Miscellaneous Missives

As I was sitting in my spiritual memoir class this morning listening to two of the four people talk about their ADD, I noticed the writing left from Sunday school on the board. I was thinking how I don't have an attention deficit since I was able to pay attention to their conversation, read the board, and listen to the hand dryer from across the hall. It seems I have the opposite of attention deficit since I can focus on numerous items all at once. Actually I was also able to text my brother about the writing on the board. The writing stated, "Halloween costume". It made me think about a picture of my brother and I dressed as die, so I sent a text to see if he had a copy of the picture. For some reason I remember the picture in front of a neighbor's house, but I was excited that he had this picture. He also sent a picture of him in a tiger costume and I in a clown costume. Since I look fat from my belly to my hands, I am not posting that picture. This afterno...

First, my honors class is typing final copies. While I am looking at one student's title, I remind the class of the importance of capitalization. When he still didn't make corrections, I asked him to look more closely at his title. A few seconds later I heard him tell his friend, "Fine, then I'll just capitalize all of the important words." Of course I couldn't help but share this with the class. "Yes, capitalize all of the important words... that's what you do when you capitalize a title." Later in the same class a student is not paying attention and being distracted, so I asked him, "What are you doing?" His answer was surprising. It seems he was playing Rock, Paper, Scissors by himself. Finally the students' quick write today was to write a Halloween story. When they were finished I asked them to star their favorite/best line. Next I chose seven students from each class to read their starred line. In four of the five ...

Start at 3:22 to see the level I'm posting about. If anyone is still stuck on 6-14, they should start at 2:37... give and give... that's all I do... It seems I am stuck on level 6-15 in Angry Birds. Is this worthy of a post? I would say it is since I spent 47 continuous minutes on Tuesday night playing the game. Wednesday I took a hiatus from the game yet am addicted enough that I actually Googled it this morning while drinking my juice. Although I can't play, check e-mail, and Scrabble, I have found some hope. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll be able to break through this level.

The Love of October by W. S. Merwin A child looking at ruins grows younger but cold and wants to wake to a new name I have been younger in October than in all the months of spring walnut and may leaves the color of shoulders at the end of summer a month that has been to the mountain and become light there the long grass lies pointing uphill even in death for a reason that none of us knows and the wren laughs in the early shade now come again shining glance in your good time naked air late morning my love is for lightness of touch foot feather the day is yet one more yellow leaf and without turning I kiss the light by an old well on the last of the month gathering wild rose hips in the sun. Each Wednesday the students write about a poem in their journal to start class. They have questions (What do you notice about the poem? What is the mood of the poem? What questions do you have about the poem, etc.) to help them. Today they journaled about the poem The Love of October by W. S. Me...

Honestly I am enjoying the evening thunder and rain. It fits my mood. I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself even though I know I should be thankful. Rain and thunder at the end of October is similar. Even though it's a bit gloomy, one should be thankful that it's still pleasant outside and the trees still have color.

What Can I Say "What can I say that I have not said before? So I'll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is the face of patience. Inside the river there is an unfinishable story and you are somewhere in it and it will never end until all ends. Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce but take it also to the forest. The song you heard singing in the leaf when you were a child is singing still. I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four, and the leaf is singing still." Although I know of parents frustrated that their children are home "for no reason" in the middle of October for MEA, I look forward to it every year. The four day weekend is always a time to finish tasks that were not finished over the summer and to catch up on school related work. As anyone who reads this knows, I have been frustrated by school this year. Although I love my job in the classroom, I am easily frustrated by the antics outside of th...

I have a Saturday routine, and today Dad was a great sport about following this routine. We awoke early and went to the farmer's market. Then we had breakfast and found supplies to recaulk my tub. I left to walk Uptown to workout while Dad took care of the tub. When I returned from working out my trip to Mager's and Quinn, we continued my routine by having sandwiches for lunch. While I did typical Saturday chores, Dad even took care of fixing some of my cupboard doors. Of course college football was on in the background as the Cyclones beet the Longhorns. It was a fabulous day!

Let me be honest. I spent today driving back from Iowa and doing mundane chores, but I did accomplish a ton. Instead of a typical post, I am going to share three more things you should know. 1) My dad is visiting and is going to caulk (take old out and redo) my tub tomorrow. This is incredibly exciting... seriously. I have one little section of mold which grosses me out every time I shower (sometimes twice a day). 2) Kitty Klaus loves my dad's computer case. Every time my dad visits, he curls up and make it his home. 3) My dad and I went to Old Chicago for pizza and beer tonight. During dinner I used my iTouch to check some facts on the interweb. Later in the evening as I was geeking on Facebook (MacBook), I received a message stating "Whoever's iPod this is, it's at old Chicago uptown. Ask for the manager." It seems I left it in the seat. They didn't know how to get in touch (humor) with me, so they left a message on Facebook.

The radio station I listen to on my way to school has a short news segment entitled "Three Things You Should Know." A lot of the time it's random stuff to see if one is listening. This morning I thought it would be appropriate for my blog. 1) I am posting to my blog with nothing to say because I am procrastinating my walk. It's 32º outside, and I only packed shorts (albeit knee length shorts). 2) I forgot to pack my camera (and obviously longer workout pants), and there are pictures I really want to take. It is beautiful in Okoboji in the fall (well always IMHO). 3) The Taco House closes October 25th. It's a good thing we have this break, so I was able to come before they closed.

For some reason I am feeling a lot of stress about my job and the happenings at my job. A colleague asked me some questions yesterday that I took as questioning my performance. My boss came and talked to me yesterday and left me with the feeling that he does not trust me or want me as part of a certain committee of which I wanted to be included. This is completely understandable since I question him constantly, but I do feel that I am a critical (too critical in his viewpoint) thinker and would be a positive member of this team. Last night I sent him an email at 11:30 expressing my concerns about the selection process. When I finally went to sleep, I dreamed of spitting red, blue, green, yellow, and purple frogs out of my mouth. Although it was a bit creepy at first, I found it therapeutic. I believe it was my mind's way of purging the stress. This morning I had a positive conversation with the colleague and an average conversation with my boss. Maybe tonight I'll drea...

I want everyone to know I'm doing remarkably well since around this time last year, I had walking pneumonia. Maybe it's the wonderful weather we've been enjoying. This morning, however, I did need to make a little trip to urgent care. Being the intelligent person I am, I went twenty minutes early knowing I had plenty to do (grade papers, read, play Angry Bird), so I would be the first in line. Unfortunately I'm not that intelligent because it seems they open at noon and not eleven. When I finally was the first to see the doctor, I had him a bit perplexed. Perhaps it was my continual nose blowing or the congestion he noted in my lungs. Twice I had to let him know that I honestly was not in his presence for my flu/cold/allergy symptoms. Finally he relented and gave me the antibiotic for my primary (only) concern. Since he shook his head a little when I was leaving, I'm going to guess I was the topic of a few laughs later. Did you see the lady that came in...

Our school has a secret (or not so secret) candy stash filled with my favorites, and I visit it too frequently. I also have candy in my room, but I tend to buy candy that I will not eat. Chocolate is not housed in my room while Starbursts, Sweet Tarts, and Bit O' Honey are housed in my room. My problem is that the last bag also contained Skittles. For some reason, I am a huge fan of Skittles. After grabbing three candy bars (fun sized?) from the secret stash this morning, I thought I shouldn't visit it again, so I decided to open my candy after lunch. This led to unprofessional and unhealthy behavior on my part. I spent the afternoon eating Skittles while the students wrote in their journals and took tests. The good news is that most of the Skittles are gone leaving the unsavory candy. FYI- When I give kids candy, I they get whatever I drop on the desk unless it is the Bit O' Honey. I would never make ANYONE eat those nauseous treats. Some kids actually ask for ...

Today was the first of two conference nights. I didn't feel as though I saw many parents, but I was busy the entire night. As usual the honors' parents took up most of my time. Here's the honors' parent tally from my head: 3 pleased parents, 1 appreciative parent, 1 understanding parent with child (boy) in tears, 1 pissed off parent with child (boy) in tears... I'm sure I'm missing something, but that's what I remember.

Each day my students start out with a journal entry. Typically we start Mondays writing about the weekend. Sometimes there are two entries in a day. Instead of having two for today, I skipped the weekend and asked them to write about stress. What stresses you out? What do you deal/cope with stress? They also wrote about how a student in the book coped with stress. As my first class discussed what stresses them out, one of the students asked, "What stresses you out?" At first I was a bit flippant and stated students who are tardy to class and students who forget their homework. Since I knew this was disrespectful, I told them that in reality this morning I was stressed after visiting a friend in the hospital yesterday who is unable to communicate. It started a good conversation about little stresses and major stresses and related well to the character in the novel. We also had a great conversation about coping with stress. I said that typically I go to the gym or t...

This afternoon I realized I was still a bit stressed out and tired. Maybe it's the upcoming conferences and my fight to get caught up with schoolwork. Sometimes it shows. For example, when a politician game to my door or rather tried to talk to me by standing near my deck and talking through my screen door, I didn't even attempt to make him feel uncomfortable. He gave me his name. I asked if he was a Democrat or Republican. When he said he was a Republican, I said, "I have nothing to say to you." What is wrong with me? I didn't even spark any kind of debate and try to make him realize his lunacy.

This morning I told my first class that I was freaking out. I can't remember the exact context, but I was writing something on the board and having difficulties. One student whom I have in class and advisory stated, "You don't freak out." This was quite a surprise. Obviously it's early in the year, but I'm fairly certain any intelligent person knows I'm prone to "freaking out". It was especially ironic after I spent an hour in the principal's office because I "freaked out" and used the words incompetence and what the hell, in a note to him. BTW- It seems he was more bothered by use of the word incompetent that what the hell, and our conversation went well. Anyway, I'm sure my principal could argue with the student that commented that I don't freak out.

I have spent the week stressing out. All week I've been on the edge of losing it. Today after the physical education teacher explained that I didn't have to worry about testing and standards, I freaked. It's true that I irritated him when I said that honors language arts will always trump PE. The ignorance of the PE teacher brought all of my stress to the surface, and I spazzed. Instead of explaining the reality of the testing/standards situation to the no neck baffoon, I decided to march to the principal's office and "take it out on him". He was absent, so I left detailed notes with his secretary to share. Let me give a list of words and phrases I asked her to write down verbatim: what the hell, incompetence, lack of communication, tension in the building, frustration... Oh, I really don't remember the complete list. Granted the two do not relate, but my patience was tapped. With nothing left, I decided to alleviate my frustrations by voicing my...

It seems there were copyright issues with the other link, so...

If you didn't take time to watch the video, you shouldn't take time to vote in November. BTW- Thanks Holly for the link.

Saturday morning and through this afternoon it became apparent that I lived on the wrong side of the tracks. Although it is not my first experience with this dilemma, it is the longest experience. When I was walking back from the gym on Saturday and getting ready to cross the tracks to the path leading to my house, I saw the train was stopped blocking my destination. After deliberating for several seconds, I decided to climb up and over the train. Later in the evening I had the same difficulty as I walked for groceries. Up and over I went again, but I chose a different route on the way home as climbing a train with bags of groceries seems to prove difficult. Again this morning on the way to cheer the marathoners, I once again mounted the beast (no sexual innuendo attended although it did come to mind after I typed). Each time I did it with a little more grace and ease. Before the train left the station (no, there isn't a station...), I decided to take a picture of the trai...