Miscellaneous Missives

The MRI for my hips was yesterday. They scheduled two hours for the MRI. Of course this made me a bit uptight. Most people would have been nervous about the large needles they stuck in each upper thigh or being claustrophobic in the tube. I was worried about not being able to move for two hours. When they went to put my in the tube, the radiologist (?) reminded me it would be two hours. I looked her in the face and exclaimed, "They told me twenty minutes." When she realized I was messing with her, I bet she was happy that I was going to be motionless for a long time. I also tried to explain to her that I don't really sit still all that well. She responded by taping my feet together. Being in the tube wasn't difficult for me, but not being able to move was horrible. After the first 30 minutes (of 80 minute testing), I asked if I could put my arms out of the tube. Genius!!! This allowed me to tap my fingers and move my hands. Genius, I tell you! I wa...

It's only Wednesday, and I feel as though it's been a full week. I'm teaching an after-school reading program. Although it's only an hour after school, it's made a long week even longer. My fellow seventh grade language arts teacher and I are co-teaching the class. Due to this weeks events we've had a difficult time choosing a novel. Last week we were excited to choose Monster , but thought it might be a bit challenging for these struggling readers. Monday we decided to go with another book. We looked at the lit circle books. Tears of a Tiger was out after the recent suicide of a sixth grade student that has rocked the school. Bang! was our next title, but we also thought this was a bit "too soon". Finally we chose The Hunger Games . Although there is death involved it's not as "real". Tonight we had to explain our choice and decided to be "real" with the students. We explained the death of two staff members' fa...

Saints are among us. Yesterday morning on the plane I was reading about being more present in life. Let's be honest; sometimes being present is painful and difficult. I work with fabulous people (saints many of them). Our school is experiencing the grief (real grief) of middle school students as many of the staff are experiencing their own grief. In difficult times it is important to have those saints around us. I am thankful for those saints in my life. Who are the saints in your life? The graphic is a screen shot from a site I learned about on The Generator Blog .

R & R usually stands for rest and relaxation. Yesterday it stood for Rams and Rangers. As planned Vicki and I went to the Cowboys Stadium to watch the Rams play the Cowboys. The outcome was dismal. While the Rams were getting crushed in Cowboys Stadium, we received a text asking if we wanted World Series Tickets for face value ($100). As we were debating the price dropped to $50, so we said, "Yes." (view of Rangers stadium from Cowboys stadium) After the Rams game we walked the short distance to the Rangers Ballpark to watch game four of the 2011 World Series. The Rangers game unlike the Rams game had a great outcome since the Rangers won (I hate the Cardinals.). It was a crazy day of football and baseball. The game was over late, and we arrived back home around midnight which made today's early alarm for my flight back less than desirable. After the plane landed, I took a cab to school and taught the second half of the day. Now it's time for a nap...

Although I didn't take pictures today at Sports Extravaganza , I did have a picture taken with the Lion's Club Lion. The Dallas area Lions Club donates at least $15,000 to make this event for the blind and children with some kind of visual impairment. Next time the Lions Clubs ask for glasses or donations, remember they support great programs. Anyway, the picture was taken between the morning session and the afternoon sessions, I stopped the lion and asked for a picture. The rest of the day was packed with activity and tear town, so I didn't really take any pictures. Today I started the kids for the 50, 100, and 200 meter dashes. Watching the kids was amazing (two of the cutest six year old girls ran today, twice, adorable), but watching the volunteers was also amazing. A group of high school students ran with the kids as escorts and sighted guide runners. The sighted guide runners not only made it possible for the blind athletes, but also two athletes who were d...

This morning I followed Vicki through her school day of visiting her Adaptive Physical Education students talking with them and doing evaluations. I had a great time interacting with the students. After lunch in the park, we headed over to a local high school to set up for tomorrow's "Sports Extravaganza". It's a track and field event for visually impaired and blind students put on by Region X Education Service Center (servicing Dallas metroplex) and the Lyons Club. In the evening I hung out and watched goalball (also visually impaired/blind students). It was interesting to quite interesting. I'm not sure that I would do well blindfolded attempting this. I have loved hanging out with my dear friend and these special needs kids. Tomorrow we will work Sports Extravaganza all day. Maybe I'll even have time to take pictures. It seemed today was too busy for photos.

Although this should be a given, it seems "everyone" travels MEA weekend. I received a lesson on MEA travel this morning. Since I only took a half day and will be teaching Monday when I return, I decided to try park and ride (Park 'n Fly or Park 'n Go). For some reason I left early enough this morning that when I arrived to find both lots full, I still had time for an alternate plan. The suggestion from one of the parking attendants was to park at the airport. Instead I started calling people for help. The first person didn't answer, but the second person allowed me to park my car at her house near the airport and drove me to the airport. This was followed by a lengthy wait in security. At least I was still early, so I was able to make the weight in line. The wait was painful since I am not the most patient person, it was even more painful since I was standing next to twenty-five women on their way to Vegas. I guess traveling over MEA is not the best tim...

Why didn't I ask the orthopedic doctor more questions? Why did I say I'd share at church tomorrow? If they can invent a car that parks itself, why can't they invent a dishwasher that loads and unloads itself? Why am I on the computer when I should be getting something accomplished? Why don't I have short-sleeved Rams t-shirts to wear next week in Dallas? Why do the Cyclones continue to turn the ball over? How bad will the Packers beat the Rams tomorrow? Will I be able to watch the entire game? Is LH going to blog about her new camera? What am I going to say tomorrow in church? Why am I saying anything at all? Is 5:55 too early to go to bed? Would I be able to sleep if I did? Why did I decide to wear shorts today when I had to scrape the windows this morning? Should I continue with the questions, or should I try to accomplish something/anything? Why are you still reading this? Are you still reading this?

I used this image (http://www.wolfescape.com/Humour/WorkStress.htm) today on a slide for the students to write about how they handle the stress in their lives and how a character from the book handles the stress in her life. Today was a great day to talk about stress because I looked similar to the zebra. First thing in the morning I went to talk to my principal about things (basically lack of communication) that were stressing me out. Although it did alleviate my stress momentarily, it came back as I started to proceed with my lunch/prep. The more I thought about everything the worse it became. Almost in tears, I made another attempt to share my concerns with my principal. At this point I was stressed enough that he asked if I needed the remainder of day off. Of course I didn't accept the offer, but I did appreciate that he saw the stress. To add to the stress, yesterday I met with my PT. It seems she is confused about why I still have pain in my hips. She wants me to...

Although I do enjoy a three day weekend, I don't believe Columbus Day should still be celebrated. Does this mean I'm glad I have to work today? Not really. Mondays are difficult for me, and I think I should have Mondays off. Actually I would say I also need to take Fridays off too... just saying.

I know how this sounds. No really, I do. It sounds like I'm losing it. The truth is I'm losing things, or someone's taking things. Last week it started with a pack of gum (green Stride) from the my car. They took the gum yet left the money. A couple days later my face lotion came up missing. Yesterday it was one of the dryer balls although I will admit I found it in my sheets. Today it continued. My bright pink sports bra is not in the drawer. Some may say that I'm going absolutely crazy, but I think someone is trying to make me look crazier than I already happen to be. BTW- It looks like this image without the the lady wearing it (or it did the last time I saw it.).

What it's Like by Everlast "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues Then you really might know what it's like" When we're talking about characters in The Skin I'm In , we use What it's Like by Everlast. The version is a bit jacked up since we did it in iMovie leaving out the part about Mary getting pregnant by Tom and some other inappropriate, for a middle school classroom, parts. Although this song is almost ten years old (not as old as the Afghanistan war), kids still seem to like the song. They go home and look it up on Youtube. This year a boy even learned to play it on the guitar. Anyway, we use it to discuss making judgments about other people and theme. My honors class discussed it a week ago; today my regulars had the discussion. I also asked students to choose their favorite line. This is when I find it difficult to be a teacher. One young ma...

It's 83º outside, and I'm sitting in my third meeting of the day. Are you kidding me? Sitting through meetings is typically not a positive experience for me. Two meetings in one afternoon followed by a meeting with my principal at noon is certainly not positive. Don't worry. Life isn't horrible. I stopped at Holiday on the way to the second meeting for a fountain Diet Pepsi and a candy bar. Holiday has TWIN BINGS!!!! Yep!! Twin Bings! This made me super excited, and I'm bringing this positivity into my meeting. Plus, I'm posting to my blog, so I will be able to go outside when the meeting is finished. Woot Woot!

I'm in MILI (Metronet Information Literacy Initiative) which meets once a month in person. Once a month there is also a webinar which borders on being a waste of my time. The once a month in person meeting isn't horrible, but the webinar... Last month I was lucky enough to have brought home my school computer, so I was able to work on my home computer during the webinar. Of course today I used the same strategy. This is necessary since they supposedly can see you screen during the webinar... weird. Anyway, today's webinar was about using GoogleReader which I already use thanks to a smart tech friend. Today's webinar was also problematic since she used my picture (no no) and MILI blog as an example. The good news, as everyone that reads this blog knows, is that I can post about absolutely nothing frequently (perhaps I should rename my blog), so I had enough posts on the MILI blog/Ning to make her happy. The time wasn't a waste, however, because I was ab...

According to Wikipedia, "The combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine that harvests grain crops. Used in this sense, the word combine is an initial-stress-derived noun, pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, or "COM-bine". The name derives from the fact that it combines three separate operations, reaping, threshing, and winnowing, into a single process." Last week I explained to Dad that I would like to ride in a combine. He graciously set it up with the guy who farms his land. My dad has a small farm on which he alternates corn and beans (beans this year). This morning I was able to ride along with a retired farmer (hired by the guy that farms my dad's land). Before this morning I'd never ridden in or on any farm implement. It was exciting. I even took my camera although the tractor windows were less than clean and conducive for picture taking. Also, I should have had Dad take a picture of my climbing up the stairs onto the com...

Today I helped Dad around his farm... Actually I did little but take pictures and hang out. Obviously I'm having difficulties posting lately. At sunset we went out to see the fish on the pond. Dad says the pelicans brought them in. I don't know, but I do know there's no inlet or outlet... just a pond. On the way back, I took a picture of the milkweed.