Miscellaneous Missives

Before I unpacked or did anything today, I rode my bike the last day in April.  Today's ride makes 30/30 days.  It was successful and for the most part fun.  Thanks for putting up with my bike pictures and over blogging about cycling.  It happens.

I'll be the first to admit most of my rides have been short this week.  This morning was another five mile ride.  When my alarm went off a little before five, I thought it was a really bad idea.  When I could see my breath as I mounted my bike, I thought it was a really bad idea.  When I realized my intended route had little light, I though it was a really bad idea.  I switched my route and went for a ride on the streets instead of the trails.  Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake were both locations on my ride.  The morning was extremely beautiful and peaceful.  Wait, don't I'm not saying I'm going to make the morning rides a thing, but it was worth it this morning especially since I can't ride tonight since I'm making a short trip to God's Country. BTW- Yesterday I read a poem written by one of my students about his opinion about God's Country.  He thinks Iowa is boring.

Today's ride was wet and cold.  I thought it'd be best if I chose a purpose for today's ride.  Since I need cash for the weekend, I rode to the cash machine.  My ride was only five miles.  They often say that there is not bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.  In reality my clothing was perfect with the exception of my gloves.  I really needed the heavy duty gloves.  The other reality is that my shoes were once again full of water when I returned, and my clothes (even hair) were covered in mud. After school today a colleague stopped me.  She teaches a different grade level, and I rarely speak with her.  She currently has a student teacher who needs to observe teachers in different subject areas and grade levels.  The district teacher mentor/coach suggested that I would be a good teacher for her student teacher to observe.  I will admit that it made my day.

Rain, rain, go away Come again some other day We want to go outside and play Come again some other day Some days this biking every day in April is a challenge.  Today's ride was windy and rainy.  I think it would have been better (lighter rain) if I hadn't held a meeting with a colleague at a local drinking establishment before the ride.  Leaving earlier for my ride might have saved the puddles that formed in my shoes.  All is good now.  The shoes are stuffed with paper.  Clothes are in the washer, and I have taken a warm shower.  Plus, I was able to get and share some information from the school front.  Knowing what's going on at one's place of work is as important as riding each day in April.

Day 26!  I only have four days left.  I'm winning!  Do you know who else is winning?   Hillary Clinton is winning.   Charlie Sheen is also probably still winning.  I know.  The comparison is unfair.  I apologize.  Of course I'll vote for Hillary when I have to, but I'm still "Feeling the Bern."

Dear April, Do you remember that four or five days when you delighted me with sun and warm weather?  It made me fall in love with you.  Unfortunately, you have turned into a less than positive partner.  Yesterday, while I was on my bike, you even sent lightning.  Today you were damp and difficult.  I know it's me and not you since you have been quite miserable for most of our days and rides together,, but I was hoping that brief sunny time was the real you. Sincerely, Miscellaneous Missives

It seems my legs are starting to get tired from this biking every day of April.  I have, however, started drinking chocolate milk after my rides, and my body seems to like it.  Of course, it seems strange, but research says it's a good thing.  Unfortunately, I've also started getting in the habit of warming up a mug before bed especially this last couple days when it was a bit chilly.  ...thought I'd share. On this mornings ride, we were almost to the end when I realized I hadn't taken my cycling picture.  We were discussing our location and nearness to the end when I saw this little bridge to the side.  I gave handle and verbal signals and veered off.  J, who was riding with me, didn't think it was enough and apologized to the bikers behind us.  When I put my bike up on the ledge to take the picture, she said she would laugh if it fell into the water.  I'm really glad I have someone to ride the longer rides with, and I know she wouldn...

My bike ride today took my past Target Field by the river for a couple miles and back past Target Field.  As I passed back, I noticed the purple lights, so I decided to go up closer to Target Field and get a closer look.  This jaunt took me to the Target Field Station, and the screen was still focusing on Prince.  It was certainly worth it.  Of course, today's playlist was still Prince.  I think it says something that I didn't need to add a Prince playlist to my phone since it was already part of my phone's iTunes.

During lunch I saw the news of Prince's death.   I listened to MPR until the students came in for testing.  After school, I knew where my ride would take me, and I knew what playlist would accompany me.  I listened to Prince as I pedaled to First Avenue .  Today's #30daysofbiking picture was going to be taken in front of Prince's star.  Since it was only 4:30 and most were at Paisley Park, the crowd was small but beginning to grow.  A stranger took my picture as I held my bike next to the star.  As I stood taking it all in, I was surprised at my emotions.  Someone in the crowd even asked  me if I was OK.     

After my bike ride today, I stopped at Whole Foods for a piece of pizza.  C, the guy I race in spin class (although he doesn't know I race him in spin class), was ahead of me in the express checkout.  He went around the lady in front of me and gave me a hug.  "I let him go in front of me, and he gives you a hug," she exclaimed.  We smiled and continued to talk cycling.  We're both riding outside now and not attending spin class.  When he asked me to join him on a ride, I tried to explain that although I was riding all thirty days in April, I wasn't fast enough to ride with him.  Riding outside is swell, but I do miss the folks from class. Today's reading started with Snapshots: Literature for Young Adults .  It's decent.  Although I'm not sure the district will be interested because they're only buying supplementary materials, I sent it over to a colleague in another school to get his opinion. I also read One Good Story, That One whic...

Today's bike ride took me around the "Chain of Lakes."  It's a great ride on a weekday afternoon when it's not crowded with too many people also enjoying the beauty of these lakes in the middle of the city. Today I completed three books of short stories and made progress on The Goldfinch .  If anyone has read The Goldfinch, please let me know your thoughts.  I understand why most people like it or hate it.  I'm leaning towards liking it, but when his dad asked for his social security number, I knew what was going to happen.  On the other hand, I didn't predict what happened next.  If you've read this book, what would you rate it (fist to five)? America Street:  A Multicultural Anthology of Stories .  I rated this 4 of 5 stars on Goodreads in 2004 and 2 out of 5 stars today.  I think this says something about me growing as a person.  Some of the stories are the old "classics" while the others are "meh".  I realized any story ...

After a day of proctoring standardized testing, riding my bike was amazing.  I disagree with the amount of time students are forced to spend taking tests.  I also begrudge the time that is taken away from teaching in my classroom.  Although I HATE testing, it does give me time to read while the students are testing.  Today I finished one book and read two. I finished This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett.  I have read three of Patchett's books ( State of Wonder, Run, Bel Canto ) and loved them.  The three were fiction while the one I finished today was non-fiction.  Basically it was a book of essays (produced at various times in her life).  Some of the essays were really interesting while many were meh.  3 of 5 I read two other books which were both YA.  I read them because I'm looking for an American Indian/Native American novel for the seventh graders.  Both are novels in verse. Sweetgrass Basket is ...

Today was an uneventful delightful day.  Sara Thomsen sang in church this morning.  Her voice is beautiful.  We talked about the Earth and our responsibilities.  Spring is the best time to get out and enjoy the Earth (if you don't have allergies).  Everything is blooming including the beautiful magnolia trees .

A group of us walk (sorry no running, but we walk fast) the Hot Chocolate 5K each year.  After the "race" we go to Hell's Kitchen for lunch.  It's always a grand day.  Since I'm in the middle of #30daysofbiking, I biked to Boom Island for the 5K then rode to Hell's Kitchen.  At Hell's Kitchen, I locked my bike to a sign.  When I returned to my bike, I realized that I had lost my bike key.  I went through my stuff and everyone with me went through my stuff.  I went back into the restaurant to check and another person went back to check.  I even called AAA because they will come get members if they have bike problems.  It seems they will merely give a ride not try to get a U lock off a bike.  Someone suggested talking to the construction workers (working in middle of closed street), so I walked over and asked if they could help.  The guy said he couldn't, yet a few minutes later him and a buddy arrived with power tools to saw the...

After school I met with a colleague for happy hour.  It should not become a habit because it makes for short bike rides.  I, however, am thankful for my bike since it will be my mode of transportation this weekend.  On the way home from happy hour, I got a flat tire.  The good news is I was within a block of the station where I had planned on leaving my car.  On the way home from school, my check engine light went on, so I had already told them i'd leave the car.  I'll be honest.  It was another short bike ride.  I'm hoping today goes better.

It's no the best picture, but I was riding my bike.  It was getting dark, and I hadn't taken the planned picture at the Blue Door Pub. I realize it's way to early in the cycling season for rants, but this one comes to you from my ride home from a lovely night out.  Four of us emerged on Longfellow Blue Door  Pub.  Since I wanted to ride twenty miles and our meeting time was 5:45, I decided to bike in and bike home.  My bike ride in was amazing.  It's finally nice (windy as hell but nice).  In fact, I wore the tank top that I had randomly purchased at Target when I was buying candy for tomorrow's Poem in Your Pocket Day (not the official, it's really next week, but we'll be testing).  Anyway, my ride home was the dusk to night phase.  Of course, I had my lights since I knew it could get dark on my way home.  I was surprised by the number of cyclist with no head light and/or tail light.  It was frightening because I couldn't see ...

My ride today was really short since I had an appointment after school and wanted to go to a documentary at church.  At one point I was worried that I would keep riding and skip the event since it was the first nice day this week.  The event started at 6:30, and I strolled through the doors at 6:39.  Damn good peeps!  Anyway the documentary was about the doctrine of discover y.  This, my friends, is scary stuff. I'll blog more when I can look at my notes and figure it all out.  In the meantime, do some research on your own.  The one thing I'm going to try to use tomorrow as nothing to do with discovery (and I'm going to talk to the American Indian Advocate at our school) is using First Nation Peoples instead of Native American or American Indian.  It's a little thing, but I will explain it, and we will discuss it.  Hey, let me know what you find in your research.  

On Sunday's ride, I learned that the black birds on Lake Harriet are Coots .  They are on their way from Mexico (or somewhere south) up north. No one really knows how long they will stay, but it seems as though some don't like the birds.  While I was trying to get a picture of my bike and Coots a couple walking asked about the birds.  Of course, I acted as if I was an expert.  I gave the name and explained that they were on their way up north.  "We're waiting for them to leave," explained the lady.  I think they sound cool (that cool coot).  Anyway, I actually rode to Harriet today, so I could take pictures of the coots.

My ride today was a short ride since I rode longer yesterday.  Most importantly, I wanted to make sure I was home in time to eat and return to the district for the school board meeting.  I'm sure I've mentioned before that the teacher's in my district have not had a contract for over nine months, and it looks like it's going to be a "long battle."  Sometimes I wonder if district people and administration know what it's like to be a teacher.  Do they understand the number of hours put in at home?  Do they understand the challenges of working with adolescents and helping them become thinking adults?  Although I think it's important for me to be at the school board meeting in solidarity, I don't have faith that it will make a difference.  Maybe I should stand up and invite these school board members and district leaders to spend a day shadowing me (without the work at home).  I wonder if this trail to a fair contract settlement would still be clos...

As we were traversing the bike path on our 40 mile ride, we noticed an area marked off with tape (similar to police tape) and saw people standing around the tape looking up at the tree.  I figured it was an eagle's nest since it was near the lake.  We decided to stop.  Although I could see the nest, I couldn't see any birds.  I did, however, spot a guy in camo and decided it would be an OK picture for Day 10.  As I posed near the camo guy, I overheard information.  It wasn't an eagle's nest, it was an owls nest.  According to the discussion, the nest had fallen and the two little owls were getting ready to leave the nest.  Tonight I went to the Google machine and found more information.  It's actually fairly interesting.   Look Hoo's in the Hood

Days 8 and 9 both included short rides.  The concept of merely to cycle each day in April. Yesterday's ride followed and proceeded happy hours, so it was extremely short.  Honestly, I would have been better drinking less beer and riding more miles. Today's ride was another chilly ride.  It followed my participating in the Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor Party Convention for my district.  Since I hadn't participated in this process before it was interesting to quite interesting.  I was going to post about my experience before I read Unabashed Liberal's post.  Knowing that I could not match his detail and summary, I decided to merely post it here .  I hope this is OK.  

I'm not going to lie.  The most exciting thing that happened to me was realizing the new leg warmers I bought were in the mail.  April's weather has not been kind.  Today's ride was a bit warmer (37º), but I was still happy to quite happy to have the extra layer.  They might not be stylish, but they make me visible which is good on days like today when it's raining.

As I waited for a fellow cyclist to pass, so I could get on the trail today, I looked at him and thought, "He looks miserable."  This April weather is disappointing to quite disappointing.  Although I'm actually riding my bike every day, I feel unmotivated and tired.  The good news is I'm trying to stay positive.  One positive is the PhD student in my room (You all know her, she's grand.) and I are thinking about writing another journal article together.  She suggested a format similar to the format in an article titled, "Social Narrative Writing:  (Re) Constructing Kid Culture in the Writers Workshop."  She said one of the authors was Hefferman.  I said I know this fantastic scholar/teacher as in I've had lunch with her once and feel as though I know her through her thought-provoking blog.  After I read the article, I felt saddened and disappointed.  Why have I never been to her classroom?  I wonder if I could get an invite? ...

Today I shared the bike trail with these geese who hissed at me.  They're not the most pleasant fowl.  Speaking of foul, did I mention today's weather (Feels like 28º with SSE winds 17mph)?  The bright spot of today's ride is that during 30 Days of Biking, it doesn't matter how far one rides.  The important thing is that one rides each day.  My ride was short (8.67 miles) and my ride playlist is awesome.   Kiss the Sky  and America's Sweetheart  were my two favorite songs from today's ride.  I really like America's Sweetheart even though it sounds a bit country.  When I heard it played on the radio the other day, I was bummed.  Hey radio peeps, please don't play this because then I'll start hating it.

Today the students wrote praise poems in class (Linda Christensen).  Students were supposed to praise something unique about themselves.  Of course, this was difficult for seventh graders who have the ability to find faults in others because they spend time finding faults with themselves.  I get the frustrations with this assignment and am excited to see their poems. Day of biking in April brought my longest ride.  My new gloves worked well.  Now I need to find out how to keep my feet from becoming numb in the cold.  I'm still hoping this will be the last cold week of April.

My new spoke card poses next to spring blooms. Today was a lot warmer and less windy, but I pulled off the trail to stop by Erik's Bike Shop to make a purchase.  After yesterday's numb fingers, I purchased a pair of warmer gloves because I'm sure more chilly days will occur in April.  My highlight of today's ride was a pair of ducks that buzzed over my heard.  They were so close I ducked although I'm sure they weren't that close.  One doesn't need to look far to see that spring is indeed trying to stay.

Even though yesterday was the first day of #30daysofbiking, today was the MSP Kickoff Ride 2016.  Since I'm a fan of this biking challenge, I thought it'd be fun to do this group ride. The temp when I left was a windchill of 15º with the winds of 26mph with gusts of 40mph.  My initial plan was to ride to the start of the ride, Gold Medal Park, hang out with folks, then ride home.  Since it was soooo cold, I had no intention of actually riding with the group.  When I was trying to figure out what time I needed to leave, I used yesterday's ride time, but I forgot to divide it by two.  Instead of arriving at 11:00, I arrived at 10:30. Two other guys arrived a bit ahead of me, so I immediately asked them about the nearest coffee shop.  They said they were going to Dunn Bros, and invited me to follow.  As we were parking our bikes, RAGBRAI was mentioned, so I told them I rode last year.  One had ridden and was trying to talk the other into this ye...

Today is a wonderful day!  It's the first day of April which means #30daysofbiking and April Fool's Day.    My first ride in April was windy to quite windy (19 mph with gusts of 27 mph) and cold 39º (feels like 29º).  To be honest, it was better than I had imagined even though I could certainly feel the gusts.  As I fought the wind on the way out, I enjoyed it's help on the return.  Plus, I saw a cardinal and blooms as I rode. As I stood in the hallway this morning, a student came up to me and said, "You are my favorite teacher."  Of course, it was followed by April Fools.  The school news that's not April Fools is our district HR person sent an email to all district parents saying the teachers were following work to rule.  First, this is not true.  I wonder, however, what parents thought when the letter said, "...perform only contracted duties and only during the hours required by the contract."  How is it bad that teacher's a...