Am I figuratively or literally limping to the weekend?.......BOTH!

What do you know......I made it to Friday.

The journey was long and arduous but I made it. Last night was a very long class. The group is not the fastest of learners and the one student that doesn't speak English really struggles. The lady in charge of their group came in to help her last night but she still ended up crying in frustration. She just doesn't know how to keyboard and when she had to type a paragraph it just about did her in. I felt bad because she really wants to learn and wants to learn in English but I think this was a bit much at one time for her.

I have a great deal of respect for her and other people like her in our community. I think on the news you see the bad side of the hispanic community. The ones on government programs and just getting over on the system so they send their money back to Mexico. There is another story that is seldom told. We see it unfold at the school from time to time because we have adult education classes. Some of our Hispanic residents work 8 to 10 hours a day at the meat packing plant and then spend their evenings going to classes to learn English and take citizen classes.

They come to class and you can see the weight of the day in their eyes but they never miss a class. They push themselves to the limit of frustration in an attempt to learn English and become a productive member of the community.

I know the lady in my class was frustrated and in tear but I honestly feel she will end up fine. She really is on the right track and even though she was frustrated and upset, she never left. She stayed the whole three hours and I have no doubt that if we have more classes, she will be there.

Jess has been grouchy lately because they are making her run 800's in track. In the first track meet she isn't running the open 400, which she has the school record in. Instead they have her running the open 800 and a relay. She is a bit frustrated but we will wait to see what happens when they get to the outdoor meets before it really is an issue. The indoor meets are more like pre-season than real meets and the coaches just try to get everyone in an event.

The 800's will be good for her. I will only have an issue with it if they don't let her run the open 400 this year. To me that would be asinine.

Drew had his first track practice last night and they didn't have enough warm-up sweats for everyone so Drew gave his bottoms to another boy who doesn't have sweat pants at home. I thought that was nice of him.

We have a baseball meeting tonight. The season is just around the corner.

I am about at the end of my rope at work. This week has been unbelieveable busy and I have felt like I have been pulled about 100 different directions. There have been times that I honestly did not have 5 minutes without someone needing something or calling me about an issue. Between meetings and issues, I am really looking forward to the break.

It is great that it is Friday and Spring break begins on Monday. I have a 9 am meeting and then nothing else on my calendar for the rest of the day. (Except the baseball meeting tonight).

I am hoping to have a less stressful day today.

Off to see!

The writers strike has meant absolutely nothing to me

The week is wearing on me in a big way today. Knowing that I have another late night not something I want to think about.

Class went well last night. I have to admit I really enjoy the students in my Wednesday night class. They are all very pleseant, respectful and good students. It really is a joy to teach in that type of environment.

I didn't get a chance to talk to the kids last night when I got home. I think they were downstairs and I came home and went to bed. Hopefully I will get to spend some time with them tonight or this weekend.

There is a parents meeting for baseball Friday night so I will take Drew with me to that. It seems odd that baseball is just around the corner and we still have snow on the ground. April 1st is usually the first day you can practice. I would imagine we will have some indoor practices early in the season.

Jess has a track meet during spring break. I could't tell you when but I am pretty sure there is one during the break. It will be an indoor meet and it is either at UNI or Iowa State.

Today I need to start of list of things I need to get done over Spring break. I know there are 4 or 5 things that I need to address and it would be best if I wrote it down. If I don't I am sure I will forget something.

Today I have a meeting at 10 and then teach class tonight. I will be happy to get this day behind me and get to Friday.

So a guy calls 911 and says, "Send an ambulance, my wife is having a baby." The 911 operator says, "Is this her first baby?" They guy says, "No, this is her husband, Kevin." hahahahahahahahaa!!!!

Wooo! That is a good one. Have a great day!

I am not sure what I would do without JIF peanut butter

It is the middle of a long week but at least the weather is good.

I taught class last night and it went ok. They are a group with a very low level of technology skills. None of them have computers at home and really do not have a clue as to what to do. One of the students doesn't speak very good english and doesn't know how to type. Nancy spent the entire night sitting by her and keeping her up with the rest of the class. We are both earning our money on this deal.

Tonight I head to Des Moines to teach my Wednesday class. I haven't done any prep for class yet and that is not a good thing. Since it is a four hour class it is kind of hard to just do it on the fly. I will have to spend some time today going over the material.

Speaking of today, it going to be a busy one. I two meetings today and a bunch of work to do. Things have been moving along very quickly lately and there is a rush to get stuff done before the break so the office has really been busy. I am hoping for a slow down by Friday.

Jess was grouchy yesterday so I am glad I didn't see her much. She was tired from her trip and they ran them hard at track practice. She went to bed at 8 last night so hopefully she will be caught up this morning.

Drew starts track on Thursday. I didn't see him much yesterday either. It is going to be a week where I barely see the kids becuase I teach so much at night. Once the weekend gets here, they will both want to be out and about so it is a toss up whether I will see them much at all this week.

I am still hobbling around but it is getting a litte better every day. I still can't walk for crap but at least I can put weight on it.

I hope the next two day go by quickly so I can be done with teaching for the week. It isn't that I don't like teaching it is more that I miss having an evening free. The weather was so nice yesterday and I was only outside three times. Once to go to work, once to go home and once to go to Burger King to get lunch. I don't have a window in my office so it seems that I am not getting to enjoy the nice weather.

I think it is going to be near 60 today so maybe I can get a chance to just sit outside for a few minutes.

Have a good day today!

The last thing I want to see is a lunch lady picking her nose!

It looks like the weather is going to be nice today. High of 54 and it looks even better for tomorrow. It will be nice to get the snow melted.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning and went to the kitchen and started the coffee. I just poured my first cup and in walks the goose. They just got back. It was about 4:45 am. She was a bit grouchy but took a bath and headed back to bed. She said she got about 5 hours of sleep on the bus.

The tournaments went pretty well for them the ended up 6-3 and 34th out of 165 teams. It wasn't as good as they would have liked but it was a good experience. They have two more tournaments and two more chances to qualify for Nationals. They have the talent but they are a bit inconsistent in their play. When they play well they can beat anyone. The problem is they can also play very poorly. Those are the times that sink them. Jess is becoming a much stronger player because of this so that is good.

My calf feels a little bit better today. The Advil and the wrap seem to be helping. I am still pretty hobbled but it is much better than it was Sunday night.

Class went well last night. The group did a pretty good job and the student who is the big distraction wasn't there. The group functions much better without him and it was a nice change to have a night where I wasn't having to keep bringing them back on track.

I teach another class tonight for DMACC. It is a three hour Word class. It should be pretty easy and it goes from 5:30 to 8:30 so it isn't nearly as late of a night.

Drew hung out at Nancy's house last night while I was teaching class. They are painting the family room in their basement. I don't think Drew did much helping but at least stayed out of the way. Nancy made him tuna and noodles for dinner and he said it was cheesy and delicious.

I have a meeting this afternoon and I have become less and less thrilled with meetings the longer I work in my position. At first it was kind of cool to be in meetings and make decisions and feel important. Now, it is just a waste of time for the most part and even when they are productive it takes a significant part of my time either preparing or just attending the meetings. Today I am meeting with the HS councelors to review how to schedule for next year. To be honest, I don't have a clue. I will spend the morning reviewing the steps in the guide so I can talk semi-intelligently about it. Hell, I don't schedule and never will. This is more of a hand holding session than a training.

I think Spring break is going to be good for me. It will be nice to have people away for awhile and a chance to kind of catch up on things. I won't have to teach class and I won't have to deal with the phone.

It will be just a few minutes before I have to get the kids up to start their days. I am sure Jess is going to be a gem.

Have a great day today!

RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) I know the drill

The weekend was full and eventful. It started Friday night. Drew had a basketball game in Jefferson. They lost but they played pretty well. Jess called Friday night fron Denver and said they made it and the bus trip was long and miserable. They were scheduled to play Saturday morning.

Saturday, Drew had a game at 8 am in Jefferson. They lost pretty big and one of the mothers told me I owed $73 for uniform and tournaments. What the hell is that??? I knew it was going to cost a bit but when I ran the tournament team I tried to keep cost down to around $25 per family. $73 give me a break! I was pissed and let her know I was pissed. We should have known up front about it being that much. I paid it but was not happy.

Jess played three matches Saturday and won all three. They were scheduled to start at 8 on Sunday.

Saturday night Drew and I went to Des Moines and bought him some track shoes. I also bought a pair of shoes to start working out in. I had a gift card so it wasn't too expensive. I also took Drew out to Red Lobster. We split a meal, which was a good thing becuase we could barely finish it.

Sunday Jess called and they won one match and lost two. They will be in the bronze bracket going into Monday. It is not what they wanted. They wanted to compete for a championship.

Sunday night I had coed volleyball and we are in playoffs. We faced the top seeded team and during the season we split. They won once and we won once. We won the first game of the match and during the last point of the game I had to change directions quickly to get to a ball an heard a POP in my calf. I wasn't able to even walk from that point on. We lost the next two games and I hobbled home. It really hurts like hell and it is going to be a long week if I can't walk. I am not sure what I am going to do. Maybe get a cane.

I told Nancy I should get a cane and a monocle.

Today my leg still hurts pretty bad and I wrapped it so it has some support. I have two meetings this morning and teach class tonight. I think I may cancel my meetings and just get ready for class. It really sucks because I teach 4 nights this week. I also have been up since 3am because my leg was cramping and I couldn't get back to sleep.

I am a mess!

Spring break is next week so that is a good thing. I just need to get through this week and then we have a week with no students, staff and I don't have to teach. It would be nice if the weather cooperated as well.

Off to start my week!