Miscellaneous Missives

Planning on arriving early to be one of the first in line, I cycled to the Minneapolis American Indian Center to see Bernie Sanders.  Needless to say, I was not the only one who biked to this event.  By the time I arrived (an hour early) the line was already long.  As I changed out of my cycling shoes, I chatted with people in line.  Soon it was a group of us talking and feeling excited.  Someone mentioned it felt like a Wellstone crowd.  I think that says a lot and maybe even says all.  Sanders feels genuine and intelligent.  Once inside, space filled quickly and even standing room was sparse.  As an older couple from my church came over to say hi, I gave one of them my chair and sat on the floor.  Everyone in the group did the same.  The crowd seemed kind and generous, my kind of people.  Without going into specifics, today made my resolve stronger.  I will stick with Bernie until he wins presidency or gives up the go...

I am thankful for The Practicing Life:  Simple Acts, Sacred Living by Sally Howell Johnson. As many know, I've been meeting with three ladies in a Sabbath group once a month.  It started a during lent a couple of years ago.  I feel these ladies keep me grounded and keep me thinking about spirituality and life. but I'll admit we're an eclectic combination.  This month our process was to read The Practicing Life: Simple Acts, Sacred Living  and decide a practice we could follow for the month of June.  I am reading the book as I would a devotional one reading/practice each night.  Of course I did not finish the book.  While others methodically chose their practice, I knew I wanted to do the one I read last night.  Then, as I listened to others, I wanted to do other practices over the summer months. Basically, I've decided to start with one that involves taking a picture each day of June of something of which I am thankful.  Although i...

The rain is subsiding. At noon , while I was drinking my hot mocha, looking at #twintuesday (Bravo ladies), and staring at the weather forecast, I look up golfer's elbow (I think I posted about my golfer's elbow...) online and tried to find a better answer than rest and ice.  Basically, I want a magic pill, but I know this probably isn't possible.  Instead I email my PT (whom I haven't visited since my shoulder injury).   Sooooo.... I injured my wrist... wore brace for two weeks then an additional two weeks only when biking.  I went to the orthopedic on Thursday, and it's healing well.  When I talked to her about my elbow pain, she said it was golfer's elbow.  I asked about doing exercises, and she basically said I was doing enough.  She told me to stretch and ice. It's causing quite a bit of pain (not just when I'm biking).  I get that it's already being challenged enough with biking and playing golf (start tomorrow).   ...

I awoke fairly early this morning (for a "vacation" day) ready to conquer the world.  By 9:00 I felt as though I had taken care of everything that might get in the way of my school planning.  Unfortunately, I also turned on my computer at 9:00, and I've been sucked into the vortex ever since although it's almost time to get serious.  How does one spend 1 1/2 hours on the computer?  Basically, it was the following: 1) Facebook 2) Feedly (my news aggregator... all news read) 3) Goodreads (had to look at book suggestions from last night) 4) Hclib.org (downloaded on of suggestions) 5) home email 6) school email (started looking at wonderful ideas that were shared) 7) Blogger (It all ends here!) I believe I am not ready to be productive.  Have a great day.

This long weekend started with a text from a dear friend Friday morning.  It was my friend J who had lost her sister a couple months earlier telling me another one of my dear friends had also lost her sister.  The calls and contemplations have been a little surreal. Instead of going on a bike ride outside today, I decided to go to bike into spin class.  Basically, I made the decision because I really like the instructor , Brian, on Sundays and because it's raining outside.  When I walked in, Brian said, "You know the weather's bad when some people come back.  Those that said I'll see you in the fall.  I'm biking outside all summer."  I smiled and reminded him I did make it through every day in April outside.  As class finished, I looked at Brian and said, "I should have biked outside.  I think it would have been drier."  It was a compliment that made him smile.   The truth is I needed this tough work out both mentally and physica...

God's Country from Last Weekend Teacher secrets... I've been lagging in the teacher secrets category, but I know a secret that I really can't share until Thursday when it's official.  Unfortunately, after Thursday it won't be a secret anymore.  Let me tell you this.  Recently, I emailed a colleague with a congratulations on her new job.  In all reality, I didn't even know if she had applied for the open job.  In the email, I said I wanted to be the first to congratulate her.  Yep, I was the first.  1) She applied for the job.  2) She was offered and accepted the job.  I'm soooooo smart. I also am making a prediction about tomorrow's MAP testing.  Our entire building is doing it on the Chromebooks at one time.  My prediction is absolute mass chaos.  I predict that there will be internet issues and at some point testing will cease at least for some students (if not major groups of students).  I hope I'm wrong because ...

Tonight was book club.  I chose the book, Lila, and the location.  My choice of location was the Pizza Luce in Hopkins.  Although I've never actually eaten at that particular Pizza Luce, I pass it frequently on my bike, so it seemed like a good location.  Honestly, when the location was set, I had dreams of sitting outside discussing the book, drinking beer, and eating pizza.  Alas, it was 44º when I left on my bike for book club.  Unfortunately, I read it as 64º.  Although my biking apparel was perfect for 64º, it was not adequate for 44º.  Since I knew we'd be sitting inside, I brought another layer to wear during our discussion and decided to wear it home. The reviews on Lila were mixed.  I gave it a 4 of 5 and thought it was beautifully written.  Others, like me, were disappointed in the lack of chapters.  Some wanted more action, I think, and were dissatisfied with the choice.  At least it was fodder for a good discus...

It seems we've had a lot of rain lately.  Last night while I was in God's Country, I watched the storms in the distance.  This is easy on the prairie since one can see for miles.  At the bottom left corner, one can see the windmills in the distance.  Today I didn't bike all day because I thought it was going to rain.  Finally, thunder came rolling in, but I could have gotten my ride in if I had given it some effort. I'm hoping we will have many dry days next week, so I can get back in the routine of biking especially since I'm following LH's plan.  She said, "I'm eating my way to the last day of school."  This seems like sound plan, so I, too, will be eating my way to the last day of school.  Bring it!

This weekend I am visiting friends in God's Country.  My plan was to bike and visit friends, but the weather is not cooperating.  Between my visits (lunch and dinner engagements), I am working on school work. My first tasks revolved around the poetry slam that was held yesterday.  As usual, I was impressed with each and every student.  I invited guest judges into the classroom to watch.  Each judge (all adults from the building) wrote down one line they like from each poem.  This morning I stapled the lines to each student's rubric and wrote thank you notes to the judges.  Rereading favorite lines and writing notes to the judges was worth the time.  Everyone involved was wonderful. This task was followed by judging writing for our school's first writing contest.  I absolutely love the idea and am so pleased that the literature lead made it possible.  She worked diligently to make it a success.  It's a great tradition that I h...

The poetry slam is tomorrow, and I'm losing patience with anyone who is being an asshat or a pain in any way.  One girl is appalled that I won't let them actually have a winner and want everyone to do well.  Her defiance has spread into other areas of class.  While KC's school has a Coping and Resilience score, my current coping and resilience is getting crabby and losing patience.  Today I also had to use coping and resilience when KC's blog told me I couldn't log in because I wasn't an invited reader.  My coping and resilience was to read it through my Feedly.  Actually, my coping and resilience is to use her ideas until I am an "invited reader."

1) I finally rode my bike again today.  It's not that I was sore from Saturday.  Merely, I've had a busy couple of days. 2) My days have been busy with eating too much and drinking beer.  Needless to say, I'm not even bothering with myfitnesspal until next week.  In fact, I'm eating toaster pastries (pop tarts) for dinner. 3) The poetry slam at school is Friday, and I might be feeling a bit too confident.  Most kids seem to be doing well with one more day to practice. Teacher Secrets... A colleague is applying for a job in another district.  She had me print out her applitrack and edit/revise it.  I asked her if she didn't let me edit/revise it online because she was afraid I would sabotage it.  Actually she's one of my favorite people on staff.  We frequently have HH at the CC Club because we know we won't see anyone we know.

As I walked into Caribou tonight to get a hot chocolate, I decided to fill out an application and become a Caribou barista.  Coincidentally, I've also recently started occasionally drinking coffee (with cream or a latte or an added shot of espresso) for the first time in my life. Today I decided it was time to start counting calories again using Myfitnesspal.  I took last week off the the century ride and all.  Unfortunately, I was cold and wanted a hot chocolate tonight, so I went 298 calories over my goal today.  Oh well, at least I'm honestly tracking the calories.  I might not lose weight, but at least I'll know why it's not happening. Teacher Secrets...  Soooooo.... KC posted another blog (mini) challenge , and I think I'm in.  Today's secret is only a bit of a secret.  The office has a couple candy stashes.  One is in a drawer, and I do add to the stash as the year goes.  The secretaries also have a stash wish they share wit...

Today I finished my first century ride (100 miles).  A friend and I rode a steady and slow pace but finished (and were not the last to finish).  Sitting at our last rest, a rider commented on how the kept passing us and wanted to know if we were taking short cuts.  The truth is we  did a fairly decent job of keeping our pace. As I drank my beer in the Fulton Brewery parking lot after the ride, I mentioned that it was not the most painful ride of the year.  I was certain it was our 50 mile ride, but as I was going to link that post from the horrible ride, it looks like it wasn't the 50 because I thought it was a cold ride.  Anyway, one of the training rides was much worse than yesterday.  Plus, with my inhaler, most of the ride went fairly smooth in the breathing area.  Unfortunately, I may have used my inhaler too early, and the first 30 left me sucking air and not being able to find my breath.  Alas, after the first stop, I used my inhal...

Singing, I love rock and roll So put another dime in the jukebox, baby I love rock and roll So come and take your time and dance with me Ow I Love Rock 'N' Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Saturday I'll be riding in the Fulton Gran Fondo.  Although I've trained, I'm a bit concerned that my taper week was too much taper and tapper.  As I tapered my riding, I increased my adult beverage consumption by going out with my father for pizza and beer on Tuesday and indulging in happy hour with a colleague this evening.  Although I rationalize and say I'll burn off the excess pounds on Saturday, I pray that I can cycle all 102 miles.  I always ask my students, "What could go wrong?"  I think it's best that I don't think of this question at this point.  I'm sure this week's outings will merely add energy through the excess carbs.  Right? I'd supply a picture, but it'd merely be an empty pint glass, and I'm sure most of...

A couple years ago, I was diagnosed with asthma.  It seems to be exercise and allergy induced.  I was given an inhaler, but I never used it because all I could think about was the fat kid in gym that used his/her inhaler as an excuse to get out of any and all activities.  The last two or three weeks biking has been rough.  I've been sucking air especially on inclines.  Lately, I've been sucking air on flat road too.  The cause is the tree pollen, but I refuse to rant at the tree pollen because the blooms and leaves are absolutely beautiful.  After some coaxing from a friend, I decided to see the doctor and get an inhaler.  I also talked to the doctor about the out of control allergy and asthma stuff.  She gave me two inhalers, so I could keep one on my bike.  Plus, she gave me this Singulair prescription that I have to take at night.  Honestly, I like to take my vitamins in the morning, so I'm not sure how it's going to work. ...