First week with kidlets over. It was fantastic. The 8th grade has fallen into step with the new discipline routines very nicely, and my 7th graders...while a little rambunctious have given me the impression that I'm going to have a wonderful year. Still working on their reading level report, but we have quite a few that tested at "college level" nicely. Can you say English 9 next year boys and girls? If the results keep going like this, I might have enough for an entire class instead of just the 5 I have right now who work independantly during my first hour English 8 class.

As you will see in tomorrow's post, I've managed to keep that flow of positive energy going as I had hoped. Eating lunch in a friends classroom rather than in the lounge has helped. When one of the more negative individuals came in to eat with us yesterday, we all kept steering her away from negative thought. She got the picture, and actually remarked on her way out the door how much fun it was to eat lunch with us, and how it brightened her day. Go R.W.!

Tomorrow's post is going to harken back to the old Rhythm of Life writings I used to do. I've been looking for a project of sorts to steal me away from Morning Star from time to time, and began keeping a composition notebook with me each day at school to record my inner monologue. I'll post the interesting bits on Sundays.

Yay! Great first week!

What a great first few days of school.

I told the Class of 2013 last year when i had them in 7th grade, that their little joyride was over, and that the 8th grade team is a united front of "Obey the rules or suffer the consequences" and just as I suspected in the back of my head...they've flourished under the new regime. Go figure! *POKES THE CRAP OUT OF HIS 7TH GRADE TEAMMATES*

The 7th graders this year...lets just say I've scared them to death. Not only did I overcompensate for my collegue's lack of rules and order by coming in incredibly strong (without trying to) but when I mentioned how much writing was going to be expected from them this year (our new school motto is if you're not meeting grade entry requirements, we're not grading your work...based on a list created at each grade level for the next of the things the kids have mastered. The 6th grade teachers assured me my standards were being met ;)) they all got silent and looked at me like I had just canceled christmas. "7-10 page typed papers, single spaced, 12 point font? Are you for real dude?"

Yes, yes I am.

The best part was seventh hour when someone asked me why we had to do that much writing. My response was to be successful in this world, no matter what you do you have to be able to read and write well. End of story. I told them how I make sure they're prepared every day for two years, and that the rest is up to them, and that they will thank me for it when they get to the high school. I told them that like clockwork, the third day of school I get a visit from Freshman who do just that. Just before school got out, a whole pile of Freshman came in and proved my point. Word.

So, I'm looking forward to not only dropping jaws again this year, but also to proving to them exactly how awesome they can be day in and day out.

Bring it on!

After five years of "just checking it out to see if I like it or not" I have finally entered the realm of paid account ownership.

Expect a deluge of stupid, random polls to ensue.

Heh, so...after working on my classroom for basically an entire month, thus ending my vacation in early August, I was finished on Thursday (as reported before) ready to enjoy my four day weekend. My wife however, enjoyed her entire summer vacation and left the house yesterday morning ranting and raving about how she has to spend all weekend in her classroom getting ready.

The hint was there, but I decided to ignore it, going back to my old "The lack of planning on your part, does not make it an emergency on my part." mantra. I could go into a whole list of Aesops fables which cover the point I'm trying to make, but never mind.

I felt bad after finishing up at Shay Station yesterday, so I decided to head to Frankfort, where I showed up with lunch and helped her in her room until 6:00 yesterday evening.

So I won husband of the year, and...was totally the little ant from the ant and the grasshopper, sharing my wealth with the poor planner, and ensuring a warm snuggly winter. (There's a metaphor there, we'll just leave it at that :P)

Finished. The teacher's first official week back (My third...grumbles) is over, and now all that's left to do is welcome the little ones next week.

Although as I saw from open house Wednesday night, some of them are not so little anymore. I had a kid shoot at least a foot into the air this summer from where he was in seventh grade. I'm willing to bet he's going to be mr. popularity come the first week.

Everyone seems to be excited to start the year, which is good. When I told the seventh grade towards the end last year, that if they think they're going to be able to behave like they were behaving (I had given up on my 7th grade collegues at that point) in 8th grade, they were going to be sadly mistaken very quickly, and they seem to have gotten that message hammered into them over the summer by older siblings and parents that we have worked with before. We're still going to be drill masters the first month or so with that group, but as I told my 8th grade collegues yesterday during "Student rundown" yesterday, that there really are a lot of GREAT kids in that class. THere's just enough rogue elements to disrupt the flow, and that's where our attention should be focused.

So, I look forward with open arms to Tuesday, the first day back wtih students. I received my five year service pin yesterday (has it really been five years already? Am I really starting my sixth? Am I really 1/6th of the way through with my career? That's insane!)

Oh yeah, and my weight goal: 90 lbs in 9 months...as of this morning is now 83 lbs in 9 months. GOOOOOOOOOOO ME!

Spent the last two days doing professional development on literacy in the middle grades down at Saginaw Valley State University. Not complaining about it...in fact, to the contrary, it's been two of the most meaningful days of PD I've had.

What irritates me is that I can go to something so good, put on by someone who threw it together at the last minute with a shoestring budget...and I spend EVERY DAY next week listening to my school administrators talking about the same old stuff all day long. They've had three months (if not more) to plan for this and my principal tells me on the way home from yesterday's session that "We haven't even figured out MONDAY's schedule yet (let alone the rest of the week) I think we're going to do some data work, and then look at best practices out of our Marzano book." Hmmm...you mean like we did at all 5 pre-school PD days last year and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that and the...

I'm starting off SO INSPIRED and that inspiration will be sucked out of me by 2:15 on Monday, you just watch.

I DO have tenure now...perhaps I'll have a chest cold those days...

I'm writing one of the more action intensive sections of Eclipse, and before the you know what hits the fan, my characters are sharing a meal together. They each have their own way of saying the old idiom: "A watched pot never boils." I need different ways of saying that like what I have down here:

“There is a saying amongst the Toya’Mi.” Tomlin began, his deep voice causing everyone a start. He didn’t usually speak in large groups. All attention in the room snapped over to him, including Maddock who was doing his usual bored “lay half his body out on the table” routine. “An observed canister of water never will reach the desired temperature for tea.”
Silence followed his statement for a moment. Everyone grinned, and finally laughed. He looked around the room, his fierce brown eyes puzzled. It shut everyone up immediately.
“They do say that.” Maddock offered, nodding gently.
“I believe the expression is a container of liquid that is glanced at regularly will never reach one hundred and twenty degrees.” Synna said.

How else can I say that?

The classroom still looks like a disaster zone, but luckily most of the work is done. I went in yesterday to get a jump on the great Class update of 2008 (moving all the sixth grade accounts into 7th grade, all the 7th grade accounts into 8th grade...the rest of the district is on their own) but the Internet was down. Apparently my classroom holds the Network Switches for the entire middle school. Color me surprised :) I never knew I had this much power!

So instead, I poured all my creative energies into working on those summer projects I'd been putting off.

7th Grade Lit Unit Curriculum Updates:
Holes - Done
White Fang - Done
Treasure Island - Done
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Done
7th Grade Grammar Skillbuilders and Vocabulary modules for Class Server - Done

8th Grade Lit Unit Curriculum Updates:
Johnny Tremain - Done
The Clay Marble - Done
The Call of the Wild - Done
The Giver - Pending
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Done

This means that on my summer to do list (which I must say...was far more work than I've ever given myself to do in a summer for school) is my English 9 curriculum, which I've decided, should be done throughout the school year, as I don't yet know the capabilities of my four protogees.

For those of you who do not know what a Curriculum Update entails, it's basically me sitting down and hammering out my daily lesson plans for the novels, all activities and warm up questions, then lining each lesson up to the Grade Level Content Expectations put out by the State. It's basically data/paperwork but it's tedious at times.

So...goooooooo ME!

The wife and I had the opportunity to babysit a 1 year old last night. It was a lot of fun, and at the time I was like "Oh, Shannon and I can totally handle a kid!" I flung diapers, fed the little guy, changed his clothes about three different times (due to the diapers of course) and even developed that parental "He's fine...don't go over there" when he cried in the crib for half an hour at bedtime.

Was even able to handle the midnight diaper change that came from the parents calling and saying "Can we stay out longer?" Mental note: remove ALL telephones from the vicinity of the downstairs bedroom when kids are in the picture.

Woke up this morning exhausted. EXHAUSTED. How do parents do this everyday? EXHAUSTED!

1) Pineapple Express was a fun movie. I've decided that James Fanco can make a movie about just about anything and I'll not only see it, but continue to hold him in high regard as an actor (even though this time around he played a dumb stoner) The downside of Pineapple Express is that because Shannon went to see it with me, and because it turned out exactly as I expected, I'm being forced to go see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 now. Damnit.

2) I have a solid memory of being told once while passing by a bakery on a Sunday Morning with my mom (I was like 8 or 9) and wanting one of the cookies in the window. My mom told me that that particular bakery did not sell cookies, and that those were just displays put out to lure people in. I believed her (I was like 8 or 9 remember) and went to school that next week telling everyone. I was laughed at, not invited to three parties, and beat up on the playground for spreading horrible lies. So sitting here in Horizon Books this morning, my heart goes out to the child who was just told by the lady behind the counter (at the whispered request of the parent when the kid was looking at books) that she's not allowed to sell soda to anyone on Sunday mornings until after lunch. Sure I laughed, then quickly returned my gaze to my laptop to hide my embarassment, but if that kid gets beat up on the playground on monday, don't say you haven't been warned. Lying to kids is just dumb. It will come back to bite you in the ass someday.

3) Because of number 2 above, I now know that my kids will a) not be invited to any parties, b) have a successful career in stand up comedy, and c) probably end up in therapy.

Kitty Saddleblanket.

My mom picked this name combining two of her favorite things, cats and horses. So now, when out in public with her in her gray wig, she's decided that's what we are to address her as. She picked this name much earlier than I thought she would, and can I just say...holy cow, this is freaking funny.

I can't wait until the first time we lose her in a store and have to have the good people at Customer Service page her. "Would Miss Kitty Saddleblanket please meet your party at the courtesy desk? Kitty Saddleblanket, please meet your party at the courtesy desk."

I'm going to get her some Jackie O sunglasses to go with the disguise.

Well, it seems that every year we've lived in our house we've had a mold problem. The first year it was courtesy of a leaky upstairs sink. We removed that portion of the ceiling, cleaned it out, and replaced it with shiny new ceiling.

The second and third years it grew in an area of the wall next to the stairs to the upstairs area. We replaced it twice and have since learned that it's because the upstairs toilet sweats and there is nowhere for the water to go when that happens. We've kept the area aired out nicely this year and haevn't had a problem...

...but...year four and the mold is attacking our basement. We have a scary Michigan Basement that is the only original thing left in our house (which for the sake of information, was built in the 1860s just after the Civil War) Because the foundation of our home resembles bedrock, water from a small area behind our house travels down into the basement, causing dampness and of course...mold.

So, I've bought a dehumidifier to de-wet the area, and now Shannon and I are going to be spending more money at the Home Depot buying dirt to fill in that area and make it so water does not pool there.

God bless it...home ownership is awesome, and owning a home that will celebrate it's bicentennial this year is even cooler. I would like a summer where I do not have to declare war on a spore-like subtance.

My classroom is a nightmare. While I did accomplish what I had hoped to accomplish yesterday, it was by no means easy to do. There are cords and wires hanging from the ceiling as the electricians have begun their work. It sort of looked like every spaceship that has sustained heavy damage and cannot take another direct hit from the alien vessel because shields are down to five percent, we're venting atmosphere, there's a hull breach on deck 11, and the Warp or Slipstream drive (take your pick) is offline. I should have taken a picture. Maybe I'll skip going in today.

Skipping the gym yesterday didn't seem to hurt me, but it didn't exactly help either. I've operated until now under the bold faced lie that once you start working out you have more energy. Unfortunately that does not appear to be the case. My body feels punished, and I can't explain to it that all it's done wrong is to allow me to follow the destructive behaviors of the past 28 years, and that year 29 is not going to be the same old politics. I'm just going to drink more coffee at Shay before I go in to give myself the illusion of being more awake than I actually am. Once I'm on that treadmill, elliptical machine, and stair stepper things will pick up. Afterall, Poe makes great workout music...I just can't burst out singing like I did last time. Imagine announcing to an entire roomfull of sweating strangers "I'm not a virgin anymore. Just thought you should know."

December 08 goal: -35 pounds, or roughly 9 pounds a month.

April 09 goal: - 30 pounds, or roughly 7 pounds a month.

June 09 goal: Go back for next phyisical exam and not have my doctor look at me like I'm the creature from the fat lagoon. Oh yeah, and - 10 more pounds, bringing the grand total down to -75 pounds in one year.

There...the goals are posted. They're written down for all the world to see, which means now I have more incentive to meet them than if I just had a steady goal in my head.

Seven straight days at the gym and I am beyond muscle exhaustion. I'm taking today off (Maybe some Wii fit this afternoon) and going back into my neglected classroom. It mourns for me when I haven't seen it for a week, and I HAVE to get it ready for the incoming 7th graders who I'm bound and determined to give the impression that I am not obsessive compulsive, just really good at using space.

Beejesus but my legs are sore.

I found $20 in a pair of old jeans I haven't worn since last summer.

I love bonus money!

After three years, we finally got around to buying Chloe one of those barrel kegs that go around St. Bernard necks. As if that was all our life was missing, it's provided hours of amusement.

Because our St. Bernard is not used to having heavy things around her neck, she was obviously a little distraught when we put it on. Eventually she gave up trying to paw it off, and just laid down looking at us as if to say "You fucking assholes."

Then she got up to chase a kitty, banged the barrel into the table creating a loud noise and almost upending the laptop. She took off running howling in terror, knocked over two plants, broke the kitchen table which of course freaked her out more, and finally went and hid in the bathtub.

Where, oh WHERE are video cameras when you need them?

Spent a week at Lake Michigan visiting my mom at her farm.

The woman is insane! She dies her hair it's natural color (Black...underneath the dye it's completely white now) but now she wears a gray wig. When she answered the door I nearly passed out. To know your mother as a brunette your entire life, to see her three weeks ago as a brunette even, to have her answer the door looking like one of the Golden Girls was a bit shocking. It actually looks really cool! It's just an adjustment.

She says it's part of her "go out in public and not be recognized" alias. Apparently she's been watching Will and Grace and loves it when Karen goes out as Anastasia Beaverhousen. She has not yet named her new alias yet but Shannon and I gave her tons of suggestions. We told her we expected her to have picked one when we come back in September.

I'm having iPod issues.

It used to sort everything alphabetically by artist, but now my shiny iPod classic 80 gig is randomly putting artists places on my coverflow, and it's irritating me.

Anybody know how to make it put everything alphabetically again? Kid Rock should NOT be hanging out with Gwen Stefani. There's just something wrong with that.

Party is over, and holy shit was it a good time!

People started arriving at 5:30 (an hour early, but for not being a boyscout, I'm always prepared for parties well in advance) And at it's peak we numbered in the twenties. I learned I CAN grill for large numbers of people, but that I should cut the amount of meat purchased in half, as we still have about fifteen cooked brats in the fridge, as well as 10 hamburger patties. When it's just the two of us, that's a lot of meat...

I missed socializing for the first two hours of the party as I spent it in the kitchen and on the porch replenishing food and turning meat on the grill. I consumed no fewer than 7 beers during this span of time, which means the old memory is a little fuzzy until halfway through the fire started.

By two in the morning, it was just Kim, John, Neil, Shannon, and myself. Normal people would have gone to bed (especially since this was the third late night of drinking for John, Neil, and Kim) but of course, we're not normal people. We played taboo until we could no longer speak full sentences (somewhere around 4:45 a.m.) and then retired to bed.

Now, with Dave being obsessive compulsive about cleaning (One of my OCD tendencies that kicked in during college) I had a hard time sleeping with my house being a mess, so I woke up at 9 and went downstairs and cleaned. When everyone emerged from their respective beds upstairs at around noon, I was sitting on the sofa watching television drinking coffee. The house was spotless.

Cooked breakfast for my guests, because Dave loves to cook. We hung around awhile, then around 4 in the afternoon we decided to go see the Dark Knight. HOLY SHIT that movie rocks! No spoilers for those of you who haven't seen it yet (GO NOW!!! NOWW!!!!!!!!!) but even through exhaustion and a bad hangover, I didn't look down at my watch and go "Is tihs over yet?" Of course, the theater was full of parents who needed to be shot in the head for letting their kids talk incessently. There was a 10 year old boy behind me that made me feel like I was watching the movie in a tunnel, because everytime someone said their lines, eh repeated them. The parents thought it was cute and gave us ditry looks when we turned around and give them dirty looks.

There was also a family that took up a whole row, with kids ranging from 1 to 7. These kids cried, screamed, and howled through the entire film while the parents did nothing. The amonut of money they could have saved by not bringing their kids to an R rated movie, they certainly could have afforded a frikkin BABYSITTER.

Despite all of that, a good time was had, and when the last guests left at around 7 p.m. Shannon and I collapsed on the sofa, watched a Stephen King movie on Sci-Fi and woke up around 9 this morning.

Moral of the story? Parties with lots of people are fun, and I will not complain again!

So...about a month and a half ago, my friends and I were talking, and we said: "Hey, lets have a big bonfire party at your house Dave right around the time you got married last year! We'll help you ring in the first Anniversary."

I said yes.

What was to be a small gathering with 4 people total, today, has a guest list numbering in the fifties, and I get to spend my entire afternoon getting food for a small army unit ready for tonight's bonfire/phone call to the cops waiting to happen.

Here's what happened:

John, Kim, and Neil were initially invited.

Shannon said...lets invite my sister and her boyfriend too. They're a lot of fun at parties. I said okay.

Then, I realized that I've been trying to hang out with our new high school art teacher and her husband for awhile, (since they live right down the road) and our social calendars always collide. Shannon said definately, and the couple down the road said yes.

After that, one of my collegues at the middle school called me and wanted to hang out that night. I told him we were having this bonfire, he's bringing his wife.

Because I've now invited one of my 8th grade team members, I now have to invite the other 3 and their families, including the Special Ed teacher (who has friends visiting, and wanted to know if they could come too.) Check.

Then I remembered, the people who bought the house next door and are renting it out should probably be invited, because they've always done nice thigns for us (like plowing for free in the winter) All 4 of them are coming.

The people who RENT the house next door had a party last week and invited us, so it was only natural that we extend the same option to them.

See where this is going?

Skip a few more later, and we get to last night, when we finally had the guest list finalized, and started shopping for the food. When we went to Shannon's parents to get bonfire wood, her brother and his wife was there.

What's two more?

Really, I just wanted John, Neil and Kim. It's sort of like one of those high school parties you see in teen movies...a small gathering turns into people doing keg stands in the living room.

I hope they all play nice...we're representing all walks of life here...young...old...rich...poor...country...city... It's sort of the northern Michigan version of United colors of Bennetton.

I'll give the update either tomorrow or on Monday. I might be too hung over to do much of anything tomorrow.