So we went to the Big 12 championship between our beloved Texas Longhorns those Cornhuskers from Nebraska this weekend. Wow what a game! Not really, it was a really crappy game. Colt probably lost the Heisman trophy in one... make that 3 fell swoops. No scoring, field goals galore and then that finish. Man talk about having your fan base turn on you. If that clock would have actually run out like Nebraska thought it did, there would have been some serious dusting off of the old firemackbrown.com. Luckily for all those in the burnt orange, it turned out great. But, while we watched Hunter Lawrence setting up for the kick, I couldn't help but wonder: Why's everyone so worried?
Seriously folks. I mean you're Texas fans. Where did you learn this sense of dread? I mean Rose Bowl 1, Rose Bowl 2, countless close games... I remember the first time I ever saw Texas play in person. My wife, who wasn't my wife at the time, brought me and a friend down to see UT play Texas Tech in what would become one of the best games I've ever seen in my life. We sat down pretty close to Bevo and along with 85,000 (a number that seems small now) fans watched as the Horns pulled it out in a 43 to 40 barnburner. Call me an optimist, but from then on... I've just never been all that concerned.
Thanks, in part, for this goes to my wife. To say she's an optimist when it comes to Texas football would be quite the understatement. In truth she's almost a little delusional. I've heard her say things like: Isn't it going to be fun to watch us win this? But truth is, yeah it has been fun. Going to the Rose Bowl just a couple years after that first game was amazing. Then going back the next year and seeing us win one of the most exciting football games of all time was... well there aren't really words. Watching Colt McCoy go from someone you'd barely notice to the winningest QB in NCAA history. It's all been great fun. But one thing it hasn't been very often is disappointing. Obviously last year's Tech game was. Obviously not making it to the Championship game was a bummer but, let's look big picture here folks. In all, we have it REALLY good. I mean it could be worse... you could be a Bengals fan. Oh yeah... I am.
I think that's part of why I love Texas so much. All my life I wanted a team I could really believe in. I wanted to believe that the Bengals would win it all but Joe Montana was constantly crushing my dreams. Then the Bengals became the laughing stock of the NFL for decades. Presidents went in and out of office during the stretches that these guys failed to get a Monday Night Football appearance, not to mention playoffs. All we did was lose. I can remember games where they would fumble it in the first quarter and I'd just turn it off. Knowing what I knew about them my conditioned response, just like everyone else who invests themselves in that franchise, was "we're through". But at Texas, it's different. At Texas you can watch your Heisman hopeful play like a turd and still win. Or watch your team play like a turd and the Heisman hopeful does it by himself. Somehow "WE'RE TEXAS" just seems to inspire a whole bunch of confidence that something cool is about to happen... even in the midst of calamity.
So that's what I was thinking about when Nebraska scored the go ahead field goal with over a minute and half left to play. That's what I was thinking about as the kickoff rolled out of bounds giving us the ball on the 40. That's what I was thinking about when Shipley caught a big pass and then got horse collared. I was even thinking that something cool was about to happen when Colt rolled out in the final seconds of the game. I guess that's why rather than getting upset when it looked as if Nebraska had won, I just kinda scratched my head as if to say, "Hmmm that's odd." Just like when you go to open the refrigerator and the light's always on. If it wasn't, you'd think it a bit strange. And sure enough just like the light that always comes on, something cool happened. So with one second left on the clock I found myself saying out loud "Why yall so worried? Haven't you been watching these guys?" Hook Em
Here's to Colt not finishing behind the big boy named Suh in the Heisman race and to something cool happening in Pasadena... again.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
and the story continues...
Well the story had to pick back up somewhere right? I've recently realized just how much I missed this outlet. Life has taken some pretty crazy twists since I stopped writing at the end of the last school year. Twists that I wish I'd taken the time to put into words. Some of them I'm not entirely sure if I would have had the courage to post back then for fear that someone would read them. But really... It's time to call a spade a spade. For a little story that alot of you who know me personally have been wondering about, let's go back to that big closing of the school year last year and the summer that followed.
At the end of the year I was presented with an intriguing option. On top of already being given a coaching position both by the new Athletic Director and my Principal, I was told 'Take the PE test and you can be a PE/Coach." This created quite a dilemma for me as I never really saw myself as a PE teacher. But given the added load of coaching, I decided it was probably in my best interest. I took the test and passed it with ease. Soon after however, the bottom fell out.
So I get an email from my principal telling me that he and the AD would like to meet with me. I went in to talk and after I waited for 45 minutes beyond the meeting time, my principal brings me into his office and basically tells me that I was out for coaching and out for PE. Although he said he couldn't give me any reasons since it had been the AD's decision. I left the school aghast at what I had just been told. What reason could there possibly be? I'd done a hell of a job regrouping the band of misfits otherwise known as football offseason. I'd helped them actually become athletes. They respected me and I liked them. So I went strait to the AD to get some answers.
After talking to the AD for a couple hours I came away even more confused than before. His story was that it was my principal's input that swung me out of the coaching spot. Apparently the AD was told I'd been having problems in the classroom. His reasoning was that if I were having problems in the classroom, surely I couldn't ALSO handle coaching. He went on to tell me that he'd already been looking to fill the PE spot so I'd have to teach and coach. Given my principal's claim, he just couldn't comfortably put me in that teacher/coach spot. After hearing my spirited rebuttal, he told me that he would go talk to my principal and get to the bottom of it. With more information he'd call me the next day or two. About a week later I got a text message from the AD telling me that it was confirmed, I was an issue in the classroom. It went on to say that my position for both coaching and PE had been filled. He said he'd call the next day to talk about it further. That was May... I'm still waiting for his phone call.
Now it blew me away that not only was I not going to coach but I wasn't even going to teach PE. It just brought up so many questions. Why had my principal not told the AD right off the bat that I was an issue in the classroom if it were so true? If I was really such an issue, how? After all, my last observation had gone really well. My kids loved my class. Parents on the whole were always emailing to say how much they liked me. My tech quotient in class was much higher than many others. And IT WAS MY FIRST YEAR! Why was the principal not upfront about why he wanted me to teach PE? Why would the AD be so classless as to break it off with me over a text message? I mean seriously, that's middle schooler style folks. What in the world had I done to deserve being allowed to introduce myself to the kids as their coach for next year only to have it pulled out from underneath me? Kids, parents, and teachers all knew that I was a coach. Done deal... now these guys were asking me to come back and put my face in front of all that? I was going to have to face all the questions and guffaws. All the scorn and embarrassment... And why? It didn't have to go down like that.
Needless to say this garbage made me question my choice in workplace. It also made me question the very profession of teaching. As I considered everything that had happened both at the end of the year and during it, I began to wonder if teaching was really the right thing for me to be doing. I realized that teachers who have been in the game for a long time are either thick skinned brass knuckled tyrants or reclusive hide-aways. Think about it... if you know a teacher who's got 10 years or better in, I bet you'll find what I'm saying to be true. And, the older the teacher the truer it gets. This truth really made me wonder if it was time to hang it up and find another career. After only a year I had my eyes opened to a vision of the future and I didn't like what I saw.
I went to my principal who, now realizing how ridiculously he'd gone about things, would surely be remorseful and comforting about the whole thing right? Nope.... Didn't even say sorry. Moreover, when I said in no uncertain terms that this whole situation had hurt me so bad that I was considering finding not just another school, but a whole other career. His response: Well, you've gotta do what you've gotta do. Wow... Thanks for that.
So I did just that... what I had to do. I investigated alternative employment, sought advice from others, played the lottery a little and was a rats hair away from starting a limo business. Somewhere in the middle of it though I was struck by a thought: What in the Sam Hill am I thinking?! I mean after all, the only reason I had time to do all that stuff is because I WASN'T WORKING, IT WAS SUMMER! How quickly I'd forgotten that teaching IS better than other jobs because you get summer off! I mean we may be roped in there shoveling turds alot of days for about 10 months a year so what?! While all you other hosers are at your jobs in July wishing you could sleep in and go to the lake... I AM! So to hell with it. Embarrass me, make me feel like a idiot... do whatever... I'm staying (provided I don't get the axe), this thing's just too cool for me and my family to go down without a fight.
And it's with that attitude that I came back in to this year. Sure, I got handed a development plan and a provisional contract when I came back. Sure, now I'm one of the proud few who get their lesson plans read weekly by the VP. Sure, now I'm getting tattled on by other teachers for all matter of ridiculous stuff. Sure sure sure.... woog. But you know something folks? For one thing, all this scrutiny may have just made me a quite a bit better at what I do. And on tough days, when I'm home at 4:30 in the afternoon and a couple weeks away from a long Christmas break... the Grin portion of Grin and Bear it becomes a whoooole lot easier. Ya'll have a good one and thanks for caring enough to read.
Lastly, I couldn't leave you with my first update in months and not give you a little OverHeard:
Me: So I want you all to write about why you're thankful that we live in a country that has free speech and freedom of the press.
Kid: What's the press?
Me: News people... more or less
Kid: What's freedom of speech?
Me: You can criticize the government and say whatever you feel.
Kid: Wouldn't you get thrown in jail if you criticized the president?
Me: Nope, that's freedom of speech bud.
Kid: That's stupid though, I'm not thankful for that.
Me: woog
At the end of the year I was presented with an intriguing option. On top of already being given a coaching position both by the new Athletic Director and my Principal, I was told 'Take the PE test and you can be a PE/Coach." This created quite a dilemma for me as I never really saw myself as a PE teacher. But given the added load of coaching, I decided it was probably in my best interest. I took the test and passed it with ease. Soon after however, the bottom fell out.
So I get an email from my principal telling me that he and the AD would like to meet with me. I went in to talk and after I waited for 45 minutes beyond the meeting time, my principal brings me into his office and basically tells me that I was out for coaching and out for PE. Although he said he couldn't give me any reasons since it had been the AD's decision. I left the school aghast at what I had just been told. What reason could there possibly be? I'd done a hell of a job regrouping the band of misfits otherwise known as football offseason. I'd helped them actually become athletes. They respected me and I liked them. So I went strait to the AD to get some answers.
After talking to the AD for a couple hours I came away even more confused than before. His story was that it was my principal's input that swung me out of the coaching spot. Apparently the AD was told I'd been having problems in the classroom. His reasoning was that if I were having problems in the classroom, surely I couldn't ALSO handle coaching. He went on to tell me that he'd already been looking to fill the PE spot so I'd have to teach and coach. Given my principal's claim, he just couldn't comfortably put me in that teacher/coach spot. After hearing my spirited rebuttal, he told me that he would go talk to my principal and get to the bottom of it. With more information he'd call me the next day or two. About a week later I got a text message from the AD telling me that it was confirmed, I was an issue in the classroom. It went on to say that my position for both coaching and PE had been filled. He said he'd call the next day to talk about it further. That was May... I'm still waiting for his phone call.
Now it blew me away that not only was I not going to coach but I wasn't even going to teach PE. It just brought up so many questions. Why had my principal not told the AD right off the bat that I was an issue in the classroom if it were so true? If I was really such an issue, how? After all, my last observation had gone really well. My kids loved my class. Parents on the whole were always emailing to say how much they liked me. My tech quotient in class was much higher than many others. And IT WAS MY FIRST YEAR! Why was the principal not upfront about why he wanted me to teach PE? Why would the AD be so classless as to break it off with me over a text message? I mean seriously, that's middle schooler style folks. What in the world had I done to deserve being allowed to introduce myself to the kids as their coach for next year only to have it pulled out from underneath me? Kids, parents, and teachers all knew that I was a coach. Done deal... now these guys were asking me to come back and put my face in front of all that? I was going to have to face all the questions and guffaws. All the scorn and embarrassment... And why? It didn't have to go down like that.
Needless to say this garbage made me question my choice in workplace. It also made me question the very profession of teaching. As I considered everything that had happened both at the end of the year and during it, I began to wonder if teaching was really the right thing for me to be doing. I realized that teachers who have been in the game for a long time are either thick skinned brass knuckled tyrants or reclusive hide-aways. Think about it... if you know a teacher who's got 10 years or better in, I bet you'll find what I'm saying to be true. And, the older the teacher the truer it gets. This truth really made me wonder if it was time to hang it up and find another career. After only a year I had my eyes opened to a vision of the future and I didn't like what I saw.
I went to my principal who, now realizing how ridiculously he'd gone about things, would surely be remorseful and comforting about the whole thing right? Nope.... Didn't even say sorry. Moreover, when I said in no uncertain terms that this whole situation had hurt me so bad that I was considering finding not just another school, but a whole other career. His response: Well, you've gotta do what you've gotta do. Wow... Thanks for that.
So I did just that... what I had to do. I investigated alternative employment, sought advice from others, played the lottery a little and was a rats hair away from starting a limo business. Somewhere in the middle of it though I was struck by a thought: What in the Sam Hill am I thinking?! I mean after all, the only reason I had time to do all that stuff is because I WASN'T WORKING, IT WAS SUMMER! How quickly I'd forgotten that teaching IS better than other jobs because you get summer off! I mean we may be roped in there shoveling turds alot of days for about 10 months a year so what?! While all you other hosers are at your jobs in July wishing you could sleep in and go to the lake... I AM! So to hell with it. Embarrass me, make me feel like a idiot... do whatever... I'm staying (provided I don't get the axe), this thing's just too cool for me and my family to go down without a fight.
And it's with that attitude that I came back in to this year. Sure, I got handed a development plan and a provisional contract when I came back. Sure, now I'm one of the proud few who get their lesson plans read weekly by the VP. Sure, now I'm getting tattled on by other teachers for all matter of ridiculous stuff. Sure sure sure.... woog. But you know something folks? For one thing, all this scrutiny may have just made me a quite a bit better at what I do. And on tough days, when I'm home at 4:30 in the afternoon and a couple weeks away from a long Christmas break... the Grin portion of Grin and Bear it becomes a whoooole lot easier. Ya'll have a good one and thanks for caring enough to read.
Lastly, I couldn't leave you with my first update in months and not give you a little OverHeard:
Me: So I want you all to write about why you're thankful that we live in a country that has free speech and freedom of the press.
Kid: What's the press?
Me: News people... more or less
Kid: What's freedom of speech?
Me: You can criticize the government and say whatever you feel.
Kid: Wouldn't you get thrown in jail if you criticized the president?
Me: Nope, that's freedom of speech bud.
Kid: That's stupid though, I'm not thankful for that.
Me: woog
Thursday, May 28, 2009
It had to end sometime...
Well folks school is coming to a close. It's been a pretty crazy year and now here we are at the end. It's been a really bittersweet time for me. On the one hand, it's summer and that's great. No more grading or planning or anything work related. On the other hand it's a little depressing. My first year is over. I will never have another like it. My students that I have this year will stand out from all others for me because they were my first. And so it's with a little sadness that I started pulling stuff down off my walls and shelves over the past couple days. I'm also sad that I didn't write in this blog more. I just noticed that I only have 38 entries... 38 out of 188 days of school ain't too good. But oh well.
All this reflection and stuff got me thinking about back when I was in 7th grade. It was a really tough time for me. So tough that it makes the slight depression right now feel like a cake walk. What made it so bad then though wasn't feeling bad leaving school, it was having to go everyday.
Some of you know my story here but for those that don't I'll try to keep it short.
In about 1993 or so we moved from WV to TX. I went from a small town with mostly white people to a school where whites were the minority. I went from not knowing any culture besides my own to being tossed into an environment where almost no one was like me. I'll never forget having a locker by a guy named after the son of God and wondering why he put so much baby oil in his hair. I'll never forget eating my first fresh jalapeno or my first Frito pie. I'll never forget chasing down horny toads and tumbleweeds because they were like this foreign oddity to us. But as new and wild as all that was, it's tough to even describe how hard that year was. For the most part I think it was because I was so different. My attitude was foreign and my life experience was abnormal but truly it was my accent that garnered so much junior high style verbal pounding.
Anyone who talks to me now knows I have an accent. I like it because I feel like it's a trait that sets me apart from others and makes me unique. Unfortunately for me, being a new kid in a middle school isn't the time to be unique.... often times I really wished I could have just blended in.
Luckily, this "first" 7th grade year wasn't nearly as rough. Today I wanted to really put a good ending note on it all so I just got up and talked to the kids. I talked to them about my life story and how the fact that I'm in such a good place now happened largely due to luck. I explained that most people who squander years of college, thousands of dollars and multiple opportunities don't really get the chance to recover and have a really happy ending. I talked about my wife and how different her life was compared to mine. She was a top graduate in high school, had scholarships at UT where she was a business honors student. Now she gets to stay home with our baby and work from the home office and is doing well with it. I tried to convey that the differences between her life and mine could be traced all the way back to around the same time my students are living in now. In middle school my wife made alot of decisions and set goals for herself academically and professionally. She would spend her school years tenaciously pursuing those goals. Like her I also set goals. However instead of setting personal expectations with an eye toward college and career, I was much more in the here and now. My main purpose in life became earning respect and friendship from people around me.
I'm happy to say that at least on some level I managed to overcome the fact that I was a huge dork and talked like I'd just crawled out of a turnip sack. I'm glad to say that by the time I got to high school, I knew alot of people and had several friends that I was pretty close to. I had girlfriends, I got into yearbook alot and everybody knew who I was. This isn't to say I was like the prom king or anything... but I was the prom king's best friend! Anyway the point is that I accomplished what I had set out to do. Unfortunately I really had no plan beyond that. My wife on the other hand was just getting started when she finished high school.
The moral of this story is that you need to set goals for yourself and then go after them. If you manage to get them knocked out, be sure to set new ones. That's what I told the little budding teenagers on their last real day of school and that's what I'm telling you folks now. Don't get caught in the doldrums of life because you failed set the bar. Find something you want to learn, accomplish, see, do, find, overcome, etc. and go out there and grab it. Remember the rabbit and the snake from day 1? If you don't, go back and check that out. Be fierce bunnies out there kids... the world will be a better place for it.
Thanks for an awesomely fantastic year class of 2014. I love all you knuckleheads and I'm going to miss you more than you know.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Kid: Why do you have Miracle Grow in here?
Me: Well I do have several plants.
Kid: Why would you put that on plants?
Me: To help them grow....?
Kid: But isn't that stuff for your hair?
Me: Well.... at least you asked before you had to find out on your own... woog
All this reflection and stuff got me thinking about back when I was in 7th grade. It was a really tough time for me. So tough that it makes the slight depression right now feel like a cake walk. What made it so bad then though wasn't feeling bad leaving school, it was having to go everyday.
Some of you know my story here but for those that don't I'll try to keep it short.
In about 1993 or so we moved from WV to TX. I went from a small town with mostly white people to a school where whites were the minority. I went from not knowing any culture besides my own to being tossed into an environment where almost no one was like me. I'll never forget having a locker by a guy named after the son of God and wondering why he put so much baby oil in his hair. I'll never forget eating my first fresh jalapeno or my first Frito pie. I'll never forget chasing down horny toads and tumbleweeds because they were like this foreign oddity to us. But as new and wild as all that was, it's tough to even describe how hard that year was. For the most part I think it was because I was so different. My attitude was foreign and my life experience was abnormal but truly it was my accent that garnered so much junior high style verbal pounding.
Anyone who talks to me now knows I have an accent. I like it because I feel like it's a trait that sets me apart from others and makes me unique. Unfortunately for me, being a new kid in a middle school isn't the time to be unique.... often times I really wished I could have just blended in.
Luckily, this "first" 7th grade year wasn't nearly as rough. Today I wanted to really put a good ending note on it all so I just got up and talked to the kids. I talked to them about my life story and how the fact that I'm in such a good place now happened largely due to luck. I explained that most people who squander years of college, thousands of dollars and multiple opportunities don't really get the chance to recover and have a really happy ending. I talked about my wife and how different her life was compared to mine. She was a top graduate in high school, had scholarships at UT where she was a business honors student. Now she gets to stay home with our baby and work from the home office and is doing well with it. I tried to convey that the differences between her life and mine could be traced all the way back to around the same time my students are living in now. In middle school my wife made alot of decisions and set goals for herself academically and professionally. She would spend her school years tenaciously pursuing those goals. Like her I also set goals. However instead of setting personal expectations with an eye toward college and career, I was much more in the here and now. My main purpose in life became earning respect and friendship from people around me.
I'm happy to say that at least on some level I managed to overcome the fact that I was a huge dork and talked like I'd just crawled out of a turnip sack. I'm glad to say that by the time I got to high school, I knew alot of people and had several friends that I was pretty close to. I had girlfriends, I got into yearbook alot and everybody knew who I was. This isn't to say I was like the prom king or anything... but I was the prom king's best friend! Anyway the point is that I accomplished what I had set out to do. Unfortunately I really had no plan beyond that. My wife on the other hand was just getting started when she finished high school.
The moral of this story is that you need to set goals for yourself and then go after them. If you manage to get them knocked out, be sure to set new ones. That's what I told the little budding teenagers on their last real day of school and that's what I'm telling you folks now. Don't get caught in the doldrums of life because you failed set the bar. Find something you want to learn, accomplish, see, do, find, overcome, etc. and go out there and grab it. Remember the rabbit and the snake from day 1? If you don't, go back and check that out. Be fierce bunnies out there kids... the world will be a better place for it.
Thanks for an awesomely fantastic year class of 2014. I love all you knuckleheads and I'm going to miss you more than you know.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Kid: Why do you have Miracle Grow in here?
Me: Well I do have several plants.
Kid: Why would you put that on plants?
Me: To help them grow....?
Kid: But isn't that stuff for your hair?
Me: Well.... at least you asked before you had to find out on your own... woog
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Industry in the Classroom
If there was ever a day to just do a walk-through on my class, I'd have to say today was it. Recently we've been learning about the industrial revolution and today we were working on the assembly line. To begin the activity I liked to give a little shout out to my main man Henry Ford for inventing the assembly line. A process which is still used in factories around the world. Albeit streamlined with robots and stuff... we still use em. Not only that, but the manufacturing prowess that we had developed from the early 1900's until that scuffle with Hitler's boys gave us the upper hand in a hot contest. In the end it allowed the old US of A and her allies to send those krauts into obscurity. Now look what their known for - click here. ummmm yeah. So thanks Ford!
Also lets not forget the invention of the 5 day work week. Atta boy Henry!! There's lots of reasons to be a Ford fan besides the fact that they make sweet trucks. So keep it up you "Found On Road Dead" turds. If it weren't for Ford, you'd be working on Saturdays instead of suckin down Fruit Loops and watching Transformers. But I digress....
So we get started and the class is split into equal teams. These teams will be responsible for making cars from outlines on paper. There will be a person to cut tires out, a person to cut the car body out, a person to fold the body, a person to assemble with glue stick and a person to paint/inspect the cars. The team will also have a supervisor who's responsible for cleaning the area, motivating the team, assigning jobs and making sure work is moving along appropriately.
Once work begins, the cutters are working furiously to get the parts moving down the assembly line. People in the back are yelling for the parts to get to them so they can finish the car. Supervisors are lashing out at the team, goading them on toward success. All the while you've got me looming. I played the part of the factory. At the time in the early 1900's the factory was a living thing to be feared. It was loud, obnoxious, smelly, hot and on occasion would take your limbs. I played this part by implementing a little classroom torture.
First I opened the windows but shut the blinds. On a day like today, that just meant the room was going to be dark and hot. Then I got the factory sound going. Now at this stage alot of teachers would probably have some industrial sound track to play. In lieu of such a thing I decided to play multiple Youtube videos all at once on top of one another. To make matters worse I picked dastardly classics like Mmm Bop, The Macarena and William Hung singing Take me out to the ball game' . But even that wasn't enough. To really put the cherry on what would turn out to be a very annoying and overbearing soundtrack I chose to add in this atrocity which can't be truly appreciated until about minute 4... so fast forward, I guess.
With the overhead speaker blasting something like what I imagine hell sounding like and the students sweating and yelling at one another all while working at a feverish pace, the puzzle was nearly complete. But we do need to factor in the whole losing limbs thing.
As an aside here, I want to take another minute to remember Adrian Cane. He and I basically put the ideas for this thing together back when we were up at Round Rock. But when we were there we did it even bigger. We had steam engines in the room! It was great. I'm taking this aside now because this next little element was all his idea. RIP dude... haven't forgotten you. And as long as I teach the industrial revolution, I probably never will.
So to simulate losing a finger, I walked around the room with a roll of masking tape. At complete random I would chose someone to get 2-4 of their fingers taped together. Or if I really wanted to get them, I'd take their thumb. Let me tell you, a kid trying to use scissors with their off hand because their dominant one is all taped up.... pure comedy gold. At the end of the day the smarter students were all trying to unionize and go on strike for unfair treatment. And that's the cool part. That's where History Alive gets it. It isn't just about making kids jump around and be silly all in the name of a more exciting classroom. It's about getting them in a similar situation until they can make a connection with the people who actually experienced it. It isn't always easy with 13 year olds... but today I think I did.
Oh and by the way, on a day which would have been perfect to have a surprise walk-through... I got one. God is good.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Question imediately after I explained the above described activity.
Kid1: Mr. S, I was thinking about it and I think I figured out my parents anniversary is tomorrow and...
Kid2: (cutting off Kid1) So when I was at lunch I saw this Coke bottle sitting in the road and...
Me: (cutting off Kid2) Enough... woog.
Kid1: So when I was 7 I knew all the words to Stairway to Heaven.
Kid2: I'm not sure if I should think that's cool or scary.
Also lets not forget the invention of the 5 day work week. Atta boy Henry!! There's lots of reasons to be a Ford fan besides the fact that they make sweet trucks. So keep it up you "Found On Road Dead" turds. If it weren't for Ford, you'd be working on Saturdays instead of suckin down Fruit Loops and watching Transformers. But I digress....
So we get started and the class is split into equal teams. These teams will be responsible for making cars from outlines on paper. There will be a person to cut tires out, a person to cut the car body out, a person to fold the body, a person to assemble with glue stick and a person to paint/inspect the cars. The team will also have a supervisor who's responsible for cleaning the area, motivating the team, assigning jobs and making sure work is moving along appropriately.
Once work begins, the cutters are working furiously to get the parts moving down the assembly line. People in the back are yelling for the parts to get to them so they can finish the car. Supervisors are lashing out at the team, goading them on toward success. All the while you've got me looming. I played the part of the factory. At the time in the early 1900's the factory was a living thing to be feared. It was loud, obnoxious, smelly, hot and on occasion would take your limbs. I played this part by implementing a little classroom torture.
First I opened the windows but shut the blinds. On a day like today, that just meant the room was going to be dark and hot. Then I got the factory sound going. Now at this stage alot of teachers would probably have some industrial sound track to play. In lieu of such a thing I decided to play multiple Youtube videos all at once on top of one another. To make matters worse I picked dastardly classics like Mmm Bop, The Macarena and William Hung singing Take me out to the ball game' . But even that wasn't enough. To really put the cherry on what would turn out to be a very annoying and overbearing soundtrack I chose to add in this atrocity which can't be truly appreciated until about minute 4... so fast forward, I guess.
With the overhead speaker blasting something like what I imagine hell sounding like and the students sweating and yelling at one another all while working at a feverish pace, the puzzle was nearly complete. But we do need to factor in the whole losing limbs thing.
As an aside here, I want to take another minute to remember Adrian Cane. He and I basically put the ideas for this thing together back when we were up at Round Rock. But when we were there we did it even bigger. We had steam engines in the room! It was great. I'm taking this aside now because this next little element was all his idea. RIP dude... haven't forgotten you. And as long as I teach the industrial revolution, I probably never will.
So to simulate losing a finger, I walked around the room with a roll of masking tape. At complete random I would chose someone to get 2-4 of their fingers taped together. Or if I really wanted to get them, I'd take their thumb. Let me tell you, a kid trying to use scissors with their off hand because their dominant one is all taped up.... pure comedy gold. At the end of the day the smarter students were all trying to unionize and go on strike for unfair treatment. And that's the cool part. That's where History Alive gets it. It isn't just about making kids jump around and be silly all in the name of a more exciting classroom. It's about getting them in a similar situation until they can make a connection with the people who actually experienced it. It isn't always easy with 13 year olds... but today I think I did.
Oh and by the way, on a day which would have been perfect to have a surprise walk-through... I got one. God is good.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Question imediately after I explained the above described activity.
Kid1: Mr. S, I was thinking about it and I think I figured out my parents anniversary is tomorrow and...
Kid2: (cutting off Kid1) So when I was at lunch I saw this Coke bottle sitting in the road and...
Me: (cutting off Kid2) Enough... woog.
Kid1: So when I was 7 I knew all the words to Stairway to Heaven.
Kid2: I'm not sure if I should think that's cool or scary.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Time to get back in the game...
Well I'm not sure I could say I was ever in it but today I decided it really is time to get back into working out again. I think it's so funny how often people do this. Think about working out, plan to, plan doesn't work out, plan to later, forget about it for a while, think about it, plan for it, actually do it, get sore, decide to take a break for a little while because it can't be good for you to work out again so soon, make it back a month later.... the saga goes on and on. At best, alot of people wind up working out consistently for something like 2 to 6 months. So here I go.
I think something that inspired me a little bit is a cool new work out program a friend of mine is involved with. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him about it yet but what I gather from the website is that it's a pretty non-standard regimen. You can check it out at their website entirefit.com. You'll get it when you get there but the workout's all about tires... get it, en-TIRE-fit. Anyway I didn't mean for this to become an ad for these guys, but I will say the fact that something cool like this exists has inspired me to get back to the grind and try to get myself beefed up.
Today I worked out at school for the first time in a while. It went well. Funny part about it was when I decided to do the aerobic fitness test the kids all have to do. It's this weird little thing where a tape recording gives you a set amount of time to run across the court. As the test goes on, the time you have to get down the court gets shorter. The fastest kid I saw ran 94 but he was waaaay above everyone else. Since I'm fairly out of shape and I'd just worked out, I set my goal at 20. Aaaaand I almost died. But I did it. Now let's just see how long it takes to get back in game.... Again.
On a related note... if you remember the Farmer's pushup challenge that I brought up back in January, I did it... for a while. Once I got up to about 70 pushups, I just got tired of doing it. But I will say that there may just be something to that "little bit at a time and you'll get there" thing. I don't know about picking up a cow, but I think you might concievably be able to do 365 pushups by years end by simply doing one more everyday.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Kid:Mr. S did you know it's Earth day today?
Me: Nope
Kid: Well it is... I figured that's why you wore that green shirt.
Me: Nope
Kid: Well actually with that green shirt like the trees, your jeans like water and your brown shoes like dirt... you really went all out for today. You ARE the Earth!
Me: ooooook
Me: Alright so what industries do you think were affected by Spindletop and the mass production of cars?
Kid: Well I bet the bicycle industry didn't like it very much
Me: Woog
I think something that inspired me a little bit is a cool new work out program a friend of mine is involved with. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him about it yet but what I gather from the website is that it's a pretty non-standard regimen. You can check it out at their website entirefit.com. You'll get it when you get there but the workout's all about tires... get it, en-TIRE-fit. Anyway I didn't mean for this to become an ad for these guys, but I will say the fact that something cool like this exists has inspired me to get back to the grind and try to get myself beefed up.
Today I worked out at school for the first time in a while. It went well. Funny part about it was when I decided to do the aerobic fitness test the kids all have to do. It's this weird little thing where a tape recording gives you a set amount of time to run across the court. As the test goes on, the time you have to get down the court gets shorter. The fastest kid I saw ran 94 but he was waaaay above everyone else. Since I'm fairly out of shape and I'd just worked out, I set my goal at 20. Aaaaand I almost died. But I did it. Now let's just see how long it takes to get back in game.... Again.
On a related note... if you remember the Farmer's pushup challenge that I brought up back in January, I did it... for a while. Once I got up to about 70 pushups, I just got tired of doing it. But I will say that there may just be something to that "little bit at a time and you'll get there" thing. I don't know about picking up a cow, but I think you might concievably be able to do 365 pushups by years end by simply doing one more everyday.
Overheard @ WoRMS
Kid:Mr. S did you know it's Earth day today?
Me: Nope
Kid: Well it is... I figured that's why you wore that green shirt.
Me: Nope
Kid: Well actually with that green shirt like the trees, your jeans like water and your brown shoes like dirt... you really went all out for today. You ARE the Earth!
Me: ooooook
Me: Alright so what industries do you think were affected by Spindletop and the mass production of cars?
Kid: Well I bet the bicycle industry didn't like it very much
Me: Woog
Monday, April 20, 2009
and now... The rest of the story
Alright, so picking up where the last blog left off...
Workout Wednesday:
So on Wednesday I have the guys go through this cycle that combined body weight exercises with cardio. I kind of modeled off this personal training cycle that the wife used to go through before we got married. Here's what we did.
Keep in mind they do this with no break in between. They also have to do them on command and with correct form. If they break from the group in any way, I start over at zero.
First the guys get into position and do 25 push ups. Then they get with a partner and do 25 sit ups. After both partners go, they get into position and do 25 squat jumps. From there we line up at the goal line and the partners become groups 1 and 2. In the following exercises group one would go then, if they did it right, group 2 would go. First, 15 yards and back bear crawls. Second, 15 yards and back forward crab. Third, 15 and back duck walk.
After they finished, the group would go right back to push up position and we would cut down to 20 of each of the first exercises. Then go on to the last three just as before. Then with the time left we went on and did 15 of each. Only once did we ever get through all 3 cycles . It sounds like no big deal I know. But believe me, it aint easy. These young fellas were sweating it up and getting stronger all the time.
Throw Down Thursday:
On Thursday the guys would build on the score that their teams started getting on Tuesday. We would throw a bunch of different things at them from tug of war to pass and punt competitions. This was never really a tough day but the guys did have a forum to show off their new found strength and conditioning.
Football Friday:
Part reward for a tough week finished and part competition, on Friday we played touch football. This was their last opportunity for a team to get enough points to win for the week and get out of half the running on Marathon Monday.
Anyway so a long winded explanation sure, but I was really proud of this set up because it allowed me to mesh together a group of guys that others had had trouble with. All of a sudden instead of fighting to outdo each others' stupidity they were fighting together and working hard. They were taking responsibility for what they did and becoming faster and stronger in the mean time.
So where are we now on the coaching thing? Well who knows really. I've put in to be one of the coaches next year but nothing has been made official yet. I will say that I'm really excited that it's even a possibility. This year has shown me just how much I like the whole coaching thing. I also think I'm better at it than I am at most other things. So the long and short of it is that I hope I will be, I think I might be, so stay tuned to find out.
Last but not least: PROJECT THUNDER MAKER
Some of my regular readers that read about my teaching, coaching etc. may not know or care much about the following topic. But as work progresses, there will be updates.
So what is Project Thunder Maker? It's where you take and already beastly truck and simply... make it more beastly! Some of you may have never had the pleasure of encountering Green Thunder. I am sad for you. Here is a picture.
You can't read the sign in front of it, but it says "for low emissions vehicles only" haha. I'm pretty sure I've never talked about Green Thunder in the old blog o rama so here goes. It is a 1977 Ford F-150 with a 460 (7.5 Liter) V8. It's 4wheel drive, rides on 33" tires and currently has a bone stock drivetrain. From the very beginning, I have loved this awesome truck. Originally I bought it after a great deal of searching for something that could sort of fill a want for muscle bound motors and wrenches turning in the garage. I sought out this particular era of Ford since my dad had owned a '79 F150 with a 400 in it. Finding this truck was a dream come true and working on it has been a blast.
In the past year (I bought it in February of 08) I've done lots of little things to it. I've swapped out the power steering with the help of my dad. I've swapped out the carb for a 770 Truck Avenger with the help of my buddy Seth. And I've swapped out the weather stripping with the help of Miller High life.
But now with a little influx of cash, the real project Thunder Maker has begun.
To be honest the whole thing started with some leaky valve seals. These are things that keep the oil at the top of the engine from draining down into the combustion chamber. Since they were leaking, the motor was burning some oil. And as anyone who's ever hung out around Green Thunder when I start it up can tell you, it makes for a smelly and smokey show when the oil gets to burnin. So obviously this is an easy fix. $12 part, valve covers off and bang your done. But lets not over simplify something easy. Instead, lets make it difficult and fun!
With money in my pocket and big dreams for big horses, the project began. And what had started as a lowly valve seal replacement had now snowballed into a whole engine build! So I budgeted and started shopping.
Truthfully this project had been slowly in the works for sometime. This explains why I have headers, a Comp Cams Extreme 4x4 262 camshaft and a new MSD ignition setup all hanging out in my garage. But hey, I'd rather just say it started recently... makes me sound like more of a go getter. Anyway so here's how it's gone so far...
First I went ahead and got a good deal from Craig's on an engine hoist and stand. It was a monster drive to get it, but it was worth the 100 bucks or so that I saved over buying it new and boy does this thing perform! Nothing like having 2 tons of lifting power in your garage for a job like this.
Second, I found a shortblock+. I call it shortblock+ because most short blocks don't come with anything except a crank and pistons inside the block itself. This came with a weak cam as well as water, oil, fuel pumps. It also has a front sump pan on it which does me no good but it helped with transport. Anyway, I got this thing off Craigslist from a guy that had more money than sense but... that's a story that would take up too much space, and this story is running long already.
Anyway so the first step was getting it out of the truck. This process was hampered at first because the guy I got it from gave me the wrong bolt sizes on the back end.. like I said, no sense. Side note: Luckily he wasn't the one who built it. Instead it had actually been put together at a machine shop and bored 30 over. So now it's actually more like a 466. So when dad was in town over Easter, we finally managed to get the thing out of the truck and onto the stand.
During the process I wound up getting some iron D0VE-C heads that had been throughly worked over and endowed with some massive Super Cobra Jet valves. We're talking 2.25 on the intake kids... that's manimal sized. With the help of my buddy Seth we got the new cam in and we've got it all set up to put the heads on. More on that soon...
Anyway we're really having some good times putting this thing together. I can't wait to get it in and put some power to the road. Although I have to say with this HEAVY artillery under hood, I kind of feel sorry for my back tires....
OVERHEARD @ WoRMS
Kid: Mr. I dare you to shave your beard on the last day of school...
Me: I'll think about it.
I think this leads me to ask you, the readers...
1. Have you ever seen me without it?
2. Should I?
Let me know on FB or on here what you think. Hopefully we're all caught up now and I can actually start doing daily updates again. I miss ya kids. Later.
Workout Wednesday:
So on Wednesday I have the guys go through this cycle that combined body weight exercises with cardio. I kind of modeled off this personal training cycle that the wife used to go through before we got married. Here's what we did.
Keep in mind they do this with no break in between. They also have to do them on command and with correct form. If they break from the group in any way, I start over at zero.
First the guys get into position and do 25 push ups. Then they get with a partner and do 25 sit ups. After both partners go, they get into position and do 25 squat jumps. From there we line up at the goal line and the partners become groups 1 and 2. In the following exercises group one would go then, if they did it right, group 2 would go. First, 15 yards and back bear crawls. Second, 15 yards and back forward crab. Third, 15 and back duck walk.
After they finished, the group would go right back to push up position and we would cut down to 20 of each of the first exercises. Then go on to the last three just as before. Then with the time left we went on and did 15 of each. Only once did we ever get through all 3 cycles . It sounds like no big deal I know. But believe me, it aint easy. These young fellas were sweating it up and getting stronger all the time.
Throw Down Thursday:
On Thursday the guys would build on the score that their teams started getting on Tuesday. We would throw a bunch of different things at them from tug of war to pass and punt competitions. This was never really a tough day but the guys did have a forum to show off their new found strength and conditioning.
Football Friday:
Part reward for a tough week finished and part competition, on Friday we played touch football. This was their last opportunity for a team to get enough points to win for the week and get out of half the running on Marathon Monday.
Anyway so a long winded explanation sure, but I was really proud of this set up because it allowed me to mesh together a group of guys that others had had trouble with. All of a sudden instead of fighting to outdo each others' stupidity they were fighting together and working hard. They were taking responsibility for what they did and becoming faster and stronger in the mean time.
So where are we now on the coaching thing? Well who knows really. I've put in to be one of the coaches next year but nothing has been made official yet. I will say that I'm really excited that it's even a possibility. This year has shown me just how much I like the whole coaching thing. I also think I'm better at it than I am at most other things. So the long and short of it is that I hope I will be, I think I might be, so stay tuned to find out.
Last but not least: PROJECT THUNDER MAKER
Some of my regular readers that read about my teaching, coaching etc. may not know or care much about the following topic. But as work progresses, there will be updates.
So what is Project Thunder Maker? It's where you take and already beastly truck and simply... make it more beastly! Some of you may have never had the pleasure of encountering Green Thunder. I am sad for you. Here is a picture.
You can't read the sign in front of it, but it says "for low emissions vehicles only" haha. I'm pretty sure I've never talked about Green Thunder in the old blog o rama so here goes. It is a 1977 Ford F-150 with a 460 (7.5 Liter) V8. It's 4wheel drive, rides on 33" tires and currently has a bone stock drivetrain. From the very beginning, I have loved this awesome truck. Originally I bought it after a great deal of searching for something that could sort of fill a want for muscle bound motors and wrenches turning in the garage. I sought out this particular era of Ford since my dad had owned a '79 F150 with a 400 in it. Finding this truck was a dream come true and working on it has been a blast.
In the past year (I bought it in February of 08) I've done lots of little things to it. I've swapped out the power steering with the help of my dad. I've swapped out the carb for a 770 Truck Avenger with the help of my buddy Seth. And I've swapped out the weather stripping with the help of Miller High life.
But now with a little influx of cash, the real project Thunder Maker has begun.To be honest the whole thing started with some leaky valve seals. These are things that keep the oil at the top of the engine from draining down into the combustion chamber. Since they were leaking, the motor was burning some oil. And as anyone who's ever hung out around Green Thunder when I start it up can tell you, it makes for a smelly and smokey show when the oil gets to burnin. So obviously this is an easy fix. $12 part, valve covers off and bang your done. But lets not over simplify something easy. Instead, lets make it difficult and fun!
With money in my pocket and big dreams for big horses, the project began. And what had started as a lowly valve seal replacement had now snowballed into a whole engine build! So I budgeted and started shopping.
Truthfully this project had been slowly in the works for sometime. This explains why I have headers, a Comp Cams Extreme 4x4 262 camshaft and a new MSD ignition setup all hanging out in my garage. But hey, I'd rather just say it started recently... makes me sound like more of a go getter. Anyway so here's how it's gone so far...
First I went ahead and got a good deal from Craig's on an engine hoist and stand. It was a monster drive to get it, but it was worth the 100 bucks or so that I saved over buying it new and boy does this thing perform! Nothing like having 2 tons of lifting power in your garage for a job like this.
Second, I found a shortblock+. I call it shortblock+ because most short blocks don't come with anything except a crank and pistons inside the block itself. This came with a weak cam as well as water, oil, fuel pumps. It also has a front sump pan on it which does me no good but it helped with transport. Anyway, I got this thing off Craigslist from a guy that had more money than sense but... that's a story that would take up too much space, and this story is running long already.
Anyway so the first step was getting it out of the truck. This process was hampered at first because the guy I got it from gave me the wrong bolt sizes on the back end.. like I said, no sense. Side note: Luckily he wasn't the one who built it. Instead it had actually been put together at a machine shop and bored 30 over. So now it's actually more like a 466. So when dad was in town over Easter, we finally managed to get the thing out of the truck and onto the stand.
During the process I wound up getting some iron D0VE-C heads that had been throughly worked over and endowed with some massive Super Cobra Jet valves. We're talking 2.25 on the intake kids... that's manimal sized. With the help of my buddy Seth we got the new cam in and we've got it all set up to put the heads on. More on that soon...
Anyway we're really having some good times putting this thing together. I can't wait to get it in and put some power to the road. Although I have to say with this HEAVY artillery under hood, I kind of feel sorry for my back tires....
OVERHEARD @ WoRMS
Kid: Mr. I dare you to shave your beard on the last day of school...
Me: I'll think about it.
I think this leads me to ask you, the readers...
1. Have you ever seen me without it?
2. Should I?
Let me know on FB or on here what you think. Hopefully we're all caught up now and I can actually start doing daily updates again. I miss ya kids. Later.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Where've you been all these months?
So you're probably wondering, where's Spur been? Or actually you probably haven't been wondering but who cares. Some days I wonder where I am and have been. Before I started writing this blog tonight I looked at the date of the last entry... woah nelly it's been almost 4 months! Needless to say, time to get back in the blogger saddle. Hope you packed a lunch Alice... this one's gonna be a long one.
BABY:
First and foremost I want to talk about our sweet little baby Reese. This girl is absolutely unbelievable. Those of you who have only seen birth pictures of her will scarcely believe the little lady that's hanging out with us now. This Thursday will mark her 12 week "birthday" and man is she changing fast. Before she was born everyone kept saying, "You'd better drink it all in because they grow up SO fast." I'd heard this before but never realized just how true it is until now.
Oh the places she's going. Well not really, she can't get anywhere yet. But she is slightly less blob like when she's sitting still. Her feet and hands are constantly moving. These days she has started trying to talk alot too. It's a little eerie. I don't know why. Just think of something you're not used to hearing make language type sounds all of a sudden start saying Oooooooo. Like if my cat did that I'd be real weirded out. The baby does it and I suppose it's all part of growing up but still. We've had a long time of hearing the usual crying, farting and retching. Anything else is a little out of the ordinary.
Not only is she trying to make letter sounds, she's also started laughing and smiling constantly. A week ago or so her Gigi was over helping out. We were all standing around in the bedroom putting laundry away or something and Reese starts outright laughing. It was the craziest thing. Those of you who have kids probably remember this moment with your own and you know what I'm talking about. Anyway so she's just staring at Gigi and literally belly laughing. It was a cool moment. Unfortunately it has yet to be replicated since no one knows what an infant thinks is humorous.
As far as being tough to deal with in the normal baby ways, she really hasn't been. For the most part she doesn't cry much. She usually enjoys taking a bath. She has always slept through the night. And she just really like to make eye contact and smile. If you can't tell... we're pretty dang pleased with her.
Lately I've gotten to start feeding her. I say 'gotten to' because I am really stoked to be a part of her feeding process. Before it was all in the wife's hands and I could do little to help. Now I take on multiple feedings everyday including the 11:30 PM and the 6:30 AM. And on that note can I say, I've become a pretty big coffee fan. Off the top of my head that's all I can think of. If there's anything you want to know specifically about the babe just put it in the comments and I'll definitely add to the blog.
Next topic: Teaching
Alright so first year teacher stuff.... not so bad, at least for me. It's funny that I'm writing about this today. There's so much that has been going on today that has made me become very reflective and in turn very thankful concerning my first big year in teaching. Let me expound on this a little....
So when I look through my mind's eye and gaze back into the past, I look around the room at all the young student teachers in my cohort. So much passion, dedication, and drive to be good educators. Thinking back on all the folks that used to sit with me in that class, I can't help but think... Why me? Why am I having such a good year? Has it had it's ups and downs? Absolutely. But in the end, the hand I've been dealt is a much much sweeter one than many people.
First off let's start out with the fact that I got a job. I don't keep in touch well but I'd feel safe saying that a quarter and maybe half of our cohort didn't even get jobs as teachers.... woof. Second, where are these jobs? Many wanted to stay close to Austin, few did. Off the top of my head there's maybe a couple around here, but everyone else left... sometimes with disastrous results.
Which brings me to the fact that for whatever reason, I got the long end on a whole bunch of sticks... and it actually makes me feel really bad. You see at my school I have something that I feel is extremely important to a teacher's success, support. I have a mentor teacher who is fantastic. I plan with her, I go to her in emergencies, I can count on her for sound advice and she has been the proverbial shoulder to cry on in more than one instance. From my conversations with my friends, none of them have that. Then there's another lady I work with who takes care of making sure that students' special educational needs are met. Those of you who are teachers will understand when I say, "This lady and her IEP fulfillin ways are a God send." Without those two incredible women, I'm not sure what I would have done this year. I just find it sad that the others haven't had the opportunity to thrive that I've had.
And now nearing the end of the year, I wonder how many of us will still be teaching next year. I know some are contemplating grad school, others are being let go, and one need only search my previous blogs to see the ultimate in downtrodden school years. Obviously I'm talking about Adrien, a man who given the opportunity that I've been given may well have become teacher of the year but more importantly, would probably still be with us.
It's all just a sad thing. Folks losing sleep, losing their hair, losing their sanity all over something they at one time felt driven with a passion to do.
Anyway, this topic has really got me down so I'm moving on.
Coaching:
So this coaching deal has really taken off since last I wrote. At one time I used to wonder how any amount of money could be worth giving up my off period to take on such a lousy bunch. They were unruly, they didn't work hard, they were overall just a sorry bunch. I'm using the past tense here because I guess it was sometime around Christmas and the baby being born when I said... you know maybe these kids aint turds, maybe I've just got a shit attitude. And I did...
With that realization, I set to work on what would be the reawakening (or maybe just awakening) of our off-season program. It didn't need to be football based because half the guys I was working with played no football. It needed to be fun, challenging and engaging all at the same time. I knew if it wasn't, it would fail like everything else had. And the solution came through an exercise in alliteration that took us through every day of the week:
Marathon Monday:
This day is pretty simple. Running and more running. We run what I call a gasser which in our program I defined as starting from the inside edge of the track run across the field to the other inside edge, back then over and back again. Four trips across the field. Originally I did this when I played football. The only difference is that we used the football sidelines. Using the track edges the kids are running close to a hundred more yards per gasser. If everyone runs them and finishes through the line everytime, we run 8 of these. Then we run 8 one hundred yard sprints. It's a tough day, especially if one isn't giving much effort. Wanting to instill a team mentality, I simply don't count one if people screw around or don't do what's asked of them. Sure enough, they rally together to get the running done right.
Tire Pull Tuesday:
I had almost forgotten this game, but remembered it just in time to make it part of the new program. Any of you that read this who went to Temple will remember going to church camp. What some of you younger pups may not remember is that the games up there used to be brutally violent. One that sticks out in my mind is the one where kids raced across a field with trash cans on their heads. The kicker was that they crossed paths right in the middle with another team. So every now and again someone would get absolutely destroyed and never see it coming. Another game we played was a fantastic game called tire pull. With athletics I decided to play the game much as it had been played at camp. Split the teams into even numbers of all sizes, number them of 1-10 on each team. Call a number and whoever gets the most tires back to their side wins. It's a blast.
To be continued....
BABY:
First and foremost I want to talk about our sweet little baby Reese. This girl is absolutely unbelievable. Those of you who have only seen birth pictures of her will scarcely believe the little lady that's hanging out with us now. This Thursday will mark her 12 week "birthday" and man is she changing fast. Before she was born everyone kept saying, "You'd better drink it all in because they grow up SO fast." I'd heard this before but never realized just how true it is until now.
Oh the places she's going. Well not really, she can't get anywhere yet. But she is slightly less blob like when she's sitting still. Her feet and hands are constantly moving. These days she has started trying to talk alot too. It's a little eerie. I don't know why. Just think of something you're not used to hearing make language type sounds all of a sudden start saying Oooooooo. Like if my cat did that I'd be real weirded out. The baby does it and I suppose it's all part of growing up but still. We've had a long time of hearing the usual crying, farting and retching. Anything else is a little out of the ordinary.
Not only is she trying to make letter sounds, she's also started laughing and smiling constantly. A week ago or so her Gigi was over helping out. We were all standing around in the bedroom putting laundry away or something and Reese starts outright laughing. It was the craziest thing. Those of you who have kids probably remember this moment with your own and you know what I'm talking about. Anyway so she's just staring at Gigi and literally belly laughing. It was a cool moment. Unfortunately it has yet to be replicated since no one knows what an infant thinks is humorous.
As far as being tough to deal with in the normal baby ways, she really hasn't been. For the most part she doesn't cry much. She usually enjoys taking a bath. She has always slept through the night. And she just really like to make eye contact and smile. If you can't tell... we're pretty dang pleased with her.
Lately I've gotten to start feeding her. I say 'gotten to' because I am really stoked to be a part of her feeding process. Before it was all in the wife's hands and I could do little to help. Now I take on multiple feedings everyday including the 11:30 PM and the 6:30 AM. And on that note can I say, I've become a pretty big coffee fan. Off the top of my head that's all I can think of. If there's anything you want to know specifically about the babe just put it in the comments and I'll definitely add to the blog.
Next topic: Teaching
Alright so first year teacher stuff.... not so bad, at least for me. It's funny that I'm writing about this today. There's so much that has been going on today that has made me become very reflective and in turn very thankful concerning my first big year in teaching. Let me expound on this a little....
So when I look through my mind's eye and gaze back into the past, I look around the room at all the young student teachers in my cohort. So much passion, dedication, and drive to be good educators. Thinking back on all the folks that used to sit with me in that class, I can't help but think... Why me? Why am I having such a good year? Has it had it's ups and downs? Absolutely. But in the end, the hand I've been dealt is a much much sweeter one than many people.
First off let's start out with the fact that I got a job. I don't keep in touch well but I'd feel safe saying that a quarter and maybe half of our cohort didn't even get jobs as teachers.... woof. Second, where are these jobs? Many wanted to stay close to Austin, few did. Off the top of my head there's maybe a couple around here, but everyone else left... sometimes with disastrous results.
Which brings me to the fact that for whatever reason, I got the long end on a whole bunch of sticks... and it actually makes me feel really bad. You see at my school I have something that I feel is extremely important to a teacher's success, support. I have a mentor teacher who is fantastic. I plan with her, I go to her in emergencies, I can count on her for sound advice and she has been the proverbial shoulder to cry on in more than one instance. From my conversations with my friends, none of them have that. Then there's another lady I work with who takes care of making sure that students' special educational needs are met. Those of you who are teachers will understand when I say, "This lady and her IEP fulfillin ways are a God send." Without those two incredible women, I'm not sure what I would have done this year. I just find it sad that the others haven't had the opportunity to thrive that I've had.
And now nearing the end of the year, I wonder how many of us will still be teaching next year. I know some are contemplating grad school, others are being let go, and one need only search my previous blogs to see the ultimate in downtrodden school years. Obviously I'm talking about Adrien, a man who given the opportunity that I've been given may well have become teacher of the year but more importantly, would probably still be with us.
It's all just a sad thing. Folks losing sleep, losing their hair, losing their sanity all over something they at one time felt driven with a passion to do.
Anyway, this topic has really got me down so I'm moving on.
Coaching:
So this coaching deal has really taken off since last I wrote. At one time I used to wonder how any amount of money could be worth giving up my off period to take on such a lousy bunch. They were unruly, they didn't work hard, they were overall just a sorry bunch. I'm using the past tense here because I guess it was sometime around Christmas and the baby being born when I said... you know maybe these kids aint turds, maybe I've just got a shit attitude. And I did...
With that realization, I set to work on what would be the reawakening (or maybe just awakening) of our off-season program. It didn't need to be football based because half the guys I was working with played no football. It needed to be fun, challenging and engaging all at the same time. I knew if it wasn't, it would fail like everything else had. And the solution came through an exercise in alliteration that took us through every day of the week:
Marathon Monday:
This day is pretty simple. Running and more running. We run what I call a gasser which in our program I defined as starting from the inside edge of the track run across the field to the other inside edge, back then over and back again. Four trips across the field. Originally I did this when I played football. The only difference is that we used the football sidelines. Using the track edges the kids are running close to a hundred more yards per gasser. If everyone runs them and finishes through the line everytime, we run 8 of these. Then we run 8 one hundred yard sprints. It's a tough day, especially if one isn't giving much effort. Wanting to instill a team mentality, I simply don't count one if people screw around or don't do what's asked of them. Sure enough, they rally together to get the running done right.
Tire Pull Tuesday:
I had almost forgotten this game, but remembered it just in time to make it part of the new program. Any of you that read this who went to Temple will remember going to church camp. What some of you younger pups may not remember is that the games up there used to be brutally violent. One that sticks out in my mind is the one where kids raced across a field with trash cans on their heads. The kicker was that they crossed paths right in the middle with another team. So every now and again someone would get absolutely destroyed and never see it coming. Another game we played was a fantastic game called tire pull. With athletics I decided to play the game much as it had been played at camp. Split the teams into even numbers of all sizes, number them of 1-10 on each team. Call a number and whoever gets the most tires back to their side wins. It's a blast.
To be continued....
Sunday, January 18, 2009
You just can't imagine what you've gotten yourself into
As anyone who reads this blog may have noticed, the detailed blog of the labor and birth was put in kind of late. So late in fact that I began to see the sunrise before I finally went down. Woog, it's been quite a while since I've seen two sunrises in one waking period. The important factoid there though is that neither Alison nor myself slept in over 25 hours. It was brutal. And now what do we get for our trouble? A kid, that eats, cries and sleeps... and personifies cuteness but that's beside the point.
The thing is, for all those of you that haven't had babies, that you want to get out of the hospital as soon as you can and cut visits to a minimum. If you don't, you'll be sorry. As you come up to the due date, people will always tell you, " Sleep when the baby sleeps." The reasoning is that you shouldn't try to force the baby to get on your schedule until 3 or 4 months and during those first months, you should get on the baby's schedule (as much as possible). Follow this and good times will be had by all. A newborn actually sleeps a ton, it's just at weird times. And this is where the visitation time comes in.
Sure grandmom and peepaw love to love on new baby. But lord have mercy folks kick em out at some point. Not just them though. Everyone altogether! You should be spending significant portions of time sleeping while the baby's sleeping and taking care of baby while it's awake. It may seem like the right thing to do to let the friends and relatives that brought you into the world and support you in it to coddle and coo over baby for hours... but it isn't. Look out for yourself and look out for your kid. Listen... Don't start a life long feud over this though. Our parents were very understanding about it when we realized it late in the game and brought it up... yours might not be. But believe me, if and when my sweet wife goes through this again, she will not have the same circus going on around her afterward.
It was a hard lesson to learn. One that has netted me an 'Alison beating' 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep in the past day or so. Everyday life became like this psycho trip to Vegas where you always lose track of what time it is, night becomes day and day becomes night. Problem is instead of fun gambling and watching shows, your bouncing up and down and shushing at an angry 10 lb ball of noodles. Needless to say, no matter how much you love baby, the euphoria wears off pretty quick.
So now after hanging in the hospital and allowing baby and wife to get poked and prodded every couple hours of the day, we're heading for the house. The car seat is here and the bags are all packed. We're excited to go home and face no more distractions, no more circus, no more needles or bed that doubles as a trendy sofa. At the same time however, we're pretty nervous about not having all the professional help at a ripcord's pull away.... Let's see how good of parents we're really gonna be.
Overheard @ the Hospital
Elevator conversation between my parents and the famous dad of quints (who were the talk of the whole hospital) born on the same day...
Parents: So we did the math and figured out that your 5 news-worthy babies weighed less than our one granddaughter at birth.
Quints' Dad: Your the grandparents of that 10-6 baby?! Awesome!
It seems BR Spur was the 6th most popular baby in the nursery... atta girl.
The thing is, for all those of you that haven't had babies, that you want to get out of the hospital as soon as you can and cut visits to a minimum. If you don't, you'll be sorry. As you come up to the due date, people will always tell you, " Sleep when the baby sleeps." The reasoning is that you shouldn't try to force the baby to get on your schedule until 3 or 4 months and during those first months, you should get on the baby's schedule (as much as possible). Follow this and good times will be had by all. A newborn actually sleeps a ton, it's just at weird times. And this is where the visitation time comes in.
Sure grandmom and peepaw love to love on new baby. But lord have mercy folks kick em out at some point. Not just them though. Everyone altogether! You should be spending significant portions of time sleeping while the baby's sleeping and taking care of baby while it's awake. It may seem like the right thing to do to let the friends and relatives that brought you into the world and support you in it to coddle and coo over baby for hours... but it isn't. Look out for yourself and look out for your kid. Listen... Don't start a life long feud over this though. Our parents were very understanding about it when we realized it late in the game and brought it up... yours might not be. But believe me, if and when my sweet wife goes through this again, she will not have the same circus going on around her afterward.
It was a hard lesson to learn. One that has netted me an 'Alison beating' 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep in the past day or so. Everyday life became like this psycho trip to Vegas where you always lose track of what time it is, night becomes day and day becomes night. Problem is instead of fun gambling and watching shows, your bouncing up and down and shushing at an angry 10 lb ball of noodles. Needless to say, no matter how much you love baby, the euphoria wears off pretty quick.
So now after hanging in the hospital and allowing baby and wife to get poked and prodded every couple hours of the day, we're heading for the house. The car seat is here and the bags are all packed. We're excited to go home and face no more distractions, no more circus, no more needles or bed that doubles as a trendy sofa. At the same time however, we're pretty nervous about not having all the professional help at a ripcord's pull away.... Let's see how good of parents we're really gonna be.
Overheard @ the Hospital
Elevator conversation between my parents and the famous dad of quints (who were the talk of the whole hospital) born on the same day...
Parents: So we did the math and figured out that your 5 news-worthy babies weighed less than our one granddaughter at birth.
Quints' Dad: Your the grandparents of that 10-6 baby?! Awesome!
It seems BR Spur was the 6th most popular baby in the nursery... atta girl.
Friday, January 16, 2009
We did it!
Well it's just after 2am as I am starting this blog. A full 22 hours after we got up to start this whole day, it is finally over.... or maybe it's just begun.
So after the last time I wrote we had alot of drama with the pain meds. At one point the epidural was only working for one side of her body. A new guy came in and fixed it. Then an hour or two later the real fun began. So we would find out later that the first anesthesiologist had put the epidural in too low. The result then was that when baby's head came down into the pelvis, all of a sudden she could feel everything. After alot of talking and pain with not very much progress from baby, I finally made the call. (I say I because Alison was in too much pain to even think). The tough decision came down to what looked like an unavoidable C-section after hours of labor or a C section right then. Looking at my wife in such pain, I said "Lets go, do it now." Then within the next hour, there we were.
Honestly it was an awful sight. A quick sight but an awful one. When they tell you not to look across the drape in a hospital, you're best off sticking with that... I only glanced but it wasn't pretty. Between the cut, the blood and the uncontrollable shaking Alison was doing, it really remimded me of that poinent scene at the end of Braveheart. Lucky for me and baby, Alison didn't drop a hankey and scream freedom like William Wallace the weenie. What she did do was get a baby extracted from her. When they got close a lady leaned over to me and said, "Would you like to see your child?" I said, "Ofcourse" and I stood up. They told me to watch our doctor and that she would be pulling the baby out soon.
"OK Dad, when they pull it out you get to make the call!"
I watched then as our doctor reached exceedingly far into my wife and out came the biggest, hairiest newborn I've ever seen. They held it up to me and the whole room went quiet as they all looked at me expectantly...
"IT'S A GIRL!"
That's right folks your old pal Spur is a dad. To a beautiful, healthy baby girl. She tipped the scales at 10 pounds 6 ounces and has a very full head of black hair. She's healthy and happy and so is her mom. I couldn't be more proud of how well Alison has done. She is a truly special woman. And for that matter, so is little Blakely Reese. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes throughout the day. We could not have done this without the love and support of family and friends. Thanks.
Now, it's time for sleep.
So after the last time I wrote we had alot of drama with the pain meds. At one point the epidural was only working for one side of her body. A new guy came in and fixed it. Then an hour or two later the real fun began. So we would find out later that the first anesthesiologist had put the epidural in too low. The result then was that when baby's head came down into the pelvis, all of a sudden she could feel everything. After alot of talking and pain with not very much progress from baby, I finally made the call. (I say I because Alison was in too much pain to even think). The tough decision came down to what looked like an unavoidable C-section after hours of labor or a C section right then. Looking at my wife in such pain, I said "Lets go, do it now." Then within the next hour, there we were.
Honestly it was an awful sight. A quick sight but an awful one. When they tell you not to look across the drape in a hospital, you're best off sticking with that... I only glanced but it wasn't pretty. Between the cut, the blood and the uncontrollable shaking Alison was doing, it really remimded me of that poinent scene at the end of Braveheart. Lucky for me and baby, Alison didn't drop a hankey and scream freedom like William Wallace the weenie. What she did do was get a baby extracted from her. When they got close a lady leaned over to me and said, "Would you like to see your child?" I said, "Ofcourse" and I stood up. They told me to watch our doctor and that she would be pulling the baby out soon.
"OK Dad, when they pull it out you get to make the call!"
I watched then as our doctor reached exceedingly far into my wife and out came the biggest, hairiest newborn I've ever seen. They held it up to me and the whole room went quiet as they all looked at me expectantly...
"IT'S A GIRL!"
That's right folks your old pal Spur is a dad. To a beautiful, healthy baby girl. She tipped the scales at 10 pounds 6 ounces and has a very full head of black hair. She's healthy and happy and so is her mom. I couldn't be more proud of how well Alison has done. She is a truly special woman. And for that matter, so is little Blakely Reese. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes throughout the day. We could not have done this without the love and support of family and friends. Thanks.
Now, it's time for sleep.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Then the dam broke...
Well we had a pretty rough go of it for a while.
The doctor came in and did a test and found that the baby wasn't moving along very quickly. She decided to go ahead and break the water. And boy oh boy... Let's just say it wasn't a trickle. Funny thing is that after the water breaks you really can't control it. Not only that, but contractions really step it up a notch. It was amazing to see my wife go from smiling and happy funtime to "I HATE THIS" in no time flat. I have to hand it to her though she stuck it out for about another couple hours or so with what appeared to be some really rough and tumble contractions. Seriously kids, I can't tell you how much watching her do this just to extend our family makes me love her. She's so incredible. Also folks, you should go hug your moms, they went to hell and high water to bring you into this world... they deserve it. Unless you were a C section kid like me, in which case maybe you spent the rest of your life punishing your poor mother. Either way, labor's no joke.
Anyway so after a while she'd had enough and she called in the heavy hitter. It was time for the epidural. Now we'd heard lots of great things about this little miracle but you know it's almost as if the doctor wants to punish you for getting it. After the 4th try and making some "crunching sounds that are just ligaments" it was in. Almost immediately..... relief. I can't begin to tell you how awesome it was to see her get some relief. But on the real here yo... the same contractions she was about to rip my arm off for in the first place were now almost unnoticeable. So, with the ability to relax and a quiet private room, I'm writing this to you while my beautiful bride is sleeping soundly. She's got a long road to hoe and she'll need all the rest she can get. Thanks for all the well wishes from everyone. We both really appreciate all the love and support. The next time you hear from me, Baby Spur will have made his or her world debut. My cup runeth over.
The doctor came in and did a test and found that the baby wasn't moving along very quickly. She decided to go ahead and break the water. And boy oh boy... Let's just say it wasn't a trickle. Funny thing is that after the water breaks you really can't control it. Not only that, but contractions really step it up a notch. It was amazing to see my wife go from smiling and happy funtime to "I HATE THIS" in no time flat. I have to hand it to her though she stuck it out for about another couple hours or so with what appeared to be some really rough and tumble contractions. Seriously kids, I can't tell you how much watching her do this just to extend our family makes me love her. She's so incredible. Also folks, you should go hug your moms, they went to hell and high water to bring you into this world... they deserve it. Unless you were a C section kid like me, in which case maybe you spent the rest of your life punishing your poor mother. Either way, labor's no joke.
Anyway so after a while she'd had enough and she called in the heavy hitter. It was time for the epidural. Now we'd heard lots of great things about this little miracle but you know it's almost as if the doctor wants to punish you for getting it. After the 4th try and making some "crunching sounds that are just ligaments" it was in. Almost immediately..... relief. I can't begin to tell you how awesome it was to see her get some relief. But on the real here yo... the same contractions she was about to rip my arm off for in the first place were now almost unnoticeable. So, with the ability to relax and a quiet private room, I'm writing this to you while my beautiful bride is sleeping soundly. She's got a long road to hoe and she'll need all the rest she can get. Thanks for all the well wishes from everyone. We both really appreciate all the love and support. The next time you hear from me, Baby Spur will have made his or her world debut. My cup runeth over.
The day wears on...
As we get further into the day, it's actually really uneventful. Alison's reading a magazine and I'm messing around on my computer. Not much differently than we would be doing if we were at home. Oh except she has to unplug like six things and drag this unrollable IV harness thing behind her if she wants to go to the bathroom. I guess it's good that not much is happening besides the fact that she's cranking out contractions. I feel bad for her though because even though everything's going smoothly, she's pretty dang hungry. It's cool though. Since she's doing the work with birthing, I did the work with eating. Mom and Dad brought me two full plates of food a while ago and I polished em off in a hurry. The nurse taking care of us seems to think the baby will be here mid-afternoon so stay tuned for an update!
Awkward Birthing Day Moment
I opened the oddly closed door to the public family waiting room to see if my parents were here yet. It wasn't until I had stepped through the door that I realized; not only are my parents not there, the only people who are there are are a crying couple and a priest. woof. Listen folks, don't go opening doors at the hospital... leave em shut.
Awkward Birthing Day Moment
I opened the oddly closed door to the public family waiting room to see if my parents were here yet. It wasn't until I had stepped through the door that I realized; not only are my parents not there, the only people who are there are are a crying couple and a priest. woof. Listen folks, don't go opening doors at the hospital... leave em shut.
Just got here...
So we just got to the hospital and things are already warming up... not outside ofcourse because it's 30's out there. But in here we're teaming with activity. The little Mrs. is all dolled up in a hospital gown and is currently looking fairly uncomfortable as they prep her for an IV............... OK my hands just went kind of numb watching that needle go in. Seriously how do these nurses do it? A better question is: How can I butcher a deer and yet this gives me the willies? Who knows.
So the parents and everyone will be here soon. For now we're just hanging around while they do tests and get the wifey all ready to roll. We're excited beyond words but also very anxious. I feel bad for Alison that she has to bear so much of the load here... be thinking about her folks, I think she's more nervous than she's letting on.
Fun birthing fact: If you close your eyes, you feel like you're on a train. A fetus heartbeat sounds just like a locomotive chugging along.
So the parents and everyone will be here soon. For now we're just hanging around while they do tests and get the wifey all ready to roll. We're excited beyond words but also very anxious. I feel bad for Alison that she has to bear so much of the load here... be thinking about her folks, I think she's more nervous than she's letting on.
Fun birthing fact: If you close your eyes, you feel like you're on a train. A fetus heartbeat sounds just like a locomotive chugging along.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Last Day Ever that Spur isn't a dad...
I've never been so anxious. I've never been so excited. I've never been so curious. I've never felt this overwhelmed....
Nothing in my life... not santa coming as a kid, not graduations, not birthdays, not even my wedding made me feel the way that I do now. I'm so ready and I'm so not. Will I be a good dad? Can I handle the sleeplessness, the worrying, the trouble this will cause? Can I succeed? Can I take care of my family? Will it be healthy? Will I outlive it? For that matter... WHAT IS IT?!
At least a couple of these questions will be laid to rest tomorrow. At 7am in the morning the little lady and I will be heading for the hospital to induce the birth of our baby. It's just gotten too big and it's time it came out. I will try to blog about what happens to let folks out there be a part of this amazing experience. It truly seems impossible, but on January 15, 2009, you're old buddy Spur's life is changing forever. I couldn't be more scared, elated, confident, nervous, excited or terrified if I tried. Pray for my wife, that everything goes smoothly. Thanks for always reading and being a part of my life. Much love... Spur
_____________________________
What would a day at work be without gems from the students?
Overheard @ WoRMS *BABY EDITION*
Kid: But how do you KNOW it's happening tomorrow?
Me: The birth?
Kid: Yeah. How do you KNOW?
Me: Well we're inducing.
Kid: Huh?
Me: They'll give my wife drugs to make her go into labor.
Kid: But aren't drugs bad for the baby?
Other Kid: Yeah idiot, that's why they're doing it. They're trying to hurt the baby.
____________
Talking about baby again...
Kid: Just be careful and check out what your baby's name means. My parents are idiots. My name means 'Homely Servant' and my brother's is 'Unfortunate Hayfield'
Me: Those are sweet... woog
Nothing in my life... not santa coming as a kid, not graduations, not birthdays, not even my wedding made me feel the way that I do now. I'm so ready and I'm so not. Will I be a good dad? Can I handle the sleeplessness, the worrying, the trouble this will cause? Can I succeed? Can I take care of my family? Will it be healthy? Will I outlive it? For that matter... WHAT IS IT?!
At least a couple of these questions will be laid to rest tomorrow. At 7am in the morning the little lady and I will be heading for the hospital to induce the birth of our baby. It's just gotten too big and it's time it came out. I will try to blog about what happens to let folks out there be a part of this amazing experience. It truly seems impossible, but on January 15, 2009, you're old buddy Spur's life is changing forever. I couldn't be more scared, elated, confident, nervous, excited or terrified if I tried. Pray for my wife, that everything goes smoothly. Thanks for always reading and being a part of my life. Much love... Spur
_____________________________
What would a day at work be without gems from the students?
Overheard @ WoRMS *BABY EDITION*
Kid: But how do you KNOW it's happening tomorrow?
Me: The birth?
Kid: Yeah. How do you KNOW?
Me: Well we're inducing.
Kid: Huh?
Me: They'll give my wife drugs to make her go into labor.
Kid: But aren't drugs bad for the baby?
Other Kid: Yeah idiot, that's why they're doing it. They're trying to hurt the baby.
____________
Talking about baby again...
Kid: Just be careful and check out what your baby's name means. My parents are idiots. My name means 'Homely Servant' and my brother's is 'Unfortunate Hayfield'
Me: Those are sweet... woog
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Due Date Eve
Tomorrow's the big day. The day we've been waiting for for what seems like a lifetime... and in baby's case, I guess it has been. Tomorrow is the due date. Kind of wacky aint it. It's here. Like right on top of us here.
Funny thing happened last night. We met a guy who was telling us about his wife being 5 months pregnant. Then he asked the same question everyone does... So when's your due date? Alison and I both laughed and said, "day after tomorrow". The guy was taken aback. But then, so are we most of the time we tell everyone how close we are. I have to admit though, I'm really hoping that if she goes over the projected due date, I meet someone who asks the same question. It will be really fun to say, "Oh about a week ago". Tell someone something like that and they almost always let out an involuntary "Woah".
So am I nervous? Not at all. In all likelihood, she won't even have the baby tomorrow. In fact I'm betting that unless we induce this week.... she won't have it for at least another week. And when it comes to predicting when my kids are going to be born, I've never been wrong...
I kinda feel bad because all the pre baby tension at home is making me slip a little in the classroom. I really hope the kids aren't feeling it but I am. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when there's actually a baby here. Thank God for Spring and Summer break, thats all I have to say. Well slipping or not, I still manage to hear some fun stuff around school. So lets get to it....
Overheard @ WoRMS
(Studying a classic painting of Destiny Personified)
Kid: But how do you know the true symbolism of each item in the painting?
Me: I just do. It's about westward expansion, I wouldn't use it if it were debatable.
Kid: But how can you just assume so much? How do you know what the artist meant by the things he painted?
Me: I drew it... It was me.
___________________________
Email from a 6th grade mom to son's teachers:
Dear teachers,
This morning my son was waiting at the bus stop and he had his basketball with him. Just as the bus was approaching the stop my son dropped his basketball and it got away from him down the street. In the rush to get on the bus he was forced to leave his basketball behind. Could you please let him know that I have found his basketball and it is OK. I was just worried that if someone didn't let him know, he would have a really bad day.
Me: So did you guys tell him?
Kid's teachers: nope...
_______________________________
Kid: Um, I really need to go to the bathroom it's kind of an emergency.
Me: OK hurry
Almost immediately I began to smell a foul poop odor that nearly made my toenails curl. I ran to the windows and threw them open allowing the 30 degree air to come blasting in.
Other kids: Shut the windows! It's freezing! Are you crazy?!
Me: BELIEVE ME.... you want to be cold right now.
Funny thing happened last night. We met a guy who was telling us about his wife being 5 months pregnant. Then he asked the same question everyone does... So when's your due date? Alison and I both laughed and said, "day after tomorrow". The guy was taken aback. But then, so are we most of the time we tell everyone how close we are. I have to admit though, I'm really hoping that if she goes over the projected due date, I meet someone who asks the same question. It will be really fun to say, "Oh about a week ago". Tell someone something like that and they almost always let out an involuntary "Woah".
So am I nervous? Not at all. In all likelihood, she won't even have the baby tomorrow. In fact I'm betting that unless we induce this week.... she won't have it for at least another week. And when it comes to predicting when my kids are going to be born, I've never been wrong...
I kinda feel bad because all the pre baby tension at home is making me slip a little in the classroom. I really hope the kids aren't feeling it but I am. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when there's actually a baby here. Thank God for Spring and Summer break, thats all I have to say. Well slipping or not, I still manage to hear some fun stuff around school. So lets get to it....
Overheard @ WoRMS
(Studying a classic painting of Destiny Personified)
Kid: But how do you know the true symbolism of each item in the painting?
Me: I just do. It's about westward expansion, I wouldn't use it if it were debatable.
Kid: But how can you just assume so much? How do you know what the artist meant by the things he painted?
Me: I drew it... It was me.
___________________________
Email from a 6th grade mom to son's teachers:
Dear teachers,
This morning my son was waiting at the bus stop and he had his basketball with him. Just as the bus was approaching the stop my son dropped his basketball and it got away from him down the street. In the rush to get on the bus he was forced to leave his basketball behind. Could you please let him know that I have found his basketball and it is OK. I was just worried that if someone didn't let him know, he would have a really bad day.
Me: So did you guys tell him?
Kid's teachers: nope...
_______________________________
Kid: Um, I really need to go to the bathroom it's kind of an emergency.
Me: OK hurry
Almost immediately I began to smell a foul poop odor that nearly made my toenails curl. I ran to the windows and threw them open allowing the 30 degree air to come blasting in.
Other kids: Shut the windows! It's freezing! Are you crazy?!
Me: BELIEVE ME.... you want to be cold right now.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Little help in a busy time
So I've been thinking everyday that I need to write something. I want to look back at these days and see what was on my mind. To tell you the truth though... I'm really just kind of... ready. I'm ready to meet my kid. I'm ready to find out whether it's a boy or a girl. I'm ready to be done waiting. But here we are.... waaaaaiting.
So in lieu of something truly prophetic to write about, I thought I'd tell you about a really cool tool that helped me out a ton. I really wanted to write about it because when I started trying to get info on it, there was little to be found. What is this miracle tool? It's called a Black and Decker 36 inch Gecko Grip level with Accu Mark.
I know some of my traditional readers will hit the snooze after reading that but hang with me here. This thing is really awesome. Have you ever had to hang something that didn't have a tradition wire or metal bracket hanger? Something that has two hooks or a couple screw brackets can be hell to get level and REAL tough to get at exactly the right distance apart. This little beauty from Black and Decker does BOTH! I really don't think I could fully explain it as well as the demo can so here it is. Check it out, go here and click 'view product demo'. Believe me, it does what it says and you will be impressed. I don't often endorse a product this heavily but this Accu-Mark thing seriously saved my rear in that nursery we're putting together.
So in lieu of something truly prophetic to write about, I thought I'd tell you about a really cool tool that helped me out a ton. I really wanted to write about it because when I started trying to get info on it, there was little to be found. What is this miracle tool? It's called a Black and Decker 36 inch Gecko Grip level with Accu Mark.
I know some of my traditional readers will hit the snooze after reading that but hang with me here. This thing is really awesome. Have you ever had to hang something that didn't have a tradition wire or metal bracket hanger? Something that has two hooks or a couple screw brackets can be hell to get level and REAL tough to get at exactly the right distance apart. This little beauty from Black and Decker does BOTH! I really don't think I could fully explain it as well as the demo can so here it is. Check it out, go here and click 'view product demo'. Believe me, it does what it says and you will be impressed. I don't often endorse a product this heavily but this Accu-Mark thing seriously saved my rear in that nursery we're putting together.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ever heard the one about the farmer?
Seriously though. Have you heard that old story about the guy that has a ranch? One of his cows has a baby cow and he comes up with a bright idea: Go out everyday and pick it up. The thought behind it then is that when the baby becomes a full size cow, he can still pick it up.
Well in the New Year I've decided to do something similar, in the name of science. Would this actually work? Doubtful. But perhaps what I am doing will. Instead of picking up a cow, I've decided to pick myself up by doing push-ups and situps everyday. Starting January 1 I did 1 of each, by the time I get to NYE 2009 I hope to be doing 365 of each. I'm doubtful that it will work, but hey it's worth a shot!
In other news, school starts back tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to going back to work. But I am looking forward to seeing my kids. I have a new resolve after a good long break. I want to try and reach out to ones that I perhaps shunned during the first semester and continue to build on the foundations I set up with everyone else. I think it's going to be a great semester, especially if we can get it all planned through tomorrow at inservice.
So I decided I'm going to start occasionally asking a question of the day for you 5 or 6 readers to respond to in the comments. Today's question: Do you believe in New Year's resolutions? If so, what was yours?
Stay safe kids.
Well in the New Year I've decided to do something similar, in the name of science. Would this actually work? Doubtful. But perhaps what I am doing will. Instead of picking up a cow, I've decided to pick myself up by doing push-ups and situps everyday. Starting January 1 I did 1 of each, by the time I get to NYE 2009 I hope to be doing 365 of each. I'm doubtful that it will work, but hey it's worth a shot!
In other news, school starts back tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to going back to work. But I am looking forward to seeing my kids. I have a new resolve after a good long break. I want to try and reach out to ones that I perhaps shunned during the first semester and continue to build on the foundations I set up with everyone else. I think it's going to be a great semester, especially if we can get it all planned through tomorrow at inservice.
So I decided I'm going to start occasionally asking a question of the day for you 5 or 6 readers to respond to in the comments. Today's question: Do you believe in New Year's resolutions? If so, what was yours?
Stay safe kids.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Freaking out about baby is so 2008
Alright so I have to admit that there have been a few times that I have been sorta freaked out about the impending addition to the family. I mean woah.... this ain't a pet we're talkin about here Martha, it's a dang person.
But, this is a new year and I'm happy to say the freak out days are well behind me. These days, I've really just been busy as all get out. To busy to even blog about how busy I am! Now some people might call it nesting but I call it, "Let's get everything done before baby comes and we never get it done". I mean lets call a pot a pot here. We aren't birds meticulously preparing our nest made of twigs and housing insulation. We're people who, as a part of getting ready for a child, have done things like plant trees and hung our degrees. It's kind of funny. It's like we're getting ready for a relative that we haven't seen for a long time or someone of equal importance we might be trying to impress. In reality though, as long as baby's got something to eat, someone to clean up his/her poop and warm place to sleep... they could care less about the wall clock you finally got put up.
But, while babies could care less, parents couldn't care more. And, as all these sorts of things have gotten dropped from the old honey-do list, I can't help but feel a little chipper about things.
Soon we will have our kid. Hanging out, being a part of my life hopefully until it ends. Crazy to think about, but man am I excited to get it started.
So come on out here baby, we're ready for ya!
.........I think.
But, this is a new year and I'm happy to say the freak out days are well behind me. These days, I've really just been busy as all get out. To busy to even blog about how busy I am! Now some people might call it nesting but I call it, "Let's get everything done before baby comes and we never get it done". I mean lets call a pot a pot here. We aren't birds meticulously preparing our nest made of twigs and housing insulation. We're people who, as a part of getting ready for a child, have done things like plant trees and hung our degrees. It's kind of funny. It's like we're getting ready for a relative that we haven't seen for a long time or someone of equal importance we might be trying to impress. In reality though, as long as baby's got something to eat, someone to clean up his/her poop and warm place to sleep... they could care less about the wall clock you finally got put up.
But, while babies could care less, parents couldn't care more. And, as all these sorts of things have gotten dropped from the old honey-do list, I can't help but feel a little chipper about things.
Soon we will have our kid. Hanging out, being a part of my life hopefully until it ends. Crazy to think about, but man am I excited to get it started.
So come on out here baby, we're ready for ya!
.........I think.
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