I don't care what anybody says, I'm thirsty!

Wednesday came and went with the blink of an eye. We are finally at the last day of school before Christmas break. Whoo-hooo!!!

I am playing in a "Students vs Staff" basketball game today. It is the middle school staff against the middle school students. I am playing becuase Drew is playing. I really could care less about this but I thought it would be fun to talk trash to Drew this week and explain to him how I am going to SLAM DUNK over the top of him today! I think there are 20 staff members playing so we will all probably get about 2 minutes of playing time each. I am in terrible shape so it is probably a good thing.

Jess has a game tonight in Jefferson. She said he brought a couple of the younger players up to the "Blue" practice squad, which is the varsity playing group. There is a chance that she will have a few new faces joining her on the floor today. As poorly as the team has been playing, it sure couldn't hurt.

On a different note: A couple things in the news yesterday caught my attention. The first is the honey bee population is dying off. The honey bees account for the pollenation of 1/3 of our food supply and the word is that if they die off, the human population is in trouble. The second thing was 3 or 4 southern states held a joint conference to discuss their need for drinking water. The drought in the south has caused some major problems with states being able to provide enough water to sustain the population. They feel this situation will get much worse in the future.

Kind of troublesome stuff. As the climate changes there is a chain reaction in many areas. The coming years are sure to bring a variety of challenges we have never been forced to deal with before. I hope we are up to the challenge.

I started working on some of my college class stuff. I have been going through the text books and thinking of assignements and assesments. It is going to be a bit time consuming going through it all but I read that the instructors edition has presentations that cover every chapter in the book. That is good news because the content is all things I know well but putting together the instruction is very time consuming. These premade presentation will be a huge help. I hope I get my instructors material soon.

It doesn't seem like Christmas to me. It is almost unbelievable that I will be in Nebraska Sunday for the Griswald, I mean Nichols family Christmas. We haven't really gotten into the Christmas spirit here. Jess was complaining last night that the Christmas tree looks sad because there aren't many presents under it yet. We have the gifts, they just haven't been wrapped yet. I will spend some time tomorrow night getting gifts wrapped and making things a bit more holiday like. The kids and I are going to make Gingerbread houses this weekend.

Have you ever "re-gifted" a present you have recieved? I have never done that but am thinking it may not be such a bad idea sometimes. There are times you get a gift from someone that you really don't care for but you know someone who may love it. Is it so wrong to re-gift it? Seems kind of cheap and ungrateful so I don't know if I will ever be able to do it. I don't blame people for doing it though. At least they don't have a cabinet full of stuff they don't want.

I am keeping a close eye on the weather for the weekend. We are flirting with a snow and ice storm on Saturday that could impact travel on Sunday, when I am supposed to go to Lincoln. Right now it looks like we are going to be ok and the worst of it will be to the south of us. I really don't want weather to put a damper on my trip.

Today is Trash Day as you know it is a sore subject. I think I am going to be irritated every Thursday as I take my trash to the curb.

At least today is the gateway to the break.

More tomorrow.

Christmas wish #1 - A little common sense in our local government!

There is a nice ring to the sound of Wednesday this week. Two days left until break and it seems like I am running in sand towards the finish line. I am not sure why this week has seemed so long but it is dragging. One thing bad about heading into a break is I have a tendency to just put things off. I tell myself, after break I will take a look at that. If a teacher needs someting that isn't an emegency, I say, "Give me a call after break and I will come and take a look.". The procrastinator in me comes out BIG TIME. Once January comes, I am depressed about being back and I have a boat load of work to do.

Oh well, I'll worry about that in January...lol

Both of the kids teams lost last night. Drew had 2 points in a ten point loss and Jess has 4 points in a 30 something point loss. Both of them are ready for the Christmas break. I feel bad for the girls. They work really hard and just can't get a win or even be competitive. They should get their first win Thursday. We play a 2A school that isn't very strong. I hope we win, it will be nice to go into Christmas on a high note.

I attended the DMACC orientation last night and found out I have a lot of work to do. My instructor books aren't in yet but they at least gave me student versions. I have two huge textbooks to work with. There is a list of competencies the students should possess after taking my course so I have to develop a class using that as a reference. I have decide my grade scale, setup my class rules and policies, create assignments and tests, and develop a lesson plan to use for the instruction during class. There are a couple of people that also teach DMACC classes that work at our high school so I am going to ask them what they do for some of this. It seems like I have a bunch to do prior to the 7th.

Wednesday is early out at school. It is also known as Chicken, Chicken, Cripito day. They have the same lunch on Wedneday - A spicy chicken sandwich, a normal chicken sandwish or a cripito. It is the same every Wednesday. FYI - I have no idea what a cripito is. I don't eat the school lunch because I think they rip people off and are not good to the kids. I would rather go hungry than give them any more money than I have to.

I hinted a few days back that the garbage people are wanting thing to be easier for them. Well, the city council, the mayor and the city manager, in their infinite wisdom has deemed it necessary for all the citizens of Perry to put their garbage out with the following stipulations:

• No garbage cans of any kind can be put at the curb
• All garbage is to be put in no larger than 40 gallon bags
• These bags are to be tied and left on the curb the morning of pickup
• A limit of 4 bags per household will be picked up.

The reasoning behind this is they have had a bunch of workman comp claims and they are trying to limit the physical demands on the garbage men in an attempt to limit the injuries.

WARNING: IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE MOOD TO LISTEN TO A RANT DO NOT CONTINUE READING THIS BLOG - HAVE A GREAT DAY AND I WILL HAVE MORE TOMORROW!

What the hell is that all about! Garbage men worried about the physical nature of their jobs! THAT IS THEIR JOBS! IT IS PHYSICAL - YOU LIFT GARBAGE ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. Get over it or find a new job! To me it is like me going to my boss and saying the work is too TECHNICAL, we need to find a way to DUMB IT DOWN a bit. My brain just can't take all the technology!

I am disgusted on two fronts. 1- The lazy, crying, wimpy garbage men that are crying like a bunch of babies about how hard their jobs are. GET OVER IT. LIFE IS HARD! GABAGE MEN SHOULD BE HAPPY TO HAVE A CITY JOB WITH GOOD BENEFITS! BE GRATEFUL! 2 - The city council need their asses kicked to go along with such nonsense. When has this community decided the citizens work for the city instead of the other way around. They need to get a clue and get a handle on how to make the city work for the citizens not the other way around. The council contantly complains about people not wanting to move to Perry! Well maybe if we didn't have the tail wagging the dog, people would come!

Ok, sorry about all that but it needed to be said. You know, I actually feel a little better.

Off to start my day.

There is a great deal of apathy in the world and I don't care.

I will be happy when the Iowa caucus is over. The campaigns are just really in a frenzy right now. I get calls every night from the various candidates and it is getting old very fast. Well, I am not getting calls from the candidates themselves; it is someone from the "insert name here" campaign. Blah Blah Blah.

It is important to also note that I am not a fan of the caucus system. It seems to be a bit of a pain in the butt. For those of you unfamiliar with the process here in Iowa, let me share. Each precinct has a meeting area. I think mine is at the high school. Anyway, all the Democrats, since that is what pertains to me, meet at this location. There is some talk and a few speeches, then they say, "Everyone who supports "insert name here", go the that corner. They do this for each candidate, seperating everyone into areas of the room by candidate. The people who don't have very many are talked into joining one of the larger groups. In the end, the number of electorals are divide among the groups remaining. There is some other stuff that goes on after that but I will leave at this point.

Doesn't that seem a bit much? I would much rather stop by a voting area, cast my vote and be done with it. I know people like to hold on to tradition and such but it seems to me that the more unpleasant it is, and this to me is unpleasant, the less people will participate. I think if they truly want people to turn out, they hold a normal primary.

Both kids have games tonight. I have my orientation at 4:30 in West Des Moines so I will miss both games. Jess will have a game of Thursday in Jefferson that I will be able to attend.

One of the girls on the basketball team, quit last night. There is another one on the fence and is waiting to see how much playing time they get tonight to decide if they are going to quit or not. They are both seniors but won't be much of an impact on the team.

One of Jess's friend's, mother passed away unexpectedly the other day. The boy is in Jess's class and in FCA with her and is with the group of kids she hangs out with. She went with one of her friends to visitation last night and they sat and talked with him for about an hour. It was hard for her but she said he was very happy they came. She thought he just needed some people there to talk with. He is holding up ok but she said she knows it has to be really hard for him. His mom was 55 and his dad came home and she was laying on the couch, not breathing. They aren't sure what the cause of death was.

We are continuing the countdown to Christmas break. Three days left and I think the teachers are kind of just passing time until Friday. Drew said they are watching movies today in class and tomorrow they are going to the rec center and the museum here in town. Thurday they have an assembly. This is all good news to me because it doesn't sound like they are doing anything that requires technology support.

JoDee - if you are reading this, know that I have been thinking about you and love you.

Frankly, I don't think you know what you are talking about!

The start of the week is once again upon us. This week is a short week, however; so that seems to make today more bearable.

We start Christmas break on Friday. There is no school that day and the teachers will all be gone. It is a great day in a couple of ways. For one, there is no school. Two, the teachers are gone; and three, it is a Friday. Kind of like the perfect storm but in a good way.

Update on Friday. It was a bad night again for the girls basketball team. They lost by 15 and it was a team the probably should beat. The coach went ballistic and is going to shake things up for the remainder of the season. He didn't even hold practice this weekend. He told the girls he didn't even want to see them.

The Christmas party was fun. We had some very good wine and food. The gifts were wonderul and it was a very nice night to relax and get together as a department without having to talk about work stuff. I wouldn't want to do it every week but it really is nice once in awhile.

Jess wanted to go to the gym this weekend and shoot baskets. Drew, Jess and I went to the gym and played for about an hour. She beat me in a couple of one on one games because I am terribly out of shape. I did beat her in "horse" though. I have to admit she has a very quick "first step" in basketball.

This week, both kids have games on Tuesday and Jess also has a game on Thursday. Drew's game is here in town but I will miss Jess's game Tuesday night. I have to go to the DMACC mentor/mentee orientation from 6:30 to 8:30.

I got my Christmas shopping pretty much done this weekend. Drew and I went out and spent the day together. We had a good time. The shopping kind of sucked but the time with Drew was good.

I am not sure what this week will bring but if I were to guess, I would say it will be pretty slow. Most people are going to just want to get through the week so I would imagine they won't want to be bothering me too much.

Off to start.

Is "Going Postal" still a term or has enough time passed that it has lost its meaning?

A colleague told me yesterday that he looks himself in the mirror every Friday and says "Nothing is going to happen today to ruin my weekend".

Our group is doing a book study about the impact of a positive attitude. This was his form of self assurance that Friday won't be the day from hell, and even if it is, he won't let it ruin his weekend. Probably not a bad thing. He says it works.

Mine would probably go more like this: "I won't let anything happen today that will push me over the edge and go postal on all the bastards that are stupid or simply suck."

The theme of the day is "Friday Good!".

Jess has a game tonight but I will be at my Christmas party so I will miss it. I am also going to miss her game next Tuesday because I have my orientation class. I guess I will see her play again after the first of the year.

January is going to be a busy month. I start teaching class, Jess has a bunch of games and at least one volleyball tournament, Drew has games and January typically has some horrible weather. Whoo-hoo!

One week until Christmas break. It is going to be good to have the time without staff and students in the buildings. I am really looking forward to it.

This weekend, I have to finish my Christmas shopping and go over the the house of first street to put in some lightbulbs and get the house back in order. I also need to take a look at the garage doors. One of them won't open at all and I need to try to get that working.

I was thinking about how it is going to kind of suck to be out in the garage working in the cold but this year has really been a crappy weather year. All I can really remember was REALLY HOT AND HUMID or REALLY COLD AND WINDY! A couple years ago I remember having a bunch of days just sitting out on lawn chairs enjoying the weekends. I don't think I did that more than a couple times last summer. Well we are only a few weeks away from a new year so maybe things will be better.

It is the time of year that we can start thinking about New Year resolutions. The one that comes to the top of everyones mind right away is LOSE WEIGHT. Not sure if that is going to happen but as of December 14th, it is still an option.

Ok, lets get through Christmas first.

More Monday!

I would drink to cope but I hate the hangover.

It is good to be at Thursday already. The week has moved along rather quickly and I can see the weekend on the horizon.

The weather is still cold. There is ice everywhere and I don't think the weather is going to get any better in the foreseeable future.

Drew has an early morning practice today. He is up and about and I will walk him over at 6. There is JV girls basketball game today. I have no idea if it is here or away. Jess has a game Friday in Adel.

I have an early morning meeting this morning so I will be heading out around 7. Tomorrow we have to go to an "Open House" at the school administration center - I hate those things. I feel obligated to go because last year I blew it off and the Superintendant asked my why I wasn't there. This year I will go and in the infamous words of my father, I will be thinking "Let's get this shit over with!".

Friday we have our department Christmas party. One of the ladys that works for me has a vineyard so we go to her house and have a wine tasting party. We all bring appetizers and sit around; drinking, eating and laughing. It was fun last year. We are scheduled to get a bit of snow on Friday but I don't think it will be too much of an issue.

I did the walk through with my tenant last night on at the house on first street. They have 4 broken windows and owe me for rent for December. I think the deposit will cover it all but we will have to wait and see. I am glad they are out. He forgot the keys to the house so he is dropping them by the office today.

Off to start the chilly day called Thusday!

Oh! I made some homeade Kalua the other day. It turned out great and is much cheaper than the real deal.

Christmas shopping and doing the Robot!

The ice yesterday was pretty bad. Everything has a nice coat of ice on it. If you take a look at it from a neutral perspective it is actually very pretty. The ice coated trees have a silver shine to them and the light reflecting off is one of the beautiful sights of nature in the winter.

On the bad side it took me 20 minutes to scrape the ice off of the windows of my car and the doors were frozen shut.

The day was relatively uneventful. The kids stayed home. Drew played outside in the snow. Jess had a "Optional" basketball practice at the rec center at 2 and then volleyball practice in Ankeny at 6. Drew and I took her to practice in Ankeny and did a little Christmas shopping. The roads were pretty good by then. The only problem I had was my windshield kept getting dirty and my washer fluid didn't work, so it was tough to see at times.

I was going to take a day off this week to go shopping but I got enough done last night that I should be able to finish up this weekend. I had to get gifts for my staff, we have our Christmas party Friday night. The rest of the gifts I don't have to have for another week or so.

School seems to be on schedule today. The roads are in pretty good shape. My guess is the biggest danger of the day is when you get to the school parking lot.

The school has a blood drive today. Nancy and I are regular donors and we have our appointment between 7:45 and 8:00. The student counsel sets this up. They close the gym and have the blood drive people come in and setup. They probably get between 300 and 400 people donating between all the teachers and the students that are eligible. It is nice because it is at work and I just have to walk down the hall to do a good thing. Jess isn't able to donate. She doesn't weigh enough and the coach would have a fit if they couln't run at practice. Heaven forbid they have an easy practice to help save some lives!

It was kind of nice not having school last night. It really broke up the week and now it is Wednesday and I feel pretty good. I also had a good time with the kids last night. Drew and I were in Super Target and listening to music on these cool headphones and I started "busting a move". He about had a fit. I was told that I can "do that ridiculous stuff at home, but PLEASE do not do it in public."

This kind of started the other night when Drew and I were watching TV and I got up and started doing the ROBOT. He said my version was lame so I had him show me his version. I must admit, his version was better and it reminded me of the "My Name is Earl" version. It was very funny. So anyway, I bust out the Robot for him now and again but apparently, in public is not appropriate.

Early out today and both kid have practice after school.