TV production, plus I believe the writers, directors, creators jammed that scene with all sorts of clues that will only become apparent as the series winds down).  So that puts suspicion strongly on Walt or Michael.  The coffin appears too small to be a full grown adult, so that means it has to be Walt.

Now why would Kate be disgusted by the idea of going to Walt's funeral.  Well, I really suspect that Walt has been influencing the events on the island since the very beginning, if he didn't in fact create the whole "island" himself (with powers similar to Franklin Richards from the Fantastic Four).  He reads a comic book about polar bears and *bam* there's a polar bear on the island.  Locke appears to have a connection with the island, and the first person he befriends is Walt.  Walt appears to have issues with his father, and it appears that everyone of our Losties on the island are working out father issues (as shown in the flashbacks ... only Charlie appears to be the exception to this).  Michael and Walt leave the island, but Walt re-appears to Locke and tells him he still has work to do.  Finally, ... Season 4 spoiler coming up: 




Michael is coming back to the island, so maybe Walt sends him back (pure speculation on my part at this point)



Ultimately, the Losties figure out all their troubles are because of Walt, that Walt sent them to the island, and many of them hate Walt because of it.  But not Jack; he wants to go back, and when he sees that the only one who could send him back is dead, Jack becomes suicidal.  Plus, it may also be the reason why the Others are interested in children ... maybe there is some legend about how a "child shall lead them" -- hence the interest in the young Ben Linus who showed a connection to the island, and now that he's no longer a child, the others are looking for the next child that will have that connection, and they just start grabbing all the kids they can, or start trying to reproduce their own (but can't).

(Granted, I still don't know what the hell the Monster is, or who was sitting in Jacob's chair?)

...but the female Mando...complete w/boobs even!...is great!

Her name is Rav Bralor.  Hee-hee, she's a girl and she has the word "bra" in her name.  Maybe in the Star Wars EU world her family made billions in Republic Credits by inventing a feminine support garment referred to as a bralor, or "bra", for short.  Rejecting her family's fortunes and jaded by the corruption she saw all around her, Rav joined the super commando corp and blew stuff up in order to do battle with her own inner demons.

Or maybe it's just a stupid name.

OK, I'm hungry now ... going to the fridge.