PITA

not the bread, but Pain In The Ass. Somehow Google forgot my username or password, and I had to go through the process of resetting it.

Surgery is over, and the doctor says it went better than he expected. Took about 9 hours. Spent 2 hours at the hospital waiting for the finish and for her to be moved to a room. Mother in Law is still pretty much out of it, and we have tag-team 24/7 coverage in the hospital room. I won't be pulling an overnight, but my wife will.

Even without all that, busy busy week. School schedule is all shot to hell due to a few different things. Tomorrow we have an assembly for the author of The Freedom Writers - some of our teachers adapted portions for a city-wide newspaper based program, so she is coming to our school. Last year we had Sonia Weitz, who wrote a holocaust autobiography titled I Promised I Would Tell. I know this will be a knockout for the kids, but it eats up one entire day of teaching for my homeroom.

In the educationally frustrated vein, I also have to plan Monday for tomorrow, since I will be out all day at a professional development session that is of questionable use to me. Since I am professional, I will leave lesson plans for all three of my classes that are idiot-proof so the sub can monitor kids in self-teaching mode (as if). But I can't do it before tomorrow, since I don't know how much my first class will get through due to my aforementioned assembly.

Tuesday we have to be at school 5-7pm for an open house...learned about that yesterday. On the good flipside, we get that 2 hours turned back to us on Friday when the kids leave after half a day. Thursday I have another professional development from 330-530. And the following Monday another one, same hours.

To add more fun to the fire, Father/Daughter dance on Saturday 2-4pm. Black Tie optional. Meanwhile, the wife is working long hours tomorrow, teaching a class on Saturday, hospital coverage Saturday night...I am going to need that spring break when it comes.

Blood for blood

Kind of draggy all weekend. Donated whole blood on Saturday for my mother-in-law who goes in for spinal fusion on Thursday. My actual blood probably won't reach her, but if she needs any, my donation will replace what she gets, and help out with the bills a little bit.

Don't know if that blood loss contributed to my draggy-ness all weekend, but I was a slug. Slept crappy last night (dreams of taking a lower paying job, small apartment that got flooded by a running faucet - even though the water was inches deep in the bathroom, it never got into the bedroom) then proceeded to snap a little plastic part of my sleep-mask - the part that holds one of the straps to the mask. Got to see if it will work still, or else deal with the supply company people who are not terribly prompt.

School field trip today - ugh. Just up the street to the high school to watch a play, but just another disruption in the schedule of things, which stirs up the kids, who don't need any more stirring up.

Lately I have been feeling like that universal kid who is marginally accepted - part of the team but always last to be picked. He tries to do his best job, but it won't be seen because of the stigma of being an outsider to the 'real' group. Yeah, I know it is not reality, but for some reason it still colors my attitude.

Three Day Gap

That is my longest yet. Chalk it up to wanting to sleep more (new pillow + daily exercise = better sleep) and having not a hell of a lot to say. I mean, I always have things to say, but I don't want this to degenerate into a rant blog, or a recap of all the amazing (bleh) things I did in a video game, or a recap of my fitness (although this week I could advance my belt one more notch without discomfort).

Crazy knee-jerk reactions here about school shootings - not Columbine style, just punks with guns settling petty arguments - buy more metal detectors and x-ray machines. Disregard the fact that most schools have a dozen entrances or more, and kids aren't supervised sufficiently to make it impossible to get to one any time during the day (to either let somebody in or receive something from somebody outside). Even putting video cameras and a buzzer system at every door would not prevent the problem. Hell, in Brooklyn we had one entrance with a video system so tenants could let people in after checking them and we still had strangers walk in behind people, or tenants buzzing in anybody without looking or speaking.

Anyhow, predictably yesterday there was another incident of violence. This time, though, it was after school, slightly off school property. Look at that - these kids CAN learn. Instead of learning not to do it, they can learn to do it somewhere where the penalties won't be so harsh.

Holiday?

Not for me. No students, but 8-12 was "in-service" which just means you had to be at school, working. Got a lot of grading done, organized the room, found out we are expected to administer yet another "formative assessment" (practice test) to students - - by the end of the week! Another 86 item test. Last time it took several days, so basically it looks like this week is shot to hell. Good thing I didn't work up anything major.

Noon - 3 was parent/teacher conferences. Six scheduled, and 3 showed up, plus a walk-in. One of our teachers was out sick, so there were just 3 of us. The walk-ins were parents of a student with attitude problems that affect her grades. Both parents are deaf, so her older brother came to interpret - a great kid in the 8th grade. We didn't know our student could sign - turns out she is exhibiting the same attitude problems at home, and during the meeting she yelled at one of our teachers (claiming that the teacher "lies on her" - not what it sounds like, but you don't accuse a teacher of lying). Parents were supportive of us, and I admired the hell out of them for their dedication. Two of the no-shows will probably result in pending suspensions (at least) and possibly calls to DCS (at worst).

High notes of the weekend - dinner last night. Pork loin (lemon garlic) on the grill with pencil thin asparagus and dirty rice. You know you made a good meal when 3 of 4 of the family have seconds (we won't count the oldest who is a tempermental vegetarian - she refuses to eat meat when it will inconvenience others). Youngest even had the pork for her lunch today - Naturally the kids didn't have school either.

TV News

When did the TV News, local, not national, although they share similar problems, become a weather report with video clips interspersed? Actually, I know when this happened, as I saw it happening and pretty much saw this coming. That was over 20 years ago.

TV news is all about ratings. You need people to watch - not to be informed. We now have a generation that expects to see car chases, fires, disasters on the news, even if it happened half a world away and has no direct bearing on their daily lives. Today our news showed a "riot at a school" which turned out to be grainy cell phone video of a rap concert where the news-readers told us a riot broke out. Nothing more than that. Mind you, this took place somewhere in Washington State. Why do I care when I live in Memphis? I don't.

There is no responsibility. While advertising revenues are linked to ratings, and news programs are rated, the news becomes entertainment. My solution would be to not allow advertising during the news. Period. And not to rate the news. The half hour morning and evening would be a public service, and SHOULD be a public service...it should inform and investigate.

One good case in point was an attempt to interview the mayor of our city. He appeared on TV following the second shooting in a city high school in a week (two different high schools). The reporter asked him a question about his recent appointments to his staff, following his recent (last fall) re-election for a fourth term. BACKGROUND: every appointment had a salary of over $100,000. Most were "deputy director" positions that technically don't fit into chain of command. Three of the positions were awarded to former mayoral bodyguards. The FBI is currently investigating past appointees with no experience, one who was a bodyguard who formed an IT company that quickly obtained many thousands of dollars of city contracts, then subcontracted all the work to companies with experience in other states. Anyhow, the mayor, instead of answering the question, told the reporter how insulted he was that the question would ever be raised. End of story.

In our city, the mayor and city government will just refuse to answer, or try to bully anybody who questions them, by proxy, for the good of the people. An ignorant electorate is in their favor - they just want people to do what they say without questioning it. Benevolent dictatorship under the guise of democracy. We actually had a city councilwoman break down in tears during a meeting where term limits were being discussed, as it was an obvious attack on the mayor and minority officeholders.

I expect to see her appointed to a position by the mayor as soon as she is not re-elected.

The smell

is back! Two weeks of congestion - well, I could breathe, mostly - has finally eased and yesterday I could smell things off and on. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it until it wasn't working right (right now I am resisting a Valentine's Day analogy - aren't you glad?).

And speaking of Valentine's - that just means I have to make a run around to the local candy store for some caramels for my wife, and then in the same shopping plaza to the bookstore for the girls. Shouldn't be too rough. Could have done it yesterday but I hit the Y hard following staff meeting. 15 minutes of running at a 10 minute mile pace, followed by the usual upper body. Still felt a little worn out by bedtime but now I feel pretty fine. Sleeping better too.

Vanity

Left out a few things on yesterday. The big accomplishment, which wasn't so big, was replacing a dimmer switch in the dining room. Years of kids slapping at the round knob finally caused it to not work well. Replaced it with a nice sliding one with a nightlight on it. Yay me.

Also, as per the title, did a silly little thing. The moustache beard combo is nice and thick, but the beard is more salt than pepper. So I got one of those little boxes for people who listen to ads with Wilt Chamberlin and Keith Hernandez, colored the beard in no time. Looks natural, in fact I doubt anybody noticed. If my oldest hadn't brought up the topic (about me wasting the money on it) I am sure it would have gone unremarked. No reason for doing it...not like I am out attracting people, but I just felt like it should all be one shade. Of course, I could be attracting people and never know it - I am a bit dense in that area. A number of times I have found out after the fact that somebody was after me, and I never realized it. Yeah, a little dense is like saying a black hole has a little extra gravity.

Today at the Y I took a risk and put the treadmill up to jogging pace. Well, jogging for me - since my "normal" pace is like a 7 minute mile...only 5.5 mph. Was able to keep that going for 10 minutes which is my pre-upper body workout warmup. Looking forward to more running, and happy to be officially "in shape" if not in my weight goal.

Almost better

Avoided exercise yesterday, thinking somehow that rest would help my throbbing sinuses and painful ears. Nice try. Today once I worked up a sweat, things seemed to loosen a bit. Hoping enough of it shook loose to make recovery a near thing. Another day or so should make it certain.

Not much happening. Enjoying the hell out of clementines seeing as I gave up non-grown snacks. I am limited to vegetables and fruits. Not much of a carrot stick person, but I will eat them. Plain, as sauce/dip just adds calories.

Tomorrow begins the "fitness challenge" at the Y. 12 weeks, attend/work out 36 times, get a t-shirt. I just like the challenge part, and since I have been going 3-4 times a week since January it won't be much of a challenge. Plus I have tons of t-shirts. Maybe this will get me to weed them out a little bit further.

Need Rest

badly. This sinus infection/cold has sapped my energy (even though I continue my workouts at the Y, without the swimming) to the point where I am back to pre-sleep mask days of nodding off while sitting. My head feels like it will burst and my ears are clogged and sore. Thank goodness no sore throat, just sore muscles from the frequent cough. Woke with a stiff neck, too. Maybe resting over the weekend will help.

Daffodils are up, about to bloom. Seeing buds on the azaleas, too. Forsythia shouldn't be too long behind. Spring will be here soon, not letting the frost on the car most mornings fool me.

Aftermath

I hear the storms here last night are getting national play. Sears store in a mall partially destroyed, at least 3 dead in a warehouse collapse, several tornadoes. We are all OK. The brunt of the damage was in south Memphis near the Mississippi state line (but somewhat near where I teach).

As for us, we monitored the storm, then went to Pei Wei for a fat Tuesday dinner to ride the storm out. Driving there, the sky was intensely dark to the south and west, but in the other direction there was clear sky and clouds. Side note, eating at a restaurant that shares a parking lot with the fire station, where the storm sirens are located, can be disturbing. When things hit, the rain was thick and sideways. Probably sustained 40-50mph winds. Water was forced under the doors of the restaurant and puddled inside. And after 10 minutes, things were over, aside from the continued media coverage. Another line struck about 10pm, but that was mainly thunder and lightning associated with the cold front moving through.

My school is open today, although some nearby schools are without power. I am guessing many of our students will also be without power, and not come to school (although why staying in a dark house instead of a lit school with hot food is appealing). Memphis City schools dismissed yesterday at 12:30 in anticipation of the weather. I guess they were a little early, but the kids appreciated it. Teachers, not so much, as we had to lose half a day of teaching, scramble to get all kids contacting home about the dismissal, etc. On the good hand, I got released an hour early and got the car inspected and voted. Win!

Numbers

Lately my heart rate during (near the end) of my 20 minute treadmilling has been down to 110. A few weeks ago it was 135.

Temperature tonight at 9pm was 70 degrees. Nice for February, daffodils are coming up.

Tomorrow is Super Fat Tuesday. Very much NOT looking forward to Wednesday. Last year, wearing my ashes, I had a student ask me if it was some sort of Klan mark. Naturally. White man, unknown symbol (I guess I can see a distant connection to ashes and a cross) = KKK. The one way street of racism continues. Looks like we will lose our other white male teacher next year. He was on the losing end of a reprimand regarding discipline - something that he and I can't (aren't allowed to) do but black male teachers can (and will). As one teacher (who runs the In School Suspension room) said to me "In a perfect world, we would be considered the same, being adult male teachers. But we don't live in a perfect world."

And I swear I saw an address on a glass door on Sarah Conner Chronicles (which makes a mockery of the timelines of the movies, but seemingly this series is a tangent, where there are multiple terminators, plus resistance fighters, sent back from the future) of 1337, which is gamer speak for elite....take my word for it.

Annual Cold

Every year I get one around this time. Starts with a scratchy throat in the morning, rough sandpapery feeling. Then comes the sneezing, aching, nasal faucet fun. Now I am in the exciting next to final phase where I cough like the dickens, leaving me breathless and dizzy. Sleep is suffering - worse with the darn sleep mask, too. Last night I finally gave up and took it off.

Thank goodness for the internet, so I could watch Lost that I missed last night, not due to lack of interest, but mainly because I couldn't be bothered. It was worth the time spent in the computer chair, and I am interested to see where things are going, and how they went there. On the other hand, knowing there are only 7 more episodes (thanks writers strike) kind of puts a damper on things.

Mother-in-law had her surgery scheduled, then moved (doctor didn't want two 5 hour surgeries on the same day) which sucks because she was going in on Tuesday, now rescheduled for the end of the month. Add to this some hallucenatory drug interactions (no, talking to your dead husband while you know he is dead is not a good thing) and the whole family is a bit stressed.