I can't get no relief

Right now it is the middle of the night, and I don't know whether the stars are aligned badly or there is some sort of natural disaster coming this way, but the animals won't let me sleep. Purl, the big dog, who usually sleeps soundly has pestered me twice (2am and 2:30am) with paws and a wet nose and tongue - which usually means she has a bathroom emergency. But both times she basically stood in the yard, but ran back when I called after 5-10 minutes. Now our stable personality cat, and oldest, has come into the living room during the second emergency, followed by loud yowling and scratching outside the bedroom door. Again, unusual behavior for her. She is in my lap now.

I don't expect to get back to sleep for several reasons, one that descends from the others in a way. First, and probably least, I don't enjoy this time of year. While others prance around full of the holiday spirit, I am consumed with dread and premonitions of disappointment. Some of this might have to do with growing up "lower middle class" - which is a nice euphemism for "not exactly poor, but close enough." With emphasis on material goods, which has only gotten worse in the decades since, I felt like the season was all about how much you could spend and what you got. The other night I had to endure a tirade on this subject from my eldest. She hated getting "cheap" presents like $10 gift cards from relatives, and everybody got better things than she did. She wants this or that (very much out of the budget) but would settle for that, except she doesn't really want that - she just wants to complain. Her attitude improved a bit the following day, but it just highlighted my general disgust with the "Christmas" spirit.

A bigger, but related issue, is my job. This one is a little complicated, so stick with me. Recently, Memphis City Schools was awarded a mulit-year grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. $90million over six years, if memory serves. The district proposed revamping the entire structure of teacher compensation, creating three levels of teachers - apprentice, professional and master. Pay would be different at each level, with incentives to reward and retain beginning teachers, most of whom leave teaching within the first three years, and substantial compensation for "master" teachers, who would be involved in evaluating and mentoring teachers at lower levels. Put this way, it sounds great, doesn't it?

The subtext is a little bit more ominous. The state legislature has to approve a waiver for Memphis to treat its teachers differently than the rest of the state. The union has to sign off on this, since the current system bases compensation on how long you can stay in the system, regardless of your knowledge, skill or anything. Many teachers with seniority cannot use a computer competently enough to enter attendance, let alone the various other daily duties required in this day and age. So the proposal includes having teachers evaluate each other - the "best" doing the evaluating. But how do we define best? Test scores. A flawed measure to be sure, and also one that again doesn't recognize teachers who teach, only teachers who teach to the test. When your administration begins pressuring you in January to start prepping students for a test in April; when the district commissions periodic assessments to measure how students will perform on this test, beginning the second month of school, and requires teachers to focus instruction on the areas in which students scored poorly; when the district contracts with a computer based math tutoring program and assigns students to use it (a mandatory 90 minutes per week - in context, this is two full daily instructional periods) based on these predicative test scores - again choosing test preparation over teachers teaching - well, it doesn't show a lot of emphasis on classroom instruction and practice. For example, last year, 98% of my students passed their TCAP (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program), and yet my TVASS (a measure of how much my instruction changed student performance) was a negative, and lower than the state, overall. In the past, this TVASS data was informational. Now it will be part of judging and grading teachers.

Now here comes the best part. Not only will teachers in the system evaluate teachers, but there will be a component from the "stakeholders." Who are these people? Parents and students will be surveyed about teacher performance. What an interesting idea - let's hold teachers and their salaries hostage to a popularity measure, regardless of qualifications. We already have serious problems with parent and student ethics (lying about addresses so get into a school they want, parents telling students to do the opposite of school rules - e.g. If somebody messes with you, defend yourself physically, as opposed to the non-violent solutions teachers are charged to promote), so let them be the judges and jury of performance, when their main concern is not whether the teacher teaches, but whether the teacher treats their child the way they want.

Which brings us to the this week's trigger. My administration requires teachers to support school rules. Most are simple, and routinely ignored by students and frequently neglected to be enforced by teachers. Other teachers, like me, do their best to do as they are asked, which means constantly, hour after hour, day after day, reminding students about walking on the right side of the hall, not talking in line, staying in line, not wearing jackets that are not approved colors, to remove jewelry that is not allowed (boys can wear a watch, girls can wear a watch and earrings that are gold or silver, with hoops that do not exceed the size of a half dollar). Sounds simple, but half a year later we are still repeating this dozens of times, writing students up for violations that won't amount to any sort of disciplinary action or consequences.

On Thursday, I asked a girl in one of my classes to remove her earrings, as the hoops were visibly too large. I could see from across the room, it wasn't the first time I had told her about these earrings, and early in the year I had often used a coin to check diameters. On this very special day this young lady informed me that if I had any issues with her uniform, I had to call her mother, and that the size of her earrings didn't have anything to do with her classroom performance. If it sounds scripted to you, it does to me as well. These were not the words of a pre-teen, but an adult coaching a child, possibly even encouraging this child to break the rules to provoke an incident. On the phone, mother informs me of the same thing, then implies I am a racist because I only pick on her child, and I don't say anything to the white and hispanic kids in the class who wear big earrings. This opinion is naturally based on what her daughter has told her - and comes out of the blue instead of being conducted in a parent/teacher conference where it can be addressed properly. Mom states repeatedly that I am a racist and she won't have her daughter in my class.

Fun times ensue. I put another teacher in charge of my class and head to the office, to inform my principal of the coming storm, but she is in a meeting. 20 minutes later, the office rings me to say this girl's dad is in the office and wants to meet with me. Again, I ask for an administrator to be present, but they are both in a meeting. The receptionist assures me that she will keep the dad in the office, and witness things for my protection. Dad is not in the office, though. Dad is waiting outside the office in the lobby (and naturally hasn't checked in with the school - not wearing a Visitor's badge) while his daughter strolls around the lobby on her cell phone (something the district does not allow in schools - noticing a trend here at all?). Dad proceeds to tell me how the earring issue is petty, that it doesn't affect his honor roll student's performance, and that I am picking on her. Calmly I show him the coin I use to remain fair, and tell him the rules are established by the administration, and I just enforce them, along with many others, regardless of gender, color, etc. He doesn't want to hear this, nor does he want to hear a simple solution - if you feel your daughter is being picked on because her earrings violate school policy, maybe she shouldn't wear them. He goes on to inform me he works two jobs "which you don't" and how his son, who also attended Ridgeway Middle, is bigger than I am (this father stands about 6' 6"), and best of all, how my racism has been going on since the first day of school and he has organized many other parents who feel the same way to go to the Board (of Education) about me. And the icing on the cake is the thinly veiled threat of violence, as if the threat of taking my job wasn't sufficient. I lived in New York City for 20 years, and I can recognize a threat, and this one wasn't terribly subtle.

Finally, I extricate myself from this, letting the dad know I don't care for threats. His parting words are "Your word against mine." And to emphasize this, he asks for confirmation from a nearby teacher he knows. As I am walking away, suddenly the Assistant Principal is there - what timing. Dad rants at him a bit and leaves. I ask the Asst. about his threats to take things to the Board, etc. and am told it won't get that far, and I reply "I hope so."

Cut to the end of my planning period. I had just spoken to the records secretary to ask if this girl had been transferred from my class yet. Nothing so far. Ten minutes later, though, she confirms it, and tells me the office is looking for me. I get to sit with the Principal and Assistant Principal behind closed doors and defend my statement of "I hope so" - which has been seen as a lack of faith in the administration. There is no show of support for me at all. Nobody says "We know you aren't racist" or "Don't let this worry you, that parent was out of line, but in order to keep them placated we will be moving this girl to another class." Just "what did you mean by that comment" and at the end a suggestion/command to "watch how you do things."

The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth, made worse by the fact this is at least the second time this has happened to me - a month or so ago a different parent (who volunteered in the office to be nearby when her unruly and disrespectful child would get into trouble) accused me and another teacher of singling him out. It is true, he was singled out, in the same way police single out frequent lawbreakers - he kept doing the same things over and over again despite being gently reminded and reprimanded. The common factors here are parents who allow their children to disobey school rules (that we are bound to enforce) rather than support us, then claim the problem is with the teacher. In that incident, the student was removed from both of our classes, but still sneers at us when we ask him to follow school rules.

Faced with lack of support from my immediate supervisors, soon to be at the financial mercy of parents and students like these (the crazy ones are usually the ones who attract others who can be swayed into a mob to make demands), I am feeling quite a bit stressed. Which brings us to the final item of my new and less than improved mood.

Last June (yes, about 18 months ago) I had a crick in my neck that just wouldn't go away. My neck hurt, mainly on the right side, and sometimes I had some arm pain. In the past few months this has come back, in spades. My shoulder and neck are constantly aching, sometimes much more painful, and I have numbness from my thumb to the inside of my elbow. A year ago I went through all the tests and such, and the specialist told me I had a disk pressing on a nerve. The solution, according to him, was surgery. Six weeks recovery. I told him no thanks and he told me to come back when it started to affect my quality of life. I don't relish the thought of six weeks recovery, nor six weeks out of work (I have sick days that could/would cover it, but at the same time it is hard to come back after that long).

Now, though, as stress has increased, causing muscular tension, that shoulder and arm sing Ave Maria pretty much all the time. Sleeping is tough, since there isn't really a position that eases the pain - only positions that make it worse. I am seriously thinking about going back to get a second opinion - there is a great surgeon who did my mother-in-law's back reconstruction, and who sees my youngest for her potential scoliosis. But, there is a catch. Isn't there always? Earlier this year, to save money, the district decided, with no input from anybody, to change our insurance plan - from a choice between Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Aetna, to only Cigna. Effective in January. People were up in arms, as the biggest hospital group in the area is not covered by Cigna. Chaos in possibly changing doctors or paying through the nose to go out of plan. But the district saved $8million (earlier a spokesman was questioned about ongoing contracts for pagers (!) and cell phones that continue to be rolled over to the tune of $600,000 per year - he referred to that amount as "chump change"). Bottom line for me - no sense in starting a process now when insurance carries will change in the middle of the process. I get to endure this for at least another month, then get to discover whether this doctor is advocating surgery, or if the first guy is just knife-happy. Fun times for me, and no end in sight of the stress.

So, if anybody hears of a teaching job (in Memphis, as I don't see a move in our future) that doesn't suck (as if), pays decently (which eliminates most private schools, where good teaching is more likely to be recognized and appreciated) - let me know.

Now, at 4am, I guess I wll try to snag an hour or two of sleep before I go back to school to teach a monthly advanced math class. At least these kids are excited by the prospect of intellectual discovery.

Parental Responsibilities

I am the 'unofficial' assistant coach of my youngest's volleyball team. The real coach is a young pre-med, high school and college volleyball player, and is also a new first-time coach. I come to some practices and all the games, and have learned to fill in the scorebook. Mainly I am just supportive (and I can't help but reflect on how little involvement my students' parents have in their extracurricular life). Tonight was grueling, though. 8pm game, which started late. The girls won both games, and finished about 9:10.

Of course, this is past my youngest's normal schoolnight bedtime. Again, I reflect on the hours I hear some of my sleepy students keep. Going to bed at 1am, watching Adult Swim (my students are 12 years old), having little or no rules or guidelines at home for behavior. Also, I am knackered, having been up at 5:20am, on the road on the bicycle at 6:15. Then on my feet for the day, including lunch, and a humid ride home.

To me, this is normal parenting. It is tough, it is sometimes less than convenient, but it is necessary and it is rewarding.

Almost a month later

Yep, been letting this blog slide a little bit. Nothing major going on, but generally things are looking up. Not in the economic sense, as Memphis City Schools seems to feel teachers shouldn't get a negotiated raise, nor our "step-increase" (basically a cost of living increase of approximately $1000 per year, each year), mainly because the budget has become a political football. And let's not start in on Memphis politics.

School is well under way, and for a change I am enjoying it. I have sufficient time to get things done, create (both prior to classes and on the fly) lessons that help the kids, including the ones on our team who are in the most need. Some of these "inclusion" students are super-willing to work hard, and they do. Others have psychological issues (that is code for kids who have ADHD or more serious issues, and are ignored or have their wild behavior condoned by parents) that prevent them from engaging in meaningful learning. Still, I see it as a challenge, and I am rising to meet it. A big bulletin board where students who get 100% on a test or quiz have their name posted on a shark. If they get another, the shark moves up the food chain. EVERYBODY wants to be on that board, and they really pay attention when we review after a quiz, especially those kids who only miss one question. This is a new thing.

Also, I am taking my lunch, such as it is (basically a protein bar), in the cafeteria to help with the staffing issue (basically, there is no staff to monitor the cafeteria). This shows me to be a team player, plus the kids get to see more of me, and I can joke with them, or help them out by getting them a napkin or a spork, or some honey mustard. Such a little thing, but it is making a larger impact on feeling accepted by the students. And thanks to some recent self-reflection, I am not bothered if they don't accept me - I just keep doing what I know works, and they will catch on.

With the oldest a senior (!!!) in high school, she is driving the family car daily now. Which means I am back on the bicycle just about full time now. I think the odometer just rolled over 1100 miles...it is just part of the routine now and most teachers and students don't even comment after seeing me coming or going daily for a month. A subtle message of health, conservation, and even thrift.

New habits include watching some random NetFlix movies on the computer as the mood strikes me, plus the usual assortment of series we have rolling in via USPS (finishing Season 2 of Torchwood, then into Season 4 of Supernatural). I don't think we have ordered ANY movies from NetFlix, just series, but that is fine. Also doing a bunch of reading, mostly from the public library, something I have always done, being frugal before it was fashionable/necessary.

Remember Me?

Yeah, it has been two weeks now since school started, and it is not as bad as I usually expect it to be. That first week was lots of chaos, overcrowding (as yet again they used my homeroom as a temporary placement before "leveling") which has subsided a little bit.

My classes are still pretty crowded. 29 in my homeroom, about 25 in each inclusion class (meaning we have learning disabled or special needs kids embedded in the class), and 34 in my honors class. That last one is the problem, as it includes too many smart-alecks. Already been on the phone with a mother of one of them (who culminated his ass-hat-ness by holding up the quiz on Friday and asking me why I said there were three pages when he only sees two - meaning two sheets. Hell, the pages were even numbered!!!), and she seemed indifferent until I told her we would boot him out of Honors if his behavior didn't improve. That got her attention!

This year I am seeing things more as a challenge that I can meet, instead of a burden to bear and endure. Some of it is last year's success rate, which lets me know I am doing the right things, and this year I have vowed to do more of them. On the discipline side, I am going by the book - strict, following the discipline ladder established by the administration. I don't argue with kids, just tell them the problem and give them a chance to fix it. If they don't, they get consequences - again without getting into a debate or discussion over "why" - something I could get drawn into in the past.

On the social side, I take my lunch in the cafeteria to help out with the understaffing situation which leaves little supervision. This lets me chat up students, or have them call to me to show off - but in a non-classroom situation. It makes me a little more approachable, and helps show others around that I am putting in my time in a less than desirable situation.

I know I won't make an immediate difference, but this year I know I will make a difference somewhere, at some time, with some student. That is enough for me, even if I don't know it this year.

Back to School

Teachers reported yesterday. The day was mainly a review of our TCAP (state tests) scores and discussion of upcoming challenges. The nice upshot was, my team from last year (split up this year) was named team of the year for having high test scores, low office referrals and doing the job everybody is supposed to be doing. The 7th grade math teachers were recognized for having overall high scores, and my students had a 98% passing rate.

Today was registration. Bleh. 8am - 3pm, then back for 6pm - 8pm. I had three families show up, all at noon. Then one lady at 8:10pm (yes, after it was supposed to be finished). Some of my students pre-registered, so I have 11 of 24 with completed paperwork. Mind you, some of these people don't actually register or bring their kids to school until Labor Day, a month after school starts.

Just tired, but trying to stay optimistic.

Australia - Air Travel

Needless to say, it is a long way there, and a long way back. Going, you lose a day, thanks to the International Dateline - but even so it is easier to adjust.

I left Memphis on a Tuesday morning. Checked my bag, which is an accomplishment since I can't remember the last time I checked a bag. Since it had a bunch of snorkeling gear (fins, wetsuit, mask, gloves, boots, etc.) I wouldn't need it, but it bulked a good bit, leaving lots of extra space for outerwear and little things. I didn't know if the bag would go all the way to Perth, and I eventually found out it wouldn't.

Memphis to Dallas/Ft. Worth was uneventful. One of those nice little jumps that is barely longer than takeoff and landing. Dallas to Los Angeles was in the same concourse, which for Dallas is saying a lot. There are at least four, some that can be walked, others that require a shuttle rail. This flight was the warmup for the big jump. About 4 hours, with the first of several time changes. Again, uneventful, but a pretty full flight. Kept myself occupied with a big puzzle book - you know, sudoku, word search, crosswords, acrostics...all that stuff. Once we arrived at Los Angeles the fun started.

For some reason the jetway didn't reach the plane, or maybe it lost power. In any case it took an hour for them to exhaust all options and wheel those old-fashioned metal steps to the plane. Then the nearly full plane took what seemed like forever to disembark. Once inside the terminal I had a decision to make. I needed food, but I also had to change terminals, to the International terminal. My long walk through the domestic gates showed me all the typical, and overpriced, options you expect in an airport. Still, I had six hours to kill, so I decided to walk to the international terminal, which was about 50 yards beyond the exit from where I was.

The International Terminal at LAX has a food court, upstairs, overlooking not much to speak of. McDonalds (which I didn't know, but I wouldn't see again until I returned to the states), Starbucks, and a few no-name food court type places. Got a tray of food, and realized there were not enough tables, so sat across from an Asian girl who probably didn't speak English, which was no problem since we ignored each other. I figured there would be plenty of things, like shops, etc. in the terminal itself, so I went through security (second time of the day) and found that most of the terminal was under renovation. My gate was at the extreme far end of the terminal as well, and the only thing nearby was a little snack/coffee shop. No gift shops, no bookstores, nothing but a very long bare corridor. I got to watch it become night outside, two other international flights departed. Finally hours and hours later more people started arriving for the Sydney flight. Turns out the darn thing was packed full. And even better (sarcasm), I had been booked into a middle seat from checking in at Memphis.

Middle seat, bare bottom economy. Guy on my right, in the window seat, was kind of talkative, but also informed the two of us between him and the aisle that he had two Benadryl and would sleep the whole way. My biological clock was telling me it was past midnight, but I have this odd rhythm that keeps me from sleeping when I travel or arrive in a new city. I stayed awake, watching Paul Blart, Mall Cop until the meal service. One nice feature was the on-demand video, which includes current movies, some older movies, art house stuff, international, TV shows, etc. Even an in-flight map and status of the flight. I stayed awake until about 3am body clock time, then dozed. We got a little snack sack in case we got hungry during the "night", plus a travel kit of socks, eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste. Sleeping sucked. I couldn't move either direction, and even with a pillow and a blanket couldn't make myself comfortable. Woke up at my "normal" Memphis body-time of 6am, and then proceeded to watch Taken, Quantum of Solace, Juno, and during breakfast Benjamin Button.

14 hours of flying, everybody is itching to get off the plane. But wait, we are being diverted to Brisbane, since the Sydney airport is fogged in, and we don't have enough fuel to circle. So we fly an hour north, land and fuel up (pity the people who were supposed to go to Brisbane via Sydney) then go back an hour. Saw very little of the Syndey airport. Had to walk through a department store called Duty Free (a little joke, but it was like the first floor of any department store, with all the perfume, except it had liquor too). Cleared customs, then had to claim my luggage. My first time with the bag, and I watched it go past 3 times before I recognized it. Then I drag it to quarantine, where I gave up the fruit/nut mix the airline gave me, as you can't bring in any produce, even if the airline gave it to you. Then drag my bag through multiple corridors to reach the domestic check in for my bag, where the lady was very nice and directed me to the shuttle bus to the domestic terminal. See the symmetry?

Short bus ride, then another security checkpoint. Full flight again, since the airport had been closed for fog. Instead of leaving at 8 something, it was a 10 something departure, but the first plane out. So I arrived in Perth around 2:30pm, instead of a few hours earlier, which plays a role in the next portion of the saga: Ground Transportation!

Or maybe I will cover the return flights first, not really sure.

I live in "Crazy City"

I wish I could make some of this stuff up. Really. To an outsider it probably seems 10x more ridiculous than it does to those of us who are suffering to live here. Which truly begs the question of why anybody stays here.

The mayor. Well, he isn't smoking crack and stalking women like Marion Barry of Washington DC. He isn't perjuring himself about using city supplied phones and computers to conduct an affair with a staffer, like whats-his-name from Detroit.

However, he is under constant FBI investigation for shady real estate deals, appoints unqualified staffers (former bodyguards, usually) to positions created for them to justify $100,000 salaries, many of whom become embroiled in scandal. The latest fun takes the cake. Within weeks of his unprecedented 5th term election, he announced he was resigning to take the then-vacant job of School Superintendent, a job he held until he resigned following a sex-for-promotion scandal. Problem was, he didn't want to interview, just have the job given to him. So, he withdrew his resignation. While I was in Australia, he resigned AGAIN, this time to run for a congressional seat. The person who was to replace him began assembling a team to run the city during the time between the resignation and the special election. Meanwhile, mayor's cronies lined up to resign and collect fat pensions. Then mayor decides he doesn't like the guy who will be interim mayor, and he doesn't like the number, or caliber, of people lining up to run in the special election. So he withdraws his resignation again - this time, informally, saying he will "retire" at the end of the month.

The man has an overblown ego, and a need to be in the spotlight. He also doesn't want to work for the betterment of the city, but would rather have a city that is predominately poor and black, those being the key demographics who will vote for him. He has told people who don't like how he runs the city to "leave," and many have.

Don't get me started on all the alleged changes to the City Schools format and curriculum for the new year, or the continued drama of who will be funding the schools and to what degree. It is all a big mystery.

Over the next few days/weeks, expect to see some new posts here with the prefix "Australia." I will expound on my experiences, differences in the US and Australia, and just cool stuff that I want to share.

Back in the USA

Slowly getting re-acclimated to the time change (I am feeling 12 hours off, which is not a good thing), the weather (much hotter and more humid) and the noise (there were not audible cars where I was, nor the wealth of bird/insect/amphibian noises at night like here). If you are a FaceBook friend, I have posted about 50 pictures there so far. Soon I will build a webpage of just about everything I can think of. 24 days is a lot of text, plus a lot of pictures.

The trip was overall amazing. Words really don't convey the kind of experience I had, not just in meeting people, experiencing a different culture and lifestyle, living pretty rough far from "civilization", or even traveling so far.

Over the course of the trip I saw kangaroos, emus, various cockatoos, sea snakes, green and loggerhead turtles, dolphins (more than I care to have seen), tiger sharks, whale sharks, dugongs, eagles, coral reefs, humpback whales and probably other things that seemed "normal" that I forget aren't typical in the US. In Australia 95% of the roadkill is kangaroo, so seeing a squirrel in the road last night was odd.

The landscape I saw in Western Australia (the biggest and least populated of the Australian states) was mostly flat, covered in scrub brush, rarely with hills or taller trees. Some was cultivated for wheat, olives, or pastureland for cows, sheep or goats. In some areas the road stretches flat without a curve from horizon to horizon. "Cities" like Exmouth, Denham, Kalbarri tend to be a couple of streets with most of the businesses, easily walked. Everywhere you can buy a meat pie, usually several flavors, for a few dollars - kept hot in a little oven-like thing. Most places along the coast have fish and chips, and the better ones let you choose what kind of fish - from whiting to shark to snapper to cod - and is relatively inexpensive. Kids are apalled by the idea of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - they prefer Vegimite (which I loved from the first taste, which nobody could believe) and cheese. In fact peanut butter is not the ubiquitous spread like in the US.

Overwhelmingly the people were friendly, outgoing and helpful. I got to do just about everything I set out to do, including snorkeling with the whale sharks, plus unexpected sights on the bus ride back to Perth. I would love to see more of the country the next trip, but would also like to re-visit a lot of the places I experienced.

A Week Gone By

The week has already been full of excitement and adventure. Four trips out sharking, and I am tying lines to anchors, baiting hooks and reeling in lines when we have a shark - 4 so far - and at the end of the day. I have tagged sharks, and put them to sleep, belly up while I hold the pectoral fins, so we can get a blood sample.

Lots of fun on shore, too. The staff is very international here, and friendly, and there is always somebody, usually us "sharkies" at the bar. Last night we had a sunset cruise on the Shotover, a racing catamaran. Two days ago I went on a bush walk with a local Aboriginal guide. Rained during that...something that only happens about 5 times a year.

So far have seen tons of wildlife, not even including the huge pigeons (they are actually emus, and very annoying) around camp.

Yes, have taken tons of pictures.

AUSTRALIA

Been here two days and things are incredible. Flights sucked, with some delays, diversions and difficulties (never accept a middle seat on a 14 hour flight). Saw the zoo in Perth, with barely enough time...I got maybe 90 minutes before it closed.

The next day was the bus ride here. 10 hours with three stops at "roadhouses" - no Patrick Swayze - these are gas/convenience places, most with some food offerings. Prices are high here all the way around, since most everything has to be shipped here, but working it out. Saw a couple of kangaroos, and some emus in a field. Not so excited about the emus now, as there are about a dozen that roam the resort here.

Have a trailer (called a caravan) to myself, but only there to sleep. Yesterday did data entry, as it was too windy to go out on the boat. Today took a walk up the beach, then we went out on the water to clean some cages under the water. Did a little snorkeling. Out and back we saw a loggerhead turtle, a few dolphins, a school of 15 stingrays...none of this is out of the ordinary.

won't be posting too often, as the connection is a dialup and it costs per connection.

Tomorrow

Such a word. Expectations, mysteries, adventures. It all starts tomorrow.

Packing is essentially done. Might shift a few things from the carryon to the checked bag. Of course the morning items that have to be put in last. Printing out boarding passes - although may skip that as I will want to visit the airline desk to check my bag in capable (I assume so) hands.

For those so inclined, here is what I can cobble together of a mailing address. Mind you, there are something like fewer than 30 residents of this little chunk of land, so I am sure somebody will know which Yank to give it to.

Monkey Mia
Shark Bay
WA 6537
Australia

As I know things I will try to post them, but will surely journal them. Got three marble covered composition books, and anticipating writing about virtually everything. Different smells, the stars, all the funky foods to discover, hardships in living conditions, you name it. If I can't post while away, I will more than likely create some sort of website to house the whole of the month with pictures and whatever else I can manage.

I am still vaguely anxious, which I suppose is to be expected. Got enough stuff to hopefully keep me occupied for my waking hours. The hardest thing will probably be working without research (via computer) at my fingertips. Directions to places, things to see, etc.

Yay Camera!

Looks SO cool. Canon D10, first in the D series. Waterproof to 10 meters (33 feet), shockproof and such, so you can drop it. 12megapixels, and with the 8GB SDHC, it holds over 2000 pictures. Still, going to bring a 2GB thumb-drive to store some pictures, just in case. Battery lasts 6 hours or 200 pictures, and is compatible with foreign power sources.

Aside from that, a lazy day. Oldest texted wife this morning, saying she wanted to come home tomorrow. We have decided that it is OK to want to leave, but we aren't driving up there to rescue her. She needs to fulfill her own commitments.

And in a crazy reflection of the Prop 8 nonsense in California, Shelby County officials voted on a proposal that would prevent the county from discriminating against gays in hiring and firing. Naturally a bunch of ministers, many black, came out AGAINST it, some even saying it was not a civil rights issue. One, ironically, even was quoted as saying "You can't outlaw hate". Today, in a slap in the face, after the council deadlocked 5-5 with two abstaining, the NCAAP came out in favor of the resolution. And a local columnist had another good line - it is as if the blacks are scared of losing the gold medal in the "Who had been treated the worst the longest" Olympics. (she is black, by the way, and pleasantly outspoken).

Final "official" Day

And what a waste it was. Some pre-recorded video from the Superintendent and his right-hand man, three exercises designed to get us to pay attention to changes in the curriculum. Basically they are using broad Grade Level Expectations instead of State Performance Indicators, but still keeping the SPIs. Also going to a 9 week grading period, and 90 minute periods, although we may be exempt from that.

The best part was being told to make a syllabus for the first two weeks of school, using the fill-in template on a particular website. Except it wasn't there. Much hilarity ensued. We got dismissed at 2pm, when we could have been done at 11.

And during all this, I missed my UPS delivery, and will have to wait another day.

And wife came home and told me she was laid off from her part-time job at the yarn store. She draws a lot of people in there, is helpful and knowledgeable, and this will hurt the store in the long run, if it isn't actually the first nail in the coffin. Her boss, for some reason, thinks I make a great deal of money, so she was the first in line for layoff, as she could afford it better. Um, yeah.

Just one week

Today was a waste of a day in the school building. I had maybe six signatures to get to complete my checkout list. Think of a scavenger hunt where you have to find the right people, show them proof you did something and have them sign. My stuff was all done on Friday, but people weren't available, or wouldn't sign. In fact, one person refused to sign until after 930 - we reported at 8. Needless to say, I was the first one done, and got to sit around until lunch (I even hauled my boxes of garbage to the dumpster). When I returned, the principal released us for the day.

Tomorrow is an in-service to get us ready for (allegedly) block scheduling and 9-week grading periods. Which means nothing, except they are going to force people to write plans for the first two weeks, 2 months from now. And we will probably have to sit there the whole day. Hardest for me, as my mind is elsewhere.

Good news today, though. Oldest PASSED US History. I think the teacher took pity on her and gave her the grade she deserved (well, not that, but at least didn't fail her) instead of the grade she earned. Found out she could have made it up next year, but better to have her scared now, and hopefully more responsible next year (so she can get into college).

My day in Perth once I get there - going to check in to hotel and then stroll a bit. I am nearby the Mint (oldest one, founded during gold rush, still can buy neat stuffs), and a ferry across the Swan River to the Zoo. A nice dinner then turning in. The bus on Friday will take me directly to Monkey Mia. Turns out the bus company extends a courtesy to the researchers, so I can dead-head up there as long as there is a seat, which there usually is. This bodes well for my excursion to Exmouth - maybe I can snag a free ride there, too.

Memorial Day

Typically a day of travel. Well, for me it surely was. Took the oldest and her friend to their summer camp job - Boy Scout Reservation Kia Kima, extreme north Arkansas. The map provided by their website is deceptively not to scale, and neglects to give any directions past the town of Hardy. Through LOTS of trial and error, we found it within 2 hours, even getting a map from a fire station.

I expect to get a call from her before the week is out. The camp is very remote and they are in heavy canvas tents on wooden platforms. They were the last to arrive and got the leaky tent ("It should be OK if you put a tarp over it" - yeah, because my girl knows what a tarp is), and their area is about 1.5 miles from the administration area. I get the feeling, though, that they open up different sections of the camp as necessary, since there were pavillions for crafts and nature study in their area. Plus a waterfront. Much different than Camp YI, which was more compact and seemingly more organized. It made me a little "homesick" for camp life, remembering bonding with friends and making new friends by virtue of shared experiences, both good and bad. She has her best friend with her, sharing her tent, and that counts for a lot.

Driving back was another 2 hours or more, with curtains of rain every few minutes as I drove through the squalls. Stopped in Marion Arkansas to visit the gravesite of Specialist Christopher Thomas Fox, a good friend and adoptive son of some close friends. Chris shared my cabin at the aforementioned camp. He was killed in Iraq last fall, and against his wishes his body was returned to his half brother, rather than his adoptive family. He wound up in a county cemetery, not a veteran's cemetery near his loved ones. I expected to be the only person to visit him today, but when I arrived, a couple was just leaving, and they came back to meet me. They knew me as Amy's friend - they were Chris' biological father's sister and her husband. It was good to meet them and hear that they visit his grave regularly to drop off flowers.

Ahhhhh

Nice lazy day. Library, a quick sporting goods store run to get a headlamp for me, so I can have hands free light in the pre-dawn (since my PhD mentor says "you won't survive without one" - and I pretty much plan to survive), lunch at TGIFridays (yes, I did not hallucinate the $5 sandwich and salad menu, although there is nothing in the place to tell you this, including the server).

Oldest has (against my better judgement, due to her potential impending failure in US History) signed on to work at a summer Scout camp. She is really excited, and some of her good friends from Venture Scouts, which I guess is what were Explorer Scouts back then (go Team Venture!), will be at the camp as well. She asked me to drive up there on Monday. Not sure she has realized that will be the last time I see her for a month. Actually, I am VERY sure she realizes this, and will go out of her way to not mention it or have any kind of goodbye. Teens are SO fun.

My wife is addicted to really poor quality movies on SciFi, or as they recently renamed themselves Scyfy. Something about a mega-gator awakened by a Hawaiian volcano. Intense laughter was the product. Although I am getting a little tired of the giant animal themes (go search for Mega-Shark vs Giant Octopus...I kid you not! "It rises"

And got a nice lengthy email from down under with my hotel for the day I arrive in Perth. Reviews of the hotel are bad (bedbug bad) but I will only be there a night, then onto a bus. The place is centrally located and within a block of a restaurant I wanted to try - Sister Maud's Swedish House...a true smorgasbord buffet. And then a fun bus ride with stops at refueling roadhouses, so I get to experience "fine" dining that way. Trial and error on the trail, since there are not too many large places between the two points. I am nervous, but my accent will probably be as winning as an Australian accent is here, and a lot less common since this is the relatively non-tourist side of the continent. Plus, the "real" tourists won't ride a bus for 10 hours, but would fly from Perth.

School's Out!

Yesterday and today were just wastes of days. At least we rewarded the kids that came yesterday by getting pizza for lunch. Surprisingly, some kids who didn't come yesterday showed up today, even though we have been saying "don't come Friday." Not enough kids to fill up a single classroom, so we rotated them, and gave them work. Before one hour was out, most had called home to be picked up. Remember kids, when a teacher says don't come to school or we will work you hard, we mean it.

Much of my classroom is packed up, and most of my check-out list is completed. Tuesday will be another non-day since I will have very little to do. Wednesday more of the same. I guess we will all get caught up on the gossip - who is coming back in the fall, etc.

Just two more

and they don't hardly count. We have encouraged the kids not to return if they have all their exams done. At first, this was only for Friday, but now we are including Thursday. I have a back-up exam for them, and I have a small handful, maybe 8, who haven't finished or haven't done the final exam. All my grades are in the spreadsheet, gradebook and online.

You would think this would elicit a huge sigh of relief. Nope. The entire curriculum is being revamped next year. From state standards changing to moving from 6 six-week grading periods to 4 nine-week grading periods, to block scheduling...and we got word today that before we are "dismissed" for the summer we have to submit lesson plans for the first two weeks of school in the fall. Funny stuff, as many of us won't be teaching what we are now...the district hasn't posted their curriculum in line with the new state standards, or the pacing they will prefer. Even so, I can put together two weeks of stuff in my sleep that will stand up to scrutiny - except it won't be scrutinized...it is just paperwork.

Been bicycling all week. Weather is perfect for it. Kind of cool, but dry, in the morning, with the sun just up, warm and breezy in the afternoon. My legs are back in the game, stronger than ever, and the only challenging parts are the two hills each way. Coming home is definitely harder, but by then I am warmed up, and not in a time-rush. Approaching 1000 miles on the odometer. Wow.

Birthday!

Oldest is now 17. She had a nice dinner of NY style pizza at one of our favorite places, then home for cake and ice cream with the family (my in-laws). Lots of gift cards, which suits her. She is in the middle of finals, trying to escape her junior year in High School. Hopefully she can squeak out a passing grade in US History - I hated history at that age. She is hella smart, just doesn't apply herself, which I can relate to, but I would rather not have her in summer school.

My teaching year is basically over. Tomorrow is the final exam, and we have telegraphed to the kids that once that is done they really don't need to come in. If they come on Thursday there will be a second part of the exam (that won't count) which will be essay questions. Friday, just don't come.

I think I have found my camera for Australia. New release from Canon, the D10. Waterproof to 10m, several modes for different lighting conditions, not too pricey. Now to find a place here that has it, or try to scour eBay and get something here within the next 2 weeks.

Feeling old

Yep. Time is catching up to me. Performing my lector duties in church today, for the first time I whipped out my reading glasses. Well, they aren't actually reading glasses, but those magnifying eyeglasses sometimes referred to as "cheaters." Since the new contacts, which do great for anything over about 3 feet, and are passable for some reading, I prefer to wear the cheaters when reading on the computer, or with books. Once I am in for the night, though, it is simpler to remove my contacts and wear my old glasses.

Other things that make me feel old - my oldest gave blood for the first time today. Hooray! for her - we were going to try to get her exempted since she turns 17 in two days, but they just recently reduced the age requirement to 16. She did fine, but then got up too soon and had to unexpectedly lie down on the floor. Now she is all tired out and wants dinner early so she can go to bed.

My youngest on the other hand decided she wanted to ride her bike to the "other house", which is what we call my sister-in-law's house, about 100 yards up the street. Not out of the ordinary, you say? Well, she never learned to ride a bike. We worked on it a few times, but nothing came together. She rode up and back, up and down the street like a pro. Her comment - Dad, I can ride a scooter, so why couldn't I ride a bike?" I forget this generation grew up on wheels, with roller blades, wheelies in the heels of their sneakers, and scooters, so the balance thing is pretty much second nature.

And finally, one more girl making me feel old. The daughter of my oldest and dearest friends graduated from college today! Many congratulations to her (and her parents). She and I will share divergent research projects this summer. She is going back to Alaska to study sticklebacks (something she did last summer as well) while I will be in Australia studying sharks. Fish, although wildly different sorts, since sharks are non-bony fish, and sticklebacks are teeny tiny.

But they all taste like chicken.

Toasty

That is me, after a VERY sunny day out in the ballfields, supervising 300 7th graders, many of whom have the social skills and behavioral tendencies of animals. I heard more group chanting of curse words (since, in a group, it isn't "fair" to snag one kid who is definitely doing it, suspend them), food and water fights, refusal to participate in cleanup of the fields, etc. It wasn't sunny when we went out, and I left the sunscreen inside. Oopsy. And when I did go inside to escort some miscreants, I got drafted to supervise a bathroom break (mind you, the school is empty. The 8th grade had a class picnic off premises, the 6th and 7th grades had field days - - so the only people in the building were administrators and the kids who couldn't behave), I had to write up some sexual harassment (a boy who poked a girl in the ass with his drumstick, a literal drumstick (no clue why he had it, as he only had the one, and he doesn't play the drums), then when she grabbed it away from him, he body slammed her into a corner and pawed her trying to get it back).

Anyhow, so busy that I forgot to pick up my paycheck, even. Money is tight, wife wants to re-do the bathroom while I am away. Our sink is original to the house (built in 1957) and is breaking down. New sink implies new vanity, which implies new fixtures including toilet. We looked at a tub, and that will require re-tiling around the tub, etc. Lots of work. But I did finish my Saturday teaching (money rolling in, god knows when) and volunteered for a professional development on the 29th which pays a stipend.

On the happy front, my friend the art teacher who went psycho is now speaking to me again. I think she was over stressed and I caught her at a bad time with a situation that brought up bad issues. Anyhow, we chatted about Lost (I have theories...they don't sinc with theories on the web, but I am still loving it), and her new job next year at a high school that is twice the size of our place...so 2000 students. It will remove her from some issues in the building, least of which was an overbearing mentor who at one time had her job as art teacher. On the bad side, one less person to chat with. Plus not knowing (I will speak to the principal after school finishes) what subject or grade I will teach next year - whether I stay with Math and maybe move up to Algebra (where it was announced today that 100% of our students who took the Algebra exam scored proficient or advanced!!! And I helped, by preparing those kids years ago) which would require an additional qualifying test, or stay where I am in Math (where we are being told that the curriculum will shift by a year, so 6th grade will be pre-algebra, and all 7th graders will get Algebra), or if I will get a Science placement due to my Australia experience.

Five more days of school. Two of "teaching", two of finals, and one day of "you better not come to school, you rotten kids." Tuesday will be my oldest's 17th birthday. Yikes.

A bright and shiny day

Weather was fine, but not really what I am implying.

Knowing my flight schedule made today a breeze. Things didn't really bother me, and the kids got into their tessellation completions. Twice, during two different classes, the principal popped in the room, and the kids were all engaged, mostly quietly, while I was inventorying textbooks in the back. And this wasn't just busywork, either...many of the kids were showing some great creativity. Big laugh when I coaxed them to tell her about the video we saw about the artist. "Oh yeah...Usher"

My Study Guide for the final exam is completed (which in turn means the final exam is complete, since I will jiggle the order of questions and recalibrate the numbers on all the problems...), and that should take up at least the next 2 days. Tomorrow there is some sort of all-school assembly about gang awareness - we do it every year but it still doesn't stop the gangs from recruiting, nor ignorant students from imitating gang signs (like certain colors, brands of clothes, etc.).

Friday is still the "May Day" field day. Pray for good weather, since god knows what will happen if it is canceled or moved indoors. Unarmed revolt, perhaps.

Fancy Flights

Got the confirmation of flights today. Good news, I leave from Memphis, which means skipping a 3 hour drive on both ends of the trip.

Outbound
June 2
Memphis 1115 -> Dallas 1255
Dallas 1420 -> LAX 1530 Enough time to eat in Dallas, plus 2 hours of earliness by virtue of West Coast
LAX 2230 -> Sydney 0615 Yuck! 7 hour layover in one of my least favorite cities. Not even worth leaving the airport. And I should mention, that is 0615 on June 4!!! International Dateline.
Sydney 0810 -> Perth 1115 Again, plus 2 hours of earliness for West Coast of another continent

All in all a long way to travel, but well worth it. There was some passing mention of hotel stay...probably on the way back as my flight out of Perth is 0545 on June 29.

Only one more Monday to go. Tessellation stretches to tomorrow, as today we had a sub. Which is good (since we didn't have to overload ourselves) and bad (since the kids were pure animals).

Readjustment

Since that 5k race a couple of weekends ago, I had a touch of tendonitis (amateur physician diagnosis) that made walking slightly painful. Not painful enough to limp, but twinges with every step. It would come and go, too, but didn't prevent me from hitting the machines at the Y a couple of times a week.

Well, Saturday morning I had a cough that produced a lower back spasm that was less than pleasant. It was as if my back finally said "enough! you have been walking out of balance for too long and we won't take it anymore!" I had to teach, being the final Saturday session of the Math program (and got to turn in my timesheet for 36 hours at $25 per...not too shabby, with another 18 or so hours this summer, possibly) and be on my feet, but it was slow going. I walked even funnier than normal, lately, and was very careful of bending and lifting.

When I came home I then had to run the girls around for errands (pre-Mother's Day), then finally took a brief nap at about 4. Bad Mistake! I was so stiff I couldn't sit up on the bed, but had to roll to the edge. This morning it was also kind of bad, couldn't really get my shoes on. Now, in the evening, things seem to be in better balance. Knees are not painful, and the back seems stronger, less likely to rebel against my wishes when I want to sit, stand or bend.

Ten more days of classes. The closer the end gets, the longer it seems. Still waiting for that email about my plane tickets, and therefore starting to get nervous. Got a long-ish memo from the principal on the next two weeks - things like collecting books, cleaning out lockers, which class or grade has which field trips on what days. Finals are the week after this, for some reason, though, like mid-terms they are encouraging us to have a test that takes no longer than a class period, when in the past we have had double periods for the exams. I would rather have the longer ones, since my more diligent students take their time. Nothing I like less than having a lower student finish a 50 question test in 10 minutes. I still plan to have them answer 50 questions. If they have to come back a second time to finish, so be it.

Closeout procedures are a joke to me, and always have been. Inventorying the classroom, turning in various things (like gradebooks), entering grades. All of this I do anyhow, nobody needs to pressure me to have it done before the end of classes. Of course, there are some teachers who won't do it, even with prompting and personal reminders.

Confusion

All this week I was under the impression that my team-teacher was going to be out Thursday and Friday. Had my lesson plans all set up, with the expectation that we would be adding 1/3 of his students and 1/3 of a period to the other classes. Yesterday I found out he will be out Friday and Monday, so I shifted things back a day.

Now rumor is there WILL be a sub for him, which means normal classes and normal class lengths. No problem, right? Well the video I planned to show is about an hour, and our class periods are 50 minutes (really closer to 45 with transitions, etc.). I can cope...and tried out some Escher artwork on the kids today, and many were pretty excited. This could be a really fun thing, even with many complaining that they can't draw. Hell, nobody can draw like Escher.

The good news of all this is my plans take me through Monday now. Tues/Wed/Thurs remain, since Friday is "May Day" which is a glorified field day. Administration has stepped up and is coming down harder on students who act the jerk.

Now for the annual pet peeve. This week is dubbed "Teacher Appreciation Week" which means we can feel bad that we are not appreciated. In past years there have been daily treats, some from the administration, others from the Parent/Teacher Organization. They just did something for us during TCAP (and since parents didn't donate, they asked us to pay for a lunch honoring teachers), so no dice now. The media makes a huge hairy deal out of every "made up" holiday like Secretary's Day, Bosses Day, etc. Do I hear anything about Teacher Appreciation Day? no. How about just "Don't be an ass to your teacher" day? Don't Give Your Teacher a Hard Time Day? Not going to happen.

Short time thoughts

As the clock/calendar closes in on the end, every day is a milestone. Even if nothing happens, it is one less in front of me. Today was no exception. For the most part, the lesson went well, and I really heaped on the praise, letting the kids know that at the end of the year they can do this stuff without even thinking about it, and build upon it in a single class, where at the beginning they wouldn't have even tried. Wednesday we build another brick upon the first two.

Tomorrow is a little off-site trip for the class. Looks like 100 or so, out of maybe 108, have paid their money and handed in permission slips. All four teachers as chapperones, plus one grandmother who pops in a lot, helped proctor the TCAP and is generally a favorite of the kids. The kicker is this...of everybody going on the trip, I am the only caucasian. Yay, diversity. I am going to keep a low profile and basically do nothing. The trip is to Funquest, so skating and bowling.

End of the week will be a breeze. I put a hold on a video of MC Escher at the public library, and that will take up an hour for each class on Thursday (the first of two days where we cover for a missing teammate, so 80 minute periods), followed by some explanations of tessellations, both basic and complex, reflective and rotational, then an in-class project for the rest of that day and Friday. If they don't do it - meh. Right now, according to my calculations there are only a couple or four kids in real danger of not passing Math, and missing a project won't really affect their chances.

Still waiting on final word on flight arrangements - already submitted my information - so I don't know if I will be driving to Nashville, or lucky (?) enough to fly from here, but make an additional connection. Nashville --> Los Angles --> Sydney --> Perth, or Memphis --> Dallas --> Los Angeles --> Sydney --> Perth. Oddly enough, the Memphis flight gets in earlier, but it also leaves earlier. The Nashville flight would be a nighter...leaving at 7pm. Once I know more I can make sure I am on the frequent flyer program (might have to reinstate it from my previous traveling life). Less than a month by the calendar now.

Rain rain

Funny, they have been predicting rain all week. It finally hit last night at about 3:30. Lots of lightning, thunder, torrential downpours. And it pretty much rained all through today. Which is also funny, as last night began the Memphis in May MusicFest. Or, as those here call it, Mudfest. Because it, without fail, rains for the three day weekend. Today would have been the day I would have attended (Elvis Costello was the prime performer for me) but I am too old to slog through rain and mud.

Instead got a haircut and took my oldest to Free Comic Book Day, an annual tradition for us. I go to my local store weekly, or used to until I cut WAY back on my comics. Now I might get one in a good week, and many weeks go where I don't buy any. Still, it is fun, and I grabbed up some for my nephew, as there are some kid-friendly things. One is printed on paper that resembles the old comic book paper that turns brown, and it features Nancy! Remember her? Super round head, Sluggo the boyfriend, hair like little squares sticking up from that round head?

T0morrow will be my prep day. Got some papers to grade, also some grades to input. Three weeks down and I have given 2 quizzes and one or two homeworks. Going to be a challenge. More so since one teacher will be out Thursday and Friday, which means we absorb his students and roll the time into our classes. I think I will be finding a decent short video on Escher and we will develop some tessellations over those days. Tuesday is a field trip (double dose of Xanax, thank you very much) to a roller rink/bowling alley. So, in a way the week is short, but challenging.

The week after I expect we will be instructed to collect textbooks (so they can determine which kids don't get report cards until they pay up), which gives the less responsible kids 2 weeks to locate them, with daily reminders. That will make the week a challenge too, although we can and will use a classroom set of books.

Tomorrow is MAY

Fun day - sort of. Had to take pictures of my students' projects, then load them into a computer and rename them all. They gave us until May 11, but knowing our students the projects will be in tatters by then. We were also supposed to put in the juror scores, but of course the website for this is not up, or not recognized, or was typo'd on the paperwork we got. Plus nobody gave us logins....anyhow.

My honors (horrors) class was funny today. They decided to passively aggress...so when we reviewed the boardwork, nobody spoke up. When one of my better, and more supportive students gave an answer, they kind of moaned/booed him. I was perfectly happy to play the game, as they were quiet. And then the other "fun" game of pretending to not understand, ask for a repeat explanation, ignore it, then ask again...ad infinitum. Never lost my cool, just kept re-explaining, making it simpler every time.

Went to the gym today. Weather has forecast thunderstorms all week, but we seem to have missed them, although it is raining now. Knees have been bothering me since the race, just kind of tight, so I am working on stretching them. They felt OK after my 25 minute workout, so a good sign.

Luckily I am not teaching this Saturday - the final session (aside from the week in July, maybe) is a week from Saturday. Which means I can attend "Free Comic Book Day" which is always fun, and my eldest even asked when it was, so she will come and enjoy freebies.

Random and paranoid

It is that time again. Principal made a comment today in staff meeting, where we were discussing (or being told about) the school developing an optional program, and becoming part of the International Bacchelaureate (yeah, I can't spell that) program. Comment was basically - teachers will have to step things up to get the students interested. No more just teaching, we have to entertain and engage them. There are some honor classes that have behavior problems because there isn't enough being done to engage them.

This struck home, as I have been having trouble with the honors class, as has the whole team. I think there is a kernel of truth to the statement, but at the same time we have a load of "spoiled" children whose parents do not encourage behavior, and actively support rebelious students. Many of my honors students actively resist becoming engaged, and would rather feign ignorance to have something repeated 3-4 times to eat up the class time. I could be Bill F-ing Cosby and I couldn't get them involved. But there is no consequence for this behavior, and there is nothing in place to prevent it from continuing.

Then I stumbled over to the 2nd enrollment period, where the district posts jobs that are vacant for the fall. Surprise - only 21 are posted, and the majority are at what we used to call "reform schools." In other words, the places where they send the kids that can't behave in an expected manner, or who were expelled (usually violence, weapons or drugs) and are now re-entering the system. I know a few teachers got letters informing them where they would be placed next year, and now my little paranoid organ is sending me signals that maybe I would rather have had a letter like that.

Yes, I know I am a good teacher. Yes, I know I am creative, and entertaining, and I teach a subject that is sometimes hard to make entertaining. Plus my Australia experience will make me a more valuable commodity in the fall, as well as my 5 years of teaching experience. On the other hand, I am still being worn down by unsupportive parents and administrators, and am hamstrung as to what I can do or say, being white in a 95% black school. The attitude is, don't listen to him, he is white. I usually have to call over another teacher, and they will make the same request, or phrase it more harshly and the kid will do it with no backtalk. I don't see it getting a whole lot better, but at least I am dealing with it better than ever before. I saddens me, but it is on my radar of expectation now, so it doesn't shock or surprise me. But often I find myself questioning whether I am too sensitive, or too harsh, or have too high expectations (which is supposed to be impossible - it is wrong and even politically incorrect to lower my expectations because of the social or racial makeup of my students. Yet my administration and colleagues do it, and recommend that I do it.

Life has its strangeness and changes. By the fall so many things could happen that I might not be teaching. Which brings me to an odd coincidence. There was another teacher at the school who applied for the Australia gig. Since I got it I haven't really talked with her a whole lot, not being close to her and not knowing if I might make things awkward. In passing, though, I noticed she wasn't in terribly good shape. Today at the faculty meeting, I overheard her discussing morning sickness with a few teacher/mothers. Yes, she is at least 5 months along. Which means if she had been accepted over me, I would probably have been tapped anyhow, just a few months further into the process.

So, who knows. Maybe I will be offered a teacher/researcher position to write lesson plans and travel the country teaching teachers how to teach the material we develop. That would be a dream job, dealing with adults and professionals, and inspiring them to inspire their students.

Exhibition Day

Yes, we got it all up - some sort of people (dunno who they got) came in and "judged" them. You would think this is over, right? Nope.

More time wasting for teachers. We have to rate an entire homeroom from another grade, then photograph each project, upload them, and possibly even type in the descriptions. Could they make this more time consuming? Maybe next year.

Dog is back from the vets. Stitches out, protective cone stays for another couple of days, until antibiotics run out. So, by the weekend she will be back to what will now pass for normal.

Swine flu sounds like fun. Actually it sounds like a lot of potential panic. Not sure this is any worse than any other type of flu that has gone around, or that goes around. And since it is a virus, there are very few options aside from vaccines, since there really is no anti-viral medication.

Monday monday

The day was mostly a waste...preparing displays for tomorrow's *yawn* Spring Exhibition. Supposed to be quality work, but it is mostly make-work crap. Teachers did more work to get this ready than the kids put in, including hand writing names, homerooms etc. on two different forms for each student, typing in, printing out and then affixing a picture of the student to each "narrative" (hey kids, tell us what you did, if you can string a coherent sentence together), then putting them in the display area.

Wife is home, which is nice. Everybody is good and tired, and we finished Season 3 of Supernatural (a really fun and good show). Little one-eye dog goes back to vet tomorrow, hopefully to have stitches out, and maybe remove the cone-collar. We will see. I know she is healing because she tries to rub that side of her face on things.

Legs were minimally sore today, which is a good thing. I feel stronger, but wouldn't want to do that too often. Maybe some short treadmill work at the Y on rainy days.

Still no word on Australia flights, or paperwork that was alleged at. Hopefully this swine flu scare/pre-panic won't mess things up.

Sunday Insanity

The youngest signed up for the school's 5k race (she intended to walk it, maybe a little running, with a friend), and since I had done it for the past 2 years, I pre-paid, intending to walk with the two girls. Well, they kind of brushed me off, and the competitive spirit kicked in, and I ran/walked it. Made the first mile without stopping to walk...finished it in a relatively respectable time. The amazing thing is - I don't feel crippled. I must be in some sort of shape to manage that. Nice day for it, too...mid 80s, sunny, good breeze.

The weather really brought the rose tree to life. It started 7 years ago as a Mother's Day gift (note to self, 2 weeks to that), and it hasn't been severely pruned back. It has a tendency to send off long stems with multiple heads. Right now the main trunk is about 5 inches in diameter, and the tallest blooms are about 8 feet high. There are about 100 roses in bloom right now. Nice fragrance.

Meanwhile I am wracking my brain for four or five self contained lessons to get me through this week. The kids are superiorly unmotivated, but leaning towards cartesian graphing (sort of connect the dots, but with (x,y)), tessellation (tiling, if I can get the various graph papers to print out), restaurant ordering (adding/multiplying decimals, then calculating percents for tax and tip).

Each day will have to have some sort of hand-in so I can give them a grade. Not something that can translate to a quiz, or at least not one that I can grade easily or quickly, and that is the name of the game right now.

Small Milestones

That was the week that was. TCAP testing ended, officially. I am sure the kids are relieved, I know the teachers are. Very few things are more boring than having to walk the room constantly for the 2 hours every day, not being able to speak or leave the room, pick up a book, etc. Results won't be known for several months, either. Most of the time we teachers never get to see the scores of our students, since by the time they come back the students are in a different grade, and their results are sorted by those teachers, not the ones with whom they took the test.

Also ended - the ridiculous 45 minute "extra" period. Yes, we used it to urge the students to do their Spring Exhibition projects (more on this later), but you would think the kids would be anxious to leave after all that time. Still, there are close to 100 students still in front of the school at 3:30. And part of my "duty" is to be out there herding them like geese. And they don't like to be asked to move away from the building. Favorite excuse: I am already black, and if I get in the sun, I will get blacker.

The Spring projects are another waste of time. Not just the timing, which coincided with the most important test of the year, but the excessive paperwork. Each teacher has to, by hand, fill out two different forms for each student, so their work can be "judged." Naturally we got about 5 more forms than we have students, so no margin for error on these 3-ply forms. After this process, each project must be photographed and uploaded (over 1000 students in the school). I have at least one student that, despite days of instruction (on a project that has been done once already - we are doing it over for this since the first go-round sucked miserably), demonstration, and a graphic organizer (think worksheet) with step-by-step directions and fill in the blanks, turned in a trimmed down printout from the internet, and rather than calculate the information for "his" project, just copied an example off the board. Most of the rest are good enough, though.

Some other teachers also got called to the principal's office and got official letters about their re-hiring next year and their assignments, usually to the "inclusion" team for the 8th grade. I think this is an effort to send a message, since is the start of the second voluntary transfer period. By giving these teachers a written assignment that is less than desirable, the principal is nudging them toward looking elsewhere for a more suitable position. If they do choose to stay, well, some of the staffing is taken care of. I did not get a summons to the office, which I will take as a good thing. Two of my teammates did, though, so it looks like next year will be a new group dynamic.

Bleh

Day 2 of testing. Each day seems to push the end farther away. Today I had a girl bubble all her answers in the wrong subject - even though I instructed them to be careful and not do it. And of course, it is MY fault because I didn't catch her doing it (I did walk around and check each student - either I missed her or she had part of her book covered so I didn't notice).

Wife is off to Atlanta, which means more pressure at home to get girls off to school - doubly hard since I leave at about 6:15 when I am biking. Coming home on the bike was very windy today, too, so extra tired. But it promises to be warmer each day, maybe 80 by the end of the week.

Which should be the ultimate hell. Kids have been promised a no-uniform day. So, on top of the pent up misbehavior, there is the lifting of the need to behave because TCAP is over, and the added incentive of not behaving well because they connect no uniform with no rules. Fun!

State Mandated Testing

Yes, I take it seriously. So I am there on time, I sign out my materials, I read what I am supposed to read, verbatim. I make sure I adhere to the schedules. Some others don't, so we had a faculty meeting after the late end of school. Four more days of that crap...basically by next Tuesday everything should be over and it will be time to coast to the finish line.

Our Jack Russell is pretty resilient. Our vet saw her today, and she seems pretty "normal" to me, aside from the missing eye and the big plastic collar. She has already adapted to the collar, and doesn't bang it on things so much. She has her energy, and really doesn't mind her pills, wrapped in some nice cheese singles.

Is it wrong of me to feel superior because I drive a manual transmission? Growing up, it was the accepted norm. Now days, it is a lost art. Still, when I climb the gears, or drop down, without a hitch, I get a little smug tug of satisfaction in doing it all so smoothly that the sheep driving around me probably don't realize I am doing it all myself.

Not the best day

A couple of days ago my niece made a cryptic note on FaceBook about praying for her Daddy. We weren't sure if she meant her biological father or her step-father. Turns out the latter. He had been having headaches and vomiting, and the hospital in Jackson wasn't equipped for the brainscans needed. Yesterday they did the tests and discovered that he had some bleeding on the brain. More tests showed an aneurysm, and today they went in to try to fix things. He had a narrow blood vessel that had split, and they did their best. Now the waiting is. A week or more in ICU.

And here I was feeling accomplished because I did a butt load of work before 9am. Rebates back to AT&T, financial aid forms, transferred all my numbers on the phone, sharpened 100 pencils for TCAP.

The afternoon is another story. As my wife came home with her sister (not the one married to the patient), the dogs got excited. And is the custom, the Border Collie tries to tell the Jack Russel to not bark so much. And the Jack, well, she doesn't take discipline so well, and they fight. Today the fight was too rough. Blood everywhere, and a trip to the emergency vet.

Meredith, our Jack Russell has lost her right eye. More traumatic for my wife, having been at the hospital all day, but a general not-fun type of thing. Surgery is over now, we will bring her home tomorrow. Then off to get her a skull and crossbones doggie sweater.

One Down, Five to go!

Four days of 45 minutes of bonus torture time, five to go. Also five weeks to go for the end to come. Can't come soon enough.

Weather has been nice past two days, so biking. Pleasant to ride in the near daylight, but I really wish I had a button to burn out the engine of idiots who don't put on their headlights. Law says 30 minutes after dawn, 30 minutes prior to sunset. These cars are hard to see without lights, but I am still extremely careful.

Still futzing around with the new phone. Going to have to go the old-fashioned route and put the SIM card back in the old phone, copy all the numbers by hand, then enter them into the new phone. Then the fun of assigning pictures (if I choose) to numbers, and ringtones, and groups (such as family, school, etc.). Then figuring out how to text (not that I want to do it, mind you). I suppose at one stage of my life this would have been fun, now it just seems like a chore.

Today I got my storm gear from England. The pants are great, two ply Goretex with lots of velcro, plus zips from calf to ankle, drawstring waist...dark blue color (Royal Navy issue). The jacket is the real prize. High neck, full velcro front over zipper, velcro wrist cinch. All done up, I am covered from chin to knees...and there is a zip-out liner so I can adjust for temperature. This might be the only coat I will ever need.

Hmmm....do I want to go to our school's TCAP Pep Rally tomorrow from 10am to noon? Probably not.

Overtime

These 45 minute add-on periods are killer. The kids are used to being gone, so they are off the wall. The only saving grace is it takes like 10 minutes to get them back in the room and take attendance, and buses get called 10 minutes before 3, so it is only like 25 minutes of actual class time.

Yesterday I helped some PhD candidate try out her instructions for imbedding hyperlinks in PowerPoint presentations. Even though she was late, I was still done before 4pm, and scored $20 in gift cards for Olive Garden. Not too shabby.

Tonight on a quest for light bulbs we stopped into the AT&T store, since AT&T sent us a message indicating that we were entitled to a phone upgrade for our 2 years of contract. They implied it was free - heh. Anyhow, we got a couple of new phones that I have to read up on, so I can do all the phone things...I hardly ever use my phone anyhow.

Random musings

I always liked the Whoppers eggs, with the malted centers. This year, though, they are especially good. No more waxy coating and really thick pseudo-chocolate. Crisp centers, thin chocolate, and sort of matte finish shells (more like the Cadbury milk eggs, not those hideous ones with the faux yolk center).

Researched the many (and there are MANY) classes of service from US to Australia. Flight time is not the 31 hours I had been led to expect - it seems most computers tack on the extra time for crossing the date line. Actual flight might be 12 hours from LA to Sydney. Then I have another trans-con flight on that end, but still, much better that I thought. But economy coach will be no picnic.

The extra 45 minutes tacked onto our day will be TCAP review this week, then "Spring Exhibition" project work next week. After that, it is all over bar the shouting.

Holy Weekend

This means a day off for me, and multiple days off for the girls. Yay for Catholic school. Today was a total layabout day. I did venture forth (through the potentially hazardous weather, of which I don't think I saw two raindrops) to get my monthly haircut.

Wetsuit came yesterday. I immediately tried it on, and it fits quite well. I can even get into it myself, but will need an assist with the back zipper. Not real flattering, but I didn't expect it to be. Better than I hoped for, though, whatever that means.

As usual, I plan to go to the Easter Vigil tomorrow night. Truly the "new year's eve" of the church year, with blessings of fire, water and oils, lots of majestic prayers, and welcoming new members, just as I was 17 years ago. Which means the oldest is about to turn that magical age. Yikes.

And in school news, one week until TCAP, and six weeks to go until the end of the year. Surprise surprise from the school board, though. To make up for our one inclement weather day, instead of making it up per the calendar, they sent word yesterday that school will be extended 45 minutes for the next 2 weeks to offset it. I can see the reasoning - most kids won't remember to come back after the Memorial Day weekend, it eliminates a day of bus transportation, breakfasts and lunches for students. And in the long run, most parents will pick the kids up at the normal time anyhow. Not sure how this is going to play out for us teachers, though...it is like an 8th period during the day. Well, we will get all of Monday to figure it out.

Crash and burn

Yesterday my computer froze up. Usually not a problem, just turn it off and reboot.

This was a problem. Got the "blue-screen-of-death" saying the computer was shut down to prevent irreparable damage to the computer, etc. etc. So, I try to reboot in safe mode. Nope. Reboot to last workable configuration. Nope. Reboot from installation disk. Nope.

So had it taken to the local computer repair place. I trust them, they run a tight ship and are nice geeks, like me. We have good conversations. Anyhow, my hard drive was fried. No reason, they sometimes burn out. Luckily they were able to transfer all the files to the new drive, that they installed. yay!

In the meantime - well, last night - I took stock of how much I do on the computer, and how much I could do without. In the past few months, via NetFlix, we have been spending about a night or two a week watching DVDs, which is fun. Without the computer, I would do more of that, although I do time-shift some programs that I miss. Of course, I miss them because I am playing on the computer.

If the hard drive had not been able to be saved, I would have started over with a pristine, unformatted drive. And as a result, I probably would have cut out a lot of things that are currently on my drive, and found new things to be doing with my time.

Getting older

The gym still treats me right, and I have increased my routine by a few minutes each time. However, the pesky scale tells me nothing has changed. Not that I care - I feel better, and am more flexible, and have a lot more energy. Spring is like that, too, but over the winter I forgot to stay in shape - or really just got lazy.

As far as the age thing, I broke down and bought a pair of 1.5 magnifying eyeglasses for reading and the computer. Helps me to not squinch my eyes all the time. And I can slide them down my nose, the same way I do with my sunglasses when I am inside, to keep them out of my "normal" vision.

Still, going to fight this age thing as best I can. Fitness is a first step, but for the most part people never guess my age within a decade when they first meet me. I guess that childlike sense of adventure. yeah, right.

Spring...fever

Never had hayfever growing up. Maybe I was tougher, maybe the pollen wasn't so thick as to layer your car with a green/yellow coat.

Doing the lawns yesterday was not fun. Tiring, but the worst was the sweat dripping into my already weeping eyes. This morning my eyes were like creme brulee. Not fun.

Better now, and I have been wearing glasses more for routine things, since I need magnifying glasses to read most things now (with these new test contacts...)

Working weekend

Today was quite a physical strain. Up early for teaching my monthly math morning. But before I left, got a nice email from Australia. Looks like the dates will be June 2 - 29, paperwork to follow. A nice semi-sunny bike ride to the school, and prep for class.

In the four months my class has shrunk from 20 to 11 to 9 to 7 today. 20 was actually a manageable group, since I am used to closer to 30. Having 7 was kind of strange, but other classrooms are similarly bare, and our Asst. Principal confirmed that we had about 1/3 of the registered attendance from our school. Stuck around for an extra 1/2 hour to make sure I was at the computer for the closing of the auction for my RAF jacket. Yay! Pretty well outfitted now.

Bike ride home, I felt a lot stronger than usual. I think some is the non-bike leg training at the gym. I get to work muscles that cooperate with my riding muscles, but give the main ones a rest.

Once home, mowing the front, then the back yards. Got to sit down finally at about 3pm. Wife and girls also did some yard work, edging the front sidewalks and curb, and sweeping up, so we are a tired bunch right now.

And just got ANOTHER email from Australia asking if it is possible for me to fly out of Nashville. This is not uncommon, as the 3 hour drive can cut quite a bit off fares, due to more competition in the market. Just might be a situation of taking a 3 hour drive to take a 26 hour series of flights, then a 10 hour bus ride (there might not be a flight from Perth to Monkey Mia on the day I arrive, so a bus would get me there sooner - but going home I probably get to fly, and even have a small layover).

Weird end to the week

School could have been a nightmare today, but as recommended by the principal, I "shook things up" with my most troublesome class. Yesterday they gave me fits, asking redundant questions to try to press my buttons. Today, I turned the tables. Had them all stand up, then moved them around so the "learners" were in the front and could hear and pay attention, and the disruptions were in the back. The ratio is about 10 good:16 not so good. There was grumbling and two of my most vocal shit-stirrers' hands shot up. I let them stay up, and they started to complain that I wasn't calling on them. I let them know I wasn't obligated to call on anyone, or interrupt my teaching, but if their question was important, they could write it down, then raise their hand and I would take the note, read it and answer when the chance came. That really stopped them in their tracks.

All my grading is done for this week, just have to put it online, which I hate because parents think this will be a final grade. I admit, I have been lax lately, so I am a couple of weeks behind. Grades close next week for the penultimate report card (the final one gets mailed). It won't take long, I hope, to input the information, then start the process of tweaking it so the 60% of my kids who didn't do a simple project given a week to do it won't fail due to a zero for 20% of their grade.

On a disturbing note, I seem to have lost a good friend. Not dead, but certainly a strange reaction. On Tuesday I got to play chauffeur (wow, I can still spell that first try) for my oldest and her friend to see a concert in mid-town. My good friend, the art teacher at my school, lives near there. Sometimes we get together for a movie or she vents about life and I listen. Well, I phoned from a couple of blocks away and got her voicemail. I left a message saying I was sitting in front of her house "stalking her"...if you know anything about me (which I thought she did) you would know that was a joke. When I actually got there, I saw her light was on, and thought I saw her in the window, so I honked once. I figured she might check her phone and call back. I went up and knocked on the door and she kind of went ballistic - this is HER time and how dare I stop by and never joke about stalking and now GO AWAY. Haven't spoken to her since then, and she seems to be avoiding even coming down my hall on the way in in the mornings. Just noticed she dropped me from FaceBook friends....

I suppose if she is a good friend she will settle down. If not, it wasn't friendship and it will pass. Or maybe there is some factor I don't have a clue about, and I shouldn't try to understand.

Mid-Week

Crazy times, for sure. In the 40s pre-dawn, and the 70s for the ride home. Yesterday rainy, tomorrow stormy. Just beautiful right now, except if you happen to be stuck at a railroad crossing waiting for one of the myriad rush-hour trains to clear. Sometimes the precious little bastards stop for a few minutes, to let us know who the boss is. Had to laugh at the graffiti on one chemical tanker car (please don't derail)...a figure labeled Homeland Security with X'd out eyes. Yeah, I don't think rail lines are too secure.

So just sitting here killing time, wearing a pair of cast-off magnifying glasses, since my contacts suck ass at seeing near. My right eye is a lot weaker than the left, so it has a stronger lens, but the images are smaller, to me anyhow. This is no big deal for distance stuff...crystal clear. But it is always just a little off indoors, and for reading I have to struggle. Right now, since the glasses are missing one bow, I look like Sawyer from season one of Lost, with his cobbled together glasses.

Today is also day 5 or 6 of not taking Prilosec. I have horrible reflux, and have been taking the OTC stuff for months and months. Ran out sometime last week, and have been risking it. Reflux is there, but not constant, and not unmanageable...or maybe the neck pain radiating down my right arm is making it pale by comparison.

Weekend will be busy...Saturday I have another of my math teaching gigs. Next to last one for the regular year (there will be a week long one in July, by all probability). As the weather gets nicer, the kids kind of forget they are supposed to come. Last time I had 9 students. This time??? The good thing, though, is I get paid. And pretty well...7 hours for teaching 9 - noon, since they pay for planning time too. $25 an hour is nothing to sneeze at, but I hear the checks come significantly after the program is over, which means I won't have disposable cash for any trip needs.

Ebay finally smiled on me, and I grabbed up a wetsuit on the cheap last night. Now all that remains is my storm gear and a tent, and maybe an underwater digital camera.

Right Back to it

Monday, blah. But the highlight was I rode the bike both ways, and felt just dandy. Was worried a bit about a long-ish hiatus, but with warmer weather my body is stepping up. Double bonus -- due to some pseudo-infighting in my oldest's carpool, the one girl who is a senior and drives will be taking over every day until the end of the year...which means I can bike 5 days a week.

I am getting frustrated with eBay. Trying to land a good looking RAF goretex jacket, and constantly getting outbid. And once it is sold, another one goes up in its place. This seller also has Royal Navy goretex pants...needless to say he is in England, so shipping will be steep. But I want them. Tomorrow a couple of wetsuits close, so keep fingers crossed.

Weekend musings

Pretty relaxing all in all, but lots of stuff going on. Oldest daughter was off on a campout (which turned into not exactly camping, as temperatures dropped and they crashed in doors), had three people over for our Dinner-for-Eight group (yes, 3 did not show, I can still count), which meant prep and cooking on Saturday. Swam a bit as part of training...a little back and forth and a lot of leg work, as I don't expect to use my arms much snorkeling. Then again, I probably won't be using my legs in the same way I was training, five minutes at a time either.

With the three strangers over, I am still able to socialize, but at the same time really not enjoy being around new people. Not thinking of becoming a hermit, but I am much of a spectator, and then I over-review what was said...relaxing would be nice.

Easter is coming up, surprisingly fast. April will be gone before too long, and it hasn't even arrived yet.

Another week down

A trying time, but made it through. My sub on Wednesday appeared to not have read the notes I left her, so most of my students did not re-take a quiz or start to work on a project. Kids tell me she sat at the desk most of the time. I sit at that desk only when students are not in the room. Go figure.

Which means shuffling everything that might have happened on plan. Then today one of my students, stretching his legs, broke one of the two working computer jacks in the room. This will make it impossible to achieve a 90 minute goal for 12 students a week to use an application, with a single computer.

Adding to the stress, I have another bulletin board to "decorate", a "drop-in" on Monday morning to see how I am addressing missed questions on the formative assessment, and got pulled into the Principal's office, along with another of my team, to be informed that some of our ring-leader students are sharing with other their strategies for button pushing and classroom disruption, and are now experimenting in other classes. So, we should be less predictable in the coming weeks. Never mind that we are also supposed to have a routine and stick to it to minimize disruptions.

On the brighter side, next year the school will have an optional program, which the Principal says will probably be one team with all Honors classes. On the darker side, the district is going to mandate block scheduling, which was a nightmare last year. You surely can't win them all.

Professional Development

Sort of a day off. As part of this Saturday a month math teaching I signed up for (2 more Saturdays, plus a week of 9-noon) I had to travel to the 'hood for another session of training. It is light work, and aside from the perils of transportation, an easy day. I got picked on a bit in class...mainly because I was the only man in the class and easy to pick out, but also because I know the material and am on the ball with Math. Realized part way through that, if the Superintendent decides to follow through with massive budget cuts, and if our school becomes one of the few schools to house an optional program, I could potentially teach Math AND Science concurrently. In other words, incorporate math learning in the science curriculum. It would be tons of work, but very possible.

And during this whole thing I was formulating/adapting the lesson to the upcoming Australian gig. I wish I felt more confident about my teaching, but that is just me having extremely high (and inhumanly unreachable) expectations of myself.

For a nice "genius" moment, as I left the school I found myself exiting via a different street from which I entered this morning. On instinct I turned left and realized I wasn't on the same street I had been on, and internally debated whether I had turned the right way. A few lights later, I hit a familiar street, but the quandry was, which way to turn. Instincts again said left-turn. Then I let my logical side try to figure out why. It seems I naturally examine shadows, and know that in the afternoon I want the sun on my left side to be heading north. Might explain why I never got turned around in New York, either.

End and Begging (of the End)

Spring Break is over. Parts were quite restful, and I did some reading and relaxing - just enjoying time without too many responsibilities. Eye exam was decent, and now am wearing much stronger contacts (sort of a trial pair) before moving my weak right eye to a stronger lens. Bifocals soon, I fear, as I have trouble seeing things close up.

Brain scans were all "normal" whatever that means. I guess I don't have anything that indicates epilepsy or something.

Meanwhile the anxiety, subconscious, has really triggered my neck into a flareup. Pretty painful and hard to sleep. Washing the dogs - why do dogs find the nastiest smelling part of the backyard to roll in? - has given me a lower back ache, plus right hamstring. Kind of difficult to get up from a sitting position, and I limp for a bit until it works itself out. So, naturally what did I do? I biked home today. Mid 70s, took it easy, but everything feels looser, and I feel slightly (only slightly) better about my physical condition. From here on, a training mindset.

School? Kids were monsters today. All getting back together and just wanting to socialize, ignoring the teaching. On the brighter side, I only had 8 students score below range on the last and final formative assessment. This is good, down from 12 the last time. Bad news is, there is only an overlap of 2 students. So the TCAP is a crap shoot....if all 20 kids are firing on most cylinders my class scores will look good and I will meet the district goal. If all of them bomb, well, it will be ugly. Although the TCAP has been easier than these pre-tests in the past....

Making Progress

What a strange and interesting week this has been, so far. Research, purchase, postponement, and lots of confusion and doctor's appointments.

Monday I set off for the two dive shops in town. One is near mid-town and turned out to be a hard-to-find bungalow on a side street. But the man there was very enthusiastic and showed me all kinds of things. The only problem was the price tags. My pipe-dream of coming in under $100 went out the window as he described the fins, mask, booties, snorkel, plus gloves, wetsuit and dive certification (because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, even though I think snorkeling will be sufficient for my needs) which added up to several hundreds of dollars. Just the basic gear would run about $200, without a wetsuit or lessons. My biggest chuckle came from his estimation of my size for the wetsuit - "you look about my size, so I would say an extra-large." For the record, I have never been estimated to be an extra-large in ANYTHING, so I am still laughing. But will be looking for an extra-large on eBay.

The second shop was more like a polished department store. Lots of floor space, standing racks of women's swimsuits, wall displays of different dive packages. Lessons were more expensive than at the bungalow, with an extra price (equal to the lessons) for the free-dive portion of the certification. The man there (a retired police officer from Mississippi) explained about the physics of dive fins and snorkels. Very educational as well.

Once I got home, back to eBay, and found a package with the premium fins suggested by polished man, plus booties, gloves, mask, snorkel and a carry bag for less than the items would have cost at either place. Tuesday, eBay sent me a nice email notifying me of a 10% coupon if I paid with PayPal, so I nabbed the buy-it-now option (with FREE shipping) and am waiting for delivery. Yay.

Tuesday also had a visit to the U of T medical labs for the pre-diabetes study. No, they aren't waiting for me to get it, but they are studying adults of black and white families whose parent or parent has diabetes. They drew some blood, injected me with a nice jelly (glucose tolerance test) which made me get all hot, then drew more blood. Like at the dive shop, I got a big chuckle out of one of the nurses measuring my waist. They find the hipbones, then the end of the short ribs. Trying to find my ribs, she commented that I was "dense"...I guess I am a bit more muscular than the usual patient.

From there, on to the accountant, where we finished off our taxes for last year. Yay again...a month early. Eventually we will get a refund, which won't stimulate the economy because it will go to pay of a portion of our HELOC, which we use to pay our property taxes. Go figure.

Now I am peeking around on eBay for a shortie wetsuit...short sleeves and legs. Plus the waterproof jacket/pants. I saw a nice one at Dick's Sporting Goods, which has a lot of hunting supplies, but also keeping my eyes out online to save some money.