Wanted lazy, fat, whiny bastards....Apply at Perry Garbage

I am tired like it is a Monday morning. I taught class last night in Des Moines and didn't get home until after 10 and didn't get to bed until 11. Today I am back at it, 5 am and the kids both need up at 5:30. I made the coffee a bit stronger this morning to give me a bit of a kick.

Drew has an early morning practice and Jess has a breakfast thing to go to for FCA. They had a speaker come to the school yesterday and the FCA leadership team is having breakfast with him this morning before he heads out. He was an NFL football player for 15 years, I think his last name is Hanson. I didn't pay much attention to the event so I am not in the know.

Class went pretty well last night. The students are well behaved (honeymoon period) and seem to be attentive. I can already tell the difference in maturity level and behavior of college students vs high school students. It is kind of strange becuase they are really only a year or two apart in age. I think it is the environment that makes them behave the way they do.

I kind of enjoy the drive home after class. There really isn't much traffic and there is a radio talk show guy that is on at night that makes me laugh. I stop at a convenience store on the way, my little oasis, and get a cinnamon roll and a diet pepsi. (Funny combination I know). Anyway, I drive home with the calmness of the night, a cold drink and a nice treat while listening to the radio. I think it will be even better when the weather gets nice.

Jess has a game tonight in Saydel. It is JV game and she will only play two quarters. I do not plan on attending. Tomorrow she plays here in Perry. They both have games next Tuesday at home. It is senior night for the high school team, with one senior it won't be that big of a deal.

At this point there are no plans for the weekend. Superbowl Sunday is this weekend so we don't play volleyball and Jess doesn't have practice. I might be a good weekend to take a nap!

On a bit of a side note. Doesn't John McCain sound like a confused old man half the time? Maybe it is just me but when I listen to him speak it is like his trying to get the words out but in between each word is one of those "old man" noises. Kind of the sound of air leaving his mouth with a bit of a sound and he doesn't even realize he is doing it. I guess Republicans aren't big "thinkers".

Trash Day!!! (Insert sinister music here!) Filthy bastards are driving around in new garbage trucks and just loving life. Pretty sad when people can honestly say, "I wish I had it as good as the garbage men!" Ugh! (That may be a record for most exclamation points in a paragraph.)

Off to start my day.

The day formerly known as "hump day"

Cold it the word of the day. -1 right now and the wind chill is close to -20. Whoooo!

Drew has an early morning practice and I dread the walk to the school. Hats, gloves and bundled up.

I teach class tonight. I really don't mind so much. I look forward to my first class at the West campus. It is kind of a drag to have to drive so far but I listen to the radio and will try to use that time as "my time".

We had an early out yesterday at school. The kids got out at 11:15 becuase of the blowing snow. Today things are on track, it is just cold as heck.

Nancy gets the pleasure of going to the dentist today to get a root canal. She is actually going to one of those clinics that only does root canals so I am not sure if that is a dentist or an oral surgeon or what. Anyway, she has a fund day ahead.

It sure will be nice for Spring to get here. I think we are a long way away from it but it will eventually get here. I am sure in a few months I will be complaining about the humidity. Such is life.

I wrote the govenor yesterday. He is proposing raising our bottle deposit from 5 to 10 cents and only returning 8 cents when you take them to the recycle center. To me this is basically a TAX. As I was watching the new yesterday it really bothered me that the economy is so bad and he is wanting to increase our taxes and the tax he is proposing would hit middle and low income families the hardest. In any event, I wrote him an email, very respectful of course, but expressing my concern with this proposal. I guess we will see if I get a response.

Off to start my day.

What is worse, Reality TV or Reality?

The weather is taking a turn for the worse. We have hit our high already and it is going to get cold and we are supposed to get a couple of inches of snow. We are already 10 inches over our normal snow fall for the year so everything we get from here on out will only add to that total.

Did I mention that I hate snow? Well I do! Give me the warm California sun any day over this wet, cold, slick, crap. I just have to keep telling myself that it will only be a matter of months before I am splashing around in the Pacific ocean underneath that warm California sun.

My class went ok last night. The students were distracted and playing on the computer while I was talking. That ended last night. I gave them a lecture about responsibility and if they aren't able to sit and listen to the material during class, I would have to assign additional homework to insure they knew the material. Either listen now, or learn on your own later! I plan to meet with each of them individually next week to discuss their grade. I have a concern about a couple of them.

Drew has a game today in Jefferson at 4:00. I think the weather will hold up so they will have it. There is a concern with the wind and having a "ground blizzard" but I can't imagine with just a couple inches of snow it will be that big of a deal. Jess has a volleyball practice in Ankeny tonight. This is the first Tuesday she has been able to attend. Usually she has a game but tonight is open so she gets to go to practice. I am sure she is thrilled.

Insomnia has been a bit of an issue the last couple of nights. Last night wasn't as bad as Sunday night but I still didn't sleep well. I have been getting sharp pains in my chest and it woke me up last night. I don't think it is really anything to worry about. I get these pains from time to time but nothing down my left arm so I am pretty sure I am fine. Beside, who has heart problems at 39?

Tomorrow I teach another class in Des Moines. I am glad that the classes are Monday and Wednesday so I can get them out of the way early in the week. I would hate teaching a Friday class.

Off to start my snowy day.

50's are a good thing!

It is a mixed bag today. Yes - it is Monday and the worst day of the week but the weather is going to be good. I think the high is going to be in the upper 40's and a chance to get to 50! I might be able to finally see my driveway by the end of the day.

I have an early morning meeting with the Superintendent today. I have a meeting with him every other week about nothing in paticular. It is just a chance to get together and talk about issues I have, update progress on projects and if he has anything for me, which he usually does, talk with me about that.

I teach class tonight. At this point in the morning I am not able to get too jazzed about it. I had a bit of insomnia last night and then when I did sleep, it was terrible. I had the stranges dreams and they were terrible so I kept waking up, which would start the cycle over again. Awake and not able to sleep, finally get to sleep, terrible dream, wake up......repeat.

Today was also the day I was going to start hitting the treadmill. My plan was to get up at 4:40 and make coffee, let Molly out, use the bathroom, stretch and then treadmill for 30 minutes. Well, it didn't quite work out today. I woke up as scheduled but my back was killing me. I had a hard time putting on my shorts. I think this is from playing volleyball last night and now I am having a hard time moving around. In my mind I also have about 30 other reason NOT to get on the treadmill, I am going to have to get past that to get back in shape.

The week ahead looks like this: Today I teach class, tomorrow Drew has a game, Wednesday I teach class, Thursday nothing, Friday Jess has a game.

The basketball team is still struggling. Satuday the coach yelled at Jess pretty good. I think he has too high of standard for her this year. He doesn't really yell at anyone else when they make a mistake but if Jess does, he really gets on her. He told her he thinks she can be an "All State" player but she won't be one if she doesn't want to go out. The season is almost over and I think everyone is very happy about it.

Drew went to a dance Saturday night. He said he didn't dance with a girl but I am not sure if I believe him. He said he had a good time and that is what matters.

If the weather wasn't going to be so good today I would really be grumpy. I am tired and the coffee isn't helping much today and it is Monday. The weather is what I am hanging on to.

I hope things are going well for everyone.

How does this snow blow?....Let me count the ways.

The weekend is almost here. Friday is my favorite day of the week and I don't have any big plans for the weekend.

Jess has a game tonight and a game tomorrow. Both of these games are here in Perry so that makes it very easy.

They had a JV game last night and they won. I am not sure how it all went but Jess told me about it when she got home. She said she played well and scored some points. I really didn't ask too much about it. She was telling me that they went to the game in a suburban, which is like a station wagon but more like a truck, anyway the coach put 11 girls in this thing. 3 or 4 or them were sitting on laps and when the AD found out, he was ticked. Most of the girls got a ride home with their parents.

Drew and I had a nice evening together. We had tator tot casserole for dinner and watched a couple of episodes of "Chuck". He has a speech to give today. The topic he chose was Niagara Falls. They went there this summer on vacation so he decided that was something he was a bit familiar with. One of Drew's friends chose "Drew" as his topic and is giving a three minute speech about Drew. He thinks it is funny, so do I.

The basketball season will be coming to an end soon. I am kind of looking foward to it being over. The season kind of wears on the kids and you can tell when it is time for a new season and a new coach. Track is just around the corner and for Jess she will start the volleyball tournament season as well.

I have a bit of preparation to do for the classes I teach so I plan to do some of that this weekend. Since the classes are at different spots in the competencies, it is like lesson planning for two completely different courses. Not a big deal.

Off to start my day and weekend.

Why do I believe that everyone who doesn't think like me is an idiot?

To say it is cold today is a bit of an understatment. -12 degrees, what the what!

I went to meet the instructor and teach my DMACC class last night. I wasn't sure how it was going to work. I had no idea where they were at or what they were doing so I was hoping he would either teach the class or get to a point where I could take over and move from that point forward.

He was planning on teaching the class last night, which was fine, so I met with him and went over the material he has covered to this point. I read the syllabus and stayed for the first hour and a half of class. I talked to the students a bit and then told them what to expect next week. He has a test for them to take next week so they will do that. At that point it will be my class to do as I please.

It should be a pretty good experience and the classrooms they use are awesome! The setup is very cool. They have a computer with a projector. It projects to a smart board which allows me to use my hand on the board like a mouse. They also have a white board off to the side that allows me to write or highlight info. It is a very nice setup. I think I will try to model this at our school.

It was a short night. I got home a littl after 8. It is a 70 mile round trip to the DMACC West campus so it is good that they pay mileage.

Nancy is taking the day off today. She has to take Dave to the doctor and will be gone most if not all of the day. I hope it isn't to hectic today while she is gone. I have some things I want to get off my list and I really don't want to deal with the phone.

Drew has an early morning practice and Jess has a JV game in Adel tonight. I am not sure if I am going to the game. She will only play two quarters because they are only allowed so many quarters in a year so varsity players can only play two quarters of JV. I am not sure I want to travel to Adel for two quarters. It is going to be cold and gas isn't cheap. I may go though, who knows.

Did I mention how awesome it is to have my teaching material? IT IS AWESOME! Handouts, presentations, video clips, test generator, answer key. I guess it is funny how little things in life can make a person happy. Such is life. Small victories.

Ok, off to start my day.

9 out of 10 people agree, "Hump Day" is a stupid name

I really don't care for the term "hump day". For some reason it reminds me of a camel or a dog going to town on someone's leg. Not the best imagery to start the day.

I was asked to teach another DMACC class starting today. Another instructor that teaches the same class I teach but at the DMACC West campus changed jobs or something and isn't able to continue teaching his class. They asked me to take the class. It is Wednesday from 6-10 and pretty much the same as my current class. I have to drive to the West campus in Des Moines but they pay mileage and it is right off the highway so it isn't a bad drive. I said I would do it, I don't want to turn down the money and I like teaching. The only down side is 6-10 on Monday nights and now on Wednesday nights too. Add the 30 minute drive to and from DMACC and Wednesday is a 5 hour committment. I guess I will see how it goes.

The girls basketball team lost another one last night. I think by 20. Jess plays well but doesn't want to take the open shot from outside. I am done talking to her about it. If she hasn't gotten the message at this point, there isn't any reason to talk to her about it with 7 games left. She will just have to develop for next year.

Drew's team also lost but it was a good loss, if there is such a thing. They lost by 4 but the last time they played this team, they lost by 30 or 40. At least they closed the gap. Drew played well but didn't score. His shots weren't falling.

I am pretty much ready for basketball season to be done. It has been a long season without much success and it is time to move on. Feb 13 is our regional game and that should be the end of it.

It has been very cold here lately. I think the temp right now is 8, which is an improvement from other days this week and tomorrow it is going to get really cold. The weather people say it is going to be a high of 15 and a low of -10(without wind chill).

Not much else to say today. The week is just moving along and I am ready for Spring. Since we are in January, it is going to be a long Winter.

I am going to work on a new name for Wednesday, I am done with "hump".