Landslide

The weather is a bit rainy and cool and going to get down right cold by the end of the week.

Class went well last night. I only had 3 our of 5 people in attendance. The other two emailed me and let me know they wouldn't make it.

The election was historical last night. Barack Obama won by a large margin. I voted yesterday morning and was the 175th person in my precinct to vote. Nancy was 174. (I think she skipped some of the ballot items.)

I didn't have a chance to talk to the kids much last night so I am not sure how things went with them yesterday. I did talk to Drew this morning for a bit, he had practice, but he didn't have much to say. It was too early, was his response.

I have a conference call this morning but I think the rest of the day is open.

Off to start.

Simply Vote!

Well election day is upon us. The weather is good so turnout here in Iowa should be high. I plan on going a little later in the morning to try to avoid lines. I guess we will see.

Class went ok last night. I covered the material and they took the test and we were out early. It is getting down to the final month of classes and we are running short on material. I can stretch it but I hate to waste people's time.

Drew is enjoying his morning practices. He is in a skills club and they had a event last night at the school until almost 9:00 so I am sure he is a little tire this morning. It is hard to tell sometimes with him because he just isn't a complainer.

Jess is doing the basketball thing and the principal's daughter is a senior this year and this is "her sport" so she is being a pain. To top it off the principal is assistant coaching this year so she can do no wrong. It is going to be a messy season. He really shouldn't coach his daughter. He has objectivity problems anyway and now you throw this in, it may be a mess.

I am really enjoying the good weather. Last night I walked home from class and it was a clear starry sky and a warm breeze was blowing. It was the type of night that would have been great to just sit in a lawn chair, listen to the radio and look at the sky. I always walk extra slow on nights like that so I can enjoy the evening.

Ok, off to start my day. We elect a new president today. I will be teaching so I won't get to enjoy the early returns. It would be a fun night to sit and watch the events unfold. Maybe make some popcorn, drink a little beer and either celebrate the outcome or get good and drunk to wash away the memory of the night.

The day before the big election

The weekend was awesome! Temps in the 70's both days and Sunday we had a high of 74.

I burned leaves Saturday and Sunday and made the kids help. They weren't too big on it but it was a very good thing to have done. I kind of like burning leaves. The leaves were dry so they burned really fast.

It looks like the weather is going to be good the next couple of days. Tuesday is election day so we will see how that goes. So many crazies out there that vote you just never know what could happen.

Drew has early morning practices for basketball this week. He needs to be at the school by 6:15 so he is getting up now and getting ready. He likes the morning practices because it gives him his after school time free.

Jess has "open gym" this week, which is really basketball practice but they aren't officially practicing.

This weekend we will have the club volleyball tryouts in Ankeny. I hope she makes the team again this year. She will be very dissapointed if she doesn't.

Nancy is going to be out of the office today. Dave has kidney stones so they have to go blast them out.

I teach tonight and tomorrow but the end is in sight.

Off to start.

I think I blinked and it was Friday

The weather is awesome right now. We are going to get into the low 70's or at least upper 60's today. It is going to be like this through the weekend.

FCA had a "Trunk or Treat" event last night. They kids decorate the trunks of their cars and put candy in it and then the kids come and trick or treat like they would in a neighborhood. She enjoys it.

Drew and his friends roamed the streets last night. They didn't really do anything but they are too old to trick or treat but they want to be out in all of the action.

I handed out candy. We had, I would guess, about 30 kids. Not a big crowd in out neighborhood but that's OK.

Mary Frederes was a secretary at the middle school and she retired last year. She is a friend of Nancy and me and she took us out to lunch yesterday. We went to the Hotel Pattee. I haven't been in there since it re-opened. The lunch was good and the prices are very reasonable. It was nice to see her and it was a good time.

I don't have any plans for tonight but I should spend some time outside. It is just too nice to let day like this slip away.

Nothing on my schedule for today but that can change in a heartbeat. This weekend I am headed to Des Moines with Drew to get some basketball shoes and to get my haircut. Huskers play the Sooners Saturday night so I have that to look forward to.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Kind of hard to believe it is already November.

At least I don't have to drive around and deliver subpoenas

It is good to get to the middle of the week. The weather is going to be nice. 60 and sunny.

Class went well last night. I only had 4 people in attendance but one of the students emailed me and said they had to work late and would not be able to make it.

Jess has the rest of the week off from sports. I always ask the kids how their days went and last night when I asked her, she said "Great!". I almost fell out of my chair..."Great"? I am not sure if I ever heard her say her day went that well before. She was just happy to have the afternoon after school free. We will see how long that wave lasts.

Drew has basketball practice everyday and they are really working on conditioning. He grumbled a little bit about it last night but I think mostly it was because he was tired.

I have a couple meetings today but I am hoping things are relatively calm.

Yesterday all the phones in the district were called by a auto-call system from a funeral home. ALL 300 PHONES. Of course this has the trickle down effect of each one of the people that received that call, immediately call me. I sent out an email message to explain it to avoid a flurry of calls today. We will see if anyone reads it.

Off to start

Victim of Circumstance

Really cold today. Low 20's this morning.

The volleyball team lost last night so the season comes to an end. I think Jess was a little disappointed even though they really weren't expecting to win.

Drew had his first basketball practice yesterday and they did a bunch of conditioning. That is good for him.

Class went pretty well last night. I gave them a test and actually gave them one of the problems that we didn't cover in class. I will be generous when I grade it but it did take some of them over 2 hours to complete it. I think they were freaking out a bit.

Daylight savings is coming up. I am not looking forward to it. It seems that winter is rushing upon us and the fall really never came. Well, maybe we had one or two days that were fall like. Other than that it has been wet, cold, windy and relatively miserable.

One meeting today and class tonight. I am giving another test. It is getting close to the end of the term so we have a test almost every week.

Gas prices here in Iowa are $1.99 a gallon. That is the lowest it has been in a long time. I am going to fill up today. I hope the lower prices stick around. The dang oil companies are cutting production to try to up the prices. Go figure.

Off to start.

It just doesn't matter when it's Monday

Monday---Need I say more!

It was very windy yesterday. We had gusts up to 70 MPH and it lasted most of the day. The good news is, most of my leaves are now out of my yard. It was a bad day to live on the East side of the street.

Jess had a group of friends over Saturday night. They watched a movie, played wii and some board games. I think they had a good time.

I really didn't do anything this weekend. I watched football on Saturday and Sunday it was just too windy to go out and do anything so I watched movies and took a nap (My goal was accomplished).

I teach class tonight. They have a test on MS Word. It is getting to the end of class. We only have about 6 sessions left.

Jess has her first round of playoffs to see if they can go to state in volleyball. They face the Number 1 team in the state on their home court. I don't think we have a shot at an upset.

Drew starts basketball practice tonight. We move from season to season pretty quickly.

Halloween is Friday and the Junior class is putting on a dance for the middle school. So Jess will be a chaperon at a dance the Drew is attending. Should be interesting.

I have a meeting this morning and may take a road trip today. It just depends on the weather.

Gas is down to $2.20/gallon right now.

Off to start.