What the heck is with the cold weather....I didn't agree to this!!!!

I made it through the second night of teaching. It was a strange sort of night because I was supposed to present to the school board during class. At 7 o'clock, I had the kids take a 15 minute break and I went to the school board meeting for my presentation. Well, the guy on the agenda before me was rambling on and on and on and on. Pretty soon it was 15 after and he was still going. I went back to may class and just thought "They can come and get me when they want me." 8:15 they finally come to door and say they are ready for me. So, I take another break, did my ridiculous presentation and then get back to teaching.

The reason I had to do a presentation for the board was because one of the member questioned why we purchased expensive data phones. So instead of the Supt. just telling him, he thought it would be a good idea for me to present the info to the whole school board. Strange how we can piss away thousands of dollars on hiring a coach to teach NOTHING and I have to present why we pay $14 a month for data phones.

I now have a two week break from teaching. Next Monday is Martin Luther King day and DMACC is closed for the holiday, so we don't have class. I really like teaching so it isn't a big deal to me. The only hang up for this session is that four hours is a long time to teach and for kids to stay alert.

Drew has an early morning practice today and Jess has a game tonight. She said her coach was ticked yesterday and yelled at the team and told them he was going with a new starting lineup for tonight and that there are no "starters" on the team because they are playing so bad. My guess is Jess will start but I guess we will see tonight.

I have an early morning meeting today. Nancy and I have to go to the Elementary and hand out a couple of laptops and lay down the law for use. The special ed department, of course, is getting two laptops for their staff to use. They will have a "main" teacher who is responsible for it and checking it out to the other staff members. I will show them how to use the computer and what the checkout process is.

I really don't know what is on my calendar for the rest of the week. I haven't checked and I really don't care to check this morning. I hate Monday and Tuesday is on my list.

Jess is struggling in Geometry. She recieved a D on a quiz, retook it yesterday and got a D. Parent teacher conferences were last night and I went to Drew's, he is doing well, then I went to the high school for my class and ran into Jess' Geometry teacher. She broke the news to me and when I talked to Jess last night and told her, she was frustrated to say the least. She has a test in that class today and now she is convinced she is going to fail it. PROOFS!!!!!!!!

Anyway, she said she does fine except for proofs and that is what they are testing.

Ok, off to start my day. I know, the blog was boring this morning. I guess I just live an uneventful life.

More fun to share tomorrow.

I used to like Mondays------What the hell was I thinking?

The weekly cycle has begun again. UGH!!!

MONDAY---What a drag!

Jess and the girls basektball team had a very rough weekend. They lost big on Friday night and on Saturday night. Jess didn't play well either night. She did a nice job on defense but didn't score on Friday and only had 2 on Saturday. She was averaging between 10 -16 points a game and really didn't play agressively this weekend. She also struggled at the free thow line. In light of all of that we went to the gym yesterday and worked on her shot and free throws. We shot for about an hour and a half. We also talked about confidence and fire.

Going and shooting was her idea. I think she was disgusted with her play and wanted to get it fixed. Drew came with us and shot as well. He is playing pretty well and has been shooting pretty good as well.

I teach class tonight and have to do a short presentation for the school board. That is a kick ass develoment. I teach a four hour class and during one of my breaks, I have to walk across the hall and present to the board and then come back and finish teaching. Whoo-hooo!

Who knows what the week ahead will bring. The weather is supposed to be cold and maybe a few flurries throughout the week. I don't think we are supposed to get anything of significants but cold is cold.

Jess plays at home of Tuesday and away on Friday. Drew plays at home on Thursday. Right now, we don't have a volleyball tournament this weekend. I know the coaches were trying to get in one but the one they checked into was full. I would imagine it is a bit late to get into anything for this weekend but you never know.

I feel like I have been so busy lately and the weekend has just flown by. Tonight teach class, Tuesday go to a game, Wednesday get a break, Thursday and Friday go to games and then it is back to the weekend. Whirlwind! My Tivo is filling up with shows I want to watch but zero time to watch them.

Have a great Monday!

I think maybe I need secret service protection too.

It is Friday but somehow I don't feel as thrilled as I normally do. I think maybe the week is catching up with me. Most weeks, I try to keep my Fridays open so I can work in the office and kind of ease into the weekend. Today, however; I have two meetings and Jess has a game in Nevada (Pronounced with NevAda, the "a" between the v and d is a long a, not like the state where it is a short a.) which is about an hour away.

I still haven't recieved my instructors books for my class. I am getting a bit ticked off. I mean how hard is it to get the books in? I really don't want to go a second week with having to create my own slides and take the whole weekend creating stuff that is already done in the instructors editions. I could care less about the answers to the lessons, I know that stuff, I don't need the damn guide for that, but the presentations and the handouts are the things I really want.

At school we are starting to look at planning for next year. We have published next year's school calendar and it should go to the school board for approval on Monday. We also are starting our registration meetings, getting handbook and registration fees adjusted for board approval and prep for students to register for classes for the 08-09 school year. I know it seems kind of early but to get everything done and out, we have to start early.

Drew's team won their game last night and they won pretty big. I think it was 46-12 or something like that. He had 5 points and made a three point play. He took a shot and was fouled. The shot went in and he made the free throw. He doesn't have practice today so we will be able to go to Jess's game. I kind of left it up to him. We could go or stay home and listen to it on the radio. He wanted to go. We will only stay for the girls game and then come home. Dawn goes up with her parents and they stay for both games so it works out.

I have been craving a good pizza lately but the last couple times I have had pizza, it has kind of sucked. I think, at the end of the day, when all is said and done, I like a Casey's pizza the best. Godfathers is my big favorite but we don't have one it Perry. I have to go to Adel or Boone for that and "That's not bloody likely" (Imagine me saying that with a British accent.).

Ok, enough for now. Off to start the weekend. I wil have more on Monday, as usual.

Have a great weekend!

I really don't need a migraine today!

The school board/director retreat went ok last night. We did a personality test and the group was asked what "color" they thought each of us were. Everyone got me right!

To sum thing up, we did the personality exercise, ate dinner (which was actually pretty good. I was expecting sandwiches but we had lasagna, corn, cole slaw, dinner role w/butter, and a piece of pie with whipped cream.) and worked on the district mission statement and goals. Here are the four goals we selected for the next year to work on.

* Academic achievement (of course)
* pk-12 character/citizenship education program
* Staff development for "all" staff members
* Fiscal stability (This was actually #1 in our vote)

Like I said it was ok. We were at it from 4 until a little after 8. We also re-wrote the district mission statement and that took most of the time. You would be amazed at how much time it took to debate over whether we should us the word "develop" or "help". EVERYONE had an opinion on that one.

We had some sad news this week. Nancy's mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. With her dad in a wheelchair and unable to completely care for himself this is not only a scary issue to face for her mom but the concern about her dad is another consideration. When Nancy came to work on Tuesday she wasn't the Nancy that I had ever seen before. She was so distracted with the news she recieved the night before it was like she was in a trance. I could see the flicker of her normal self from time to time with a little smile or a look but she was going through a lot and I could tell she was going through things in her mind most of the day.

I bought her 4 king sized Snickers in an attempt to make her feel a bit better. I know it wasn't much but it was all I could really think of to do. I will do what I can to help her through this difficult time. I don't know her mom but if she is anything like Nancy, she is a wonderful mother and person. Keep Nancy and her mom in your prayers.

MOM----STAY HEALTHY!!!!!

I have a woman that works for me at the high school and her son is having open heart surgery today. He is 25 and it is kind of a long story but she is gone for the rest of the week and will be taking a lot of time off in the next month or so.

In other news: Drew has a game tonight. He plays in Saydel at 4. I won't go to the game but he is looking forward to playing. They haven't had a game since before Christmas break.

Tonight is the first night, in what seems to be an eternity, that I will be home at 5 and be able to make dinner, relax and watch some TV. It was last Thursday that I was home before 8:00 at night. I am looking forward to it tonight.

TRASH DAY TODAY.....Filthy bastards!

50% Irish - 50% Bohemian, warm heart and a wonderful mom!

The girls won their first basketball game last night!!!!!!

Jess had 12 points which tied the team high. It was a good game for the girls last night. They played pretty well and did a nice job of playing like a team. They still have a long way to go but at least the monkey is off of their back. They won't go the whole season without a win.

Drew has a game Thursday and then Jess has games Friday and Saturday.

Today my blog is dedicate to my mom. It is her birthday today and I want to take some time to recognize how special she is.

The relationship between a mother and son is very special. Men are tough and rugged. They fight and wrestle, watch football and action movies. They seldom cry and hardly ever show emotions in public. It is in their nature and that is the way things are; but if you see a man and his mother, you will see a side of him that is rarly displayed. Men, as I see it, hold three things in their lives dear. Their children, their spouse and their mothers. Relationships go sour and chilren move on but we hold our mother always dear to our heart.

When I was a boy and I scraped my knee, it was mom who would hug me and make it all better. When I was lonely and had nothing to do, mom would play the piano and we would sing. As a teen with girl problems, mom was always their to reassure me. In college, mom was supportive and understanding when I came home with a bag of dirty laundy and a tendency to raid the fridge on my way back.

I know her life was full of worry when I was living at home and probably still is from time to time. There probably isn't such a thing as a "perfect son" and even if there were, I would have been far from it, yet my mom stayed with me through it all. She listens and cares. My life is all over the place most of the time. It is an existence that is far from perfect but if I ever need a lifeline to sanity, I pickup the phone and give mom a call. Usually about nothing in paticular but always a sense of comfort and support.

Mom, I love ya and want you to know you mean more to me than you could even know. We share the same sense of humor and are similar in many ways. I don't get to see you much but I think of you often. You are a very special person and I am not sure what I would do if I didn't have you "a call away".

I hope you have a great day today and many more birthdays to come.

Happy birthday!

If your lips are moving as you read this post....STOP IT!

The big stresser for the week is behind me. I finished teaching my first night of class!



It was a good night. The kids were all well behaved and the class moved along pretty well. Four hour is a long time but taking breaks every hour makes it not too bad. We covered all of the information I wanted to cover last night and went over the homework as a group. The first hour of class I showed them the homework assignment and what I wanted done and they were kind of freaked out. By the end of class they were all comfortable and felt that it wouldn't be that big of a deal.



I really like the group and it should be a pretty good class. I hope the students felt like it went well too.



Today, I continue the maraton of little to no free time. I have an early meeting at 7:30 another meeting at 11 and then Jess has a game tonight. At least her game is here in Perry so I shouldn't be too late. I would guess I will be home by 7:45 or 8.



The weird thing about teaching my class is that when I got home, I needed a bit of downtime to be able to go to sleep. You can't go home at 10 and be asleep by 10:05. At least I wasn't able to do it last night. I ended up getting to sleep around 11 or a little after. The coffee is helping me this morning.





I wanted to post a video of the Gingerbread house experience from Christmas. Here it is!

Video took too much time to Upload!!!!!! Maybe another time....

I wanted to note the weather today. It is foggy again and it has kind of become a trend as of late. There were also some tornados to the north around the Minnesota border. How weird is that? Rain and fog and tornados in January.

Drew was telling me last night that he likes the show "American Gladiators". I remember that show back in the 80's or early 90's. I don't remember the actual decade it was on but it was ok back then. I will have to check out the new version and see how it goes. I know Hulk Hogan is the host. How old is that guy?

I can't tell you how nice it is to have all the political stuff done here in Iowa. No more phone calls. No more ads on TV, of course I haven't seem much tv lately. It is a nice and refreshing break from the mess that it was a week or so ago. You can only take so much of that before you just tune every candidate out. New Hampshire is being victimized now but they are going to be past it after today as well.

I saw that yesterday Hillary broke down with tears in her eyes and so did Borak. I would imagine the stress and weight of a campaign can get you in all sorts of conditions. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a mandatory hiatus from campaining or ads. How about every Sunday there is no campaigning or political ads on tv, radio or the paper? It would give the candidates and the country a nice break from the madness.

I have kind of read through the post and it seems to be long and rambling but I am waiting for the video to upload and it is taking awhile. As it loads I am just rambling and rambling. I will stop now for you benefit!

Have a great Tuesday.

What the hell!

This weekend was long and I am facing a long week ahead. In a nutshell, here was my weekend.

• Saturday: Alarm clock went off at 5 am. Went to DMACC orientation from 7:30 until 3:30. Jess had a game in Perry so I went staight from the orientation to the game. Got home around 8. Jess did well but the team lost. She scored 13 points, which lead the team.
• Sunday: Woke up at 2 am with insomnia. 3 am, Drew puked all over the floor from food at the movie theater from the night before. I cleaned that up, threw his clothes in the washing machine and started my day. Heavy fog made the two hour drive to Jess's volleyball tournament a mess. Visibility less that 200 feet the whole way. The tournament lasted until 5:30. Drove two hours home and went to bed. The volleyball team did ok but they haven't learned to play together yet. They went 2-3.

Today I work all day then teach class from 6-10 tonight.

Tomorrow Jess has a game in Perry I won't be home until after 8.

Wednesday I have a school board retreat that is supposed to last until 9 pm.

Thurday Drew has a game, Friday and Saturday Jess has a game.

It is a grim looking week ahead but what can a guy do.

I don't really feel much like writing today so I apologize that this is short and rather pointless. I will post about my class tomorrow.

Ya gotta love Monday!