I need some SUN!

I could not be happier about today. Well, I guess that is a bit of an exaggeration but it is a pretty good day anyway. The weather is going to be great. High 57, sunny and did I mention...FRIDAY!!!!!!!?

I know Friday is mom's Monday and that sucks for her but for me..............WHOOOO-HOOOO!!!

It is too bad that I live so far away from the restraunt because if we were close, I would have all of the department parties there. Of course it might be a litte awkward having my mom sell me beer in front of my department. I am sure I would get over it.

Jess has a track meet today. She is running the open 400, the open 800 and the Spring medley relay, which she runs the 400. It is good because that is what she will run at conference and regionals. She has a shot to go to state in all three of those events. The 400 and 800, she is either 1st or 2nd in the entire 3A class and the Sprint medley team is 1st in class 3A so it is promising. She went to state in the 400 and sprint medley last year.

Drew is enjoying baseball practice so far this year. I think he really likes the coach and the other players are his friends so he is having a good time. He is also trying the hurldes in track. He said he likes that so we will see how he does. It is hard for him to have to follow Jess in sports. He does well but when Jess is in the paper all the time and breaking school records and everyone talks about her, it is hard for him.

He will do well in sports but doesn't have the drive or some of the natural ability Jess does. He is more of the social one of the two. He has lots of friends and is always busy and rarely has drama in his life. Jess isn't as fortunate.

I really like spending time with Drew. I like spending time with Jess too but Drew is just more of a softy. Last night we were watching "My Name is Earl" and Earl was in a coma and was about to die and his brother was with him holding his hand and talking to him and I look over at Drew and he is covering his face. He was crying. Not drama, crying out loud but a few tears down his cheek. Of course he got really pissed when I noticed and said, "Drew, are you crying?" Apparently it is easy to touch Drew's heart.

He is a good boy who will never hurt a fly and will be very good to his family when he grows up.

Drew's first track meet is Thursday. He is away and Jess has a home track meet that night. I hope the weather is good, I am doing the timing again. Might as well get paid $25 to watch Jess run.

There is a new restruant in town called "The Smokehouse". It is smoked meat and kind of a BBQ place. The actual building they are in is kind of crappy but I hear the food is really good. The lady in the office told me they can't get ribs in fast enough to smoke and cook them. They had to shut down one day because they ran out of food. Today, Nancy and I are going to give it a shot. If I remember, I will tell you how it was on Monday's post.

I got my car fixed yesterday and Jess' car goes in today. They fixed my breaks and gave the car a tune up. The window was a bigger issue than they could do, they said I would have to take it to a body shop.

I hope your weekend goes well. The only plan I have is to sleep in tomorrow.

What the hell..That's not yogurt!!!!!!

Things are on a bit of an upswing right now. It is Thursday and I am done teaching class for the week. The weather, although crappy today, is going to be nice Friday and the rest of the weekend. I have two meetings today and then nothing scheduled for Friday. Whoo--hooo!

I am taking my car in today for repair. I need new brake pads, my passenger side window doesn't work and it needs a tune-up. Jess' car goes in tomorrow. It has an issue where it wants to die when you first step on the gas. Once you get past that, it runs fine but it is just taking off that it has trouble. It needs fixed before she can use it so it is going in Friday.

I really don't have any plans for the weekend so it might be a great time for me to work on my grill. I think the regulator is messed up because I get a little tiny flame but that is it. The tank has plenty of fuel so I am guessing it is a regulator issue.

I also need to clean up the yard a bit. If the weather is nice, I am going to want to be outside. Yard work in the Spring seems kind of fun. Yard work in the Summer is a pain in the butt.

I am not sure why but I really have nothing else to say this morning. I guess there just isn't anything going on today of note. It is kind of a sad thing when I think about what is going on in my life right now and there is just a blank. So picture this: I think to myself, what should I write about today.....(crickets sounds in the background, complete silence....duuuhhh!) I guess that's it.

Hopefully something tomorrow.

For a balding man, I spend a lot of time trimming hair

The weather is going to get better in the near future, but not today or tomorrow. Today cold. Tomorrow rain. After that it will be in the upper 50's and much better. Rain is scheduled for next Monday but that seems a long way away so who cares.

I held my departmental evaluations yesterday. It went well. Nobody cried.

I wasn't really hard on anyone so it wasn't too difficult. I won't have to worry about that again until next year.

Today I have a vendor coming in to do some wiring work and a department meeting later this morning.

Tonight I teach class in West Des Moines. Four classes left including tonight. That is pretty cool. The classes are going pretty quickly. Well, the Wednesday night seems to go quick. The Monday, not so much. Anyway four classes left.

I went online yesterday to see if there were any track meets in the area so I could check times. I ran across an article from the Iowa Sports Connection and it had the top ten times in the state in each event for girls. What do you know, the Goose is 5th in the STATE in the 400. The top two girls have full ride scholarships to Nebraska and she is less than a second off their times. How cool is that?

She is also 1st in 3A schools so if she can keep it up and work hard, she has a shot at a top three finish at state, if not the gold. It would be awesome if she could win state. She is also 2nd in 3A in the 800. She has a shot at a medal or better in that event too. How about that Goose?

There is still a lot of season left and anything can happen so I guess we will wait and see.

Drew has track and baseball practice tonight. I hope the weather holds up for him. I also need to get ahold of the baseball coach to see if they have a game schedule yet. I need to get that in my calendar. Speaking of which, you should see my calendar. I get tired just looking at it.

So we have finalized the trip to California for this year. Nancy, Joyce and I are headed out to sunny California again this year for training. The best part is we are getting a rental car. We should be able to eat in much more reasonable places as well as do site seeing again. I am looking forward to it. End of June.

Things are looking up. We are at the middle of the week. The weather is going to get better and I have no plans for the weekend. Peak day is treating me pretty good so far.

So I got arrested last night!

The weather has been a continual stream of crap! Yesterday it was cloudy and rainy all day. Today, cold. This sucks!

The track meet for tonight has been cancelled. The host team sent an email yesterday morning saying it would be too cold and they aren't going to reschedule. I have mixed emotions about it but I am glad it is cancelled. It is good for the girls to be in meets but when the weather is bad like this it just isn't worth it. They are have another track meet Friday so this week they should get good conditioning work in. It is probably a bit of a blessing in desguise.

I am meeting with each of my staff members today to go over evaluations. It should be a blast. It will be good to have this task behind me for another year.

We are working on getting things ready for next school year. Kindergarten roundup is in a week and they are getting the students schedules set for 08-09. This is my least favorite time of the year. We are working out butts off getting things ready for next year and negotiations for contracts are going on as well. It is a grouchy, stressful and busy time. The good news is it should be wrapped up by May 1st so if we can just get through this month, things will get better.

I am hoping the month of May is much less stressful.

I have four more weeks of class. The Monday class goes one more week than the Wednesday class so each of them now have four classes left. Once again, by May 1st I will be done teaching for this semester. I have already been asked to teach the session in Perry again in the Fall. I will have to wait to see about a session at West campus.

So Subway has foot long subs for $5 right now. THAT RIGHT----$5... I love a good Subway tuna sub so this is like a little piece of heaven for me. I had one yesterday and have decided that I am going to have another one to take with me on Wednesday for my class. I will enjoy a nice tuna sub on the way home from class. Sometimes it is the little things that can make a difference.

Since the track meet is cancelled for tonight, I have the night free. I am not sure what I will do with myself.

As for the title of the blog today-------April Fools!!!!!! hahahahahahahhaha

Have a great day!

I had gas trouble this weekend

It is a stormy Monday here in central Iowa. I can see lightning flashing across the sky outside and the rolling thunder in the background. It is supposed to be like this until later this afternoon. We could get as much as an inch of rain.

The weekend flew by because it was so busy. Friday night, Jess ran in the track meet here in Perry. It was a cold mother out there. I was one of the timers and was literally shaking so bad I could not hold a cup of coffee by the end of the night.

Jess won the long jump, won the 400, won the sprint medley relay and got second in the 4x400 relay. Three golds and a silver. Not too bad for a first outdoor meet and the weather being as sucky as it was. Her 400 time puts her 5th in the state for all classes and #1 in class 3A. She was 1.5 seconds off the school record she set last year. As long as she stays healthy she can have a very good year.

Saturday morning we had to go to Des Moines for a volleyball tournament. The team played at 10, 12, 2, and 4. They won 3 and lost 1. We had to go back Sunday for the gold tournament and ended up wining 1 and losing 2. The team is kind of falling apart right now becuase we have a girl who is bitching at everyone and telling them what they should be doing. The coach isn't very strong so it has been pulling the team apart. The parents were talking about how all the girls are upset and mad. You can't win with that type of team.

Saturday morning I wasn't able to head up to the tournament right away. The tenants for our house on 1st street were moving in and we needed to do a walk through and get the lease signed. I went over at 9 like we agreed and about 9:40 I called them because they hadn't shown up yet. They we just leaving Des Moines with the U-haul. There was a slight smell of gas in the house so I called the gas company.

They came out and found 5 GAS LEAKS in the basement. He fixed 4 of them but said I needed to call a plumber to fix the last one because it would require replacing a pipe. He turned off the gas to the house, put a red tag on the pipe and said to give him a call when it is fixed. Well, son of a bitch!

The tenants show up, I tell them the story. They want to stay that night so need the heat. Once again, son of a bitch! I call my plumber, I call him my plumber because they have worked on the furnace in that house many times and know me. Needless to say he was not too happy about coming out on a Saturday but agreed. I told him to call me when it was done.

I went to the tournament, and got the call around 2 that the work was done. I am not sure what that is going to cost but what could I do?

The tenants are in, lease signed, gas lines fixed and life moves on. I should note, there was a lot more to that story but you got the reader digest version. I had some issues with 411 and phone books as well as contacting other plumbers. Anyway, it is done.

This week is busy as well. I teach tonight, Jess has a track meet tomorrow night. I teach Wednesday, and Friday another track meet. Drew has baseball practice during the week as well.

Little Drew stayed home and did homework. I got an email from one of his teachers about his grade in Math starting to drop. Another long story but in short, he is grounded and is working on his grade.

Dang, I am tired just typing all that.

Have a good Monday.