The world according to Billybob

lexington sc tonight....

2011-12-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit under the weather the past few days and so I wasn't sure I would make the trip south this year. I did. Still not 100% yet, but here I am.

Rain, cold and gloom. Ah well. It could just as well be snow and ice. I HOPE NOT. That is something I hope to avoid. The forecast says the next few months will be warmer and drier than usual.

I don't exactly know what to make of things at school. Our principal is doing his level best. I really think that. Some others don't agree but then, pleasing women is near to impossible at times. But as I have said before, our principal has NO supporting cast. None. The two APs are inept. Can't say it any nicer. It is isn't a nice situation. When the principal is absent, which happens often, the school doesn't run well. It doesn't run at all, actually.

Still uncertain about my future. There are some tendencies present that make me uncomfortable. The place is still run like a high school and many there are who seem to like it that way. I definetly do not. Central office continues to wreck havoc, pushing their self-serving agenda and making life tough for us. I am overly weary of that. And the state....well, it's being run by stupid more than ever now. The ultimate goal of the self-absorbed GOP is to torpedo public education. I remain convinced of that.

So why stick aroun?. Why tolerate this any longer? I am left to wonder.

Merry Christmas?

I head for South Carolina in the morning....

2011-12-24T18:25:00.000-08:00

I still feel odd, seemingly intruding on another family's Christmas day, but the Griffins insist they want me to come. I've no doubt they are sincere, but I still feel peculiar. They are about the only "family" I have left. Not that I really had one to start with.... And this time of year always serves to remind me of that. Gotta stop dwelling on the past. Cannot change it. Why worry about it?

I have torn the meniscus in my left knee. Or so says my doctor. That might mean surgery (ugh); I knew it was coming though. Something just told me the ole knee wasn't what it needs to be. I was right.

I seem to have dodge another bullet...

2011-12-12T15:16:00.000-08:00

that seems to happen to me a bunch, lately.

In the mountains tonight....

2011-07-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

It doesn't feel as hot as it is "down below," but they are saying we will be dodging thunderstorms all weekend.

6/30/2012. It all ends.

If you haven't seen the advertisement for the final Harry Potter movie, one of its sub titles say something like this, only with different dates. It signifies the end of the Harry Potter series. 6/30/12 signifies the ending to my career in education, at least in North Carolina. Yep. That is the plan. Gonna be right up front with it from the start. Many who have retired tell me it is far better to go out "on top" rather than burnt out and discouraged and I agree with the sentiment.

It will be bittersweet, no doubt. Some who are already retired or who have been pushing me to retire myself just don't understand what it is like to not have a family, not have anyone to dote on day after day. I needed the break this summer, after the horrible year we had, but being with the 9 little girls for a week reminded me of what I have been missing. Nuts, I still do miss them. and if that make me strange, so be it.

During the 4 and 1/2 hour drive home last weekend, it occurred to me that I need not take anymore excrement from people. Once I retire, my income will all come from sources that I have earned the right to. I will no longer be beholden to politics, to selfish administrators or short sighted central office dolts. They will no longer be able to harm me.

Furthermore, they can kiss my 4th point of contact!

My head is so screwed up.....

2011-03-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

I don't feel comfortable remaining where i am. I've a real sense that our new principal would sell me out in an instant, if she thought it were to her advantage.

Public education in north carolina seems headed down a bumpy road. Not sure I want to go along for the ride.

I don't want it to end this way....

2011-03-12T04:52:00.001-08:00

OUr legislature is busy disembowling public education. They're talking 35-40 students per class, large pay cuts, vouchers, unrestricted numbers of charter schools....
Add to this we have a "climber" for a new principal who is using us to propel her own career. And, as usual, many do not see the obvious.
I think my health is being impacted. I am approaching 300 pounds. A lot of it has to be stress.

Utter madness.

Well...the news isn't good.

2011-02-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

Not by a longshot.

I want to go on record as saying that I tried to support our new Principal. Seriously. I truly did. I can't do that anymore.

Her actions have shown, without much doubt, that her priorities are NOT the good of the students, the welfare of the staff, or anything except her own advancement. She's a "climber," one who appears willing to use us as a vehicle for self-promotion. I have seen it before, twice. Neither time was it particularly pretty.

The SACS team will be here this coming week. Our new leader has been bonkers over it. I've been through a SACS accreditation visit twice. Neither time was the pressure or tension as high as it is now.

I hear understand that better than half the staff feels alienated. One has outright resigned, claiming medical problems. I checked. That wasn't the real reason. We've sunk to lying now. I remember that happening in another middle school, several years ago....

So for me, it ends in June. No matter what, I will NOT work in a school with this person in charge. This kind of person ruins lives, wrecks careers and can destroy the community of a school community.

And it makes me really sad.....

It's been awhile....again....

2010-12-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

The jury is still out at school.

There are many who are thinking of going elsewhere. Morale has not improved much. When they find out that our new principal is pondering reintroducing some middle school concepts, something that has been missing... I actually think that would be a good thing. But she is also wanting to see lesson plan books, insisting they be done a particular way. That's not something we have ever had to do.

We've made it to Christmas break.

I've a meeting with the retirement guru....

2010-10-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

...on November 18th.

I'm very serious this go around. At times, before now, I was just blowing smoke or venting, but I am truly considering going out. It's a matter of practicality. All the stress is gonna kill me.

.

Again....a long time betwixt postings...

2010-10-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Things have not gone well.

If our new principal comes into my classroom once more and closes the door behind her because she needs to speak to me, I will most likely go off on her. My drunken mother used to do that and it irks me. Her "leadership" style is a vexation to a lot of us. If I hear about test scores just once more....

I've gotten more "hate" mail this week than ever. Progress reports went home. Featured on them were the grades on our first ever project based effort and some parents, particularly the AIG students parents, were most unhappy. It's plain they've never had a challenge before and are not handling this one well.

Several want to "meet" with me. One came in and blessed me out, departing the classroom in tears, afterwards. He has insisted on another meeting next week. I am not looking forward to that.

Central office is driving us nuts, inflicting more useless "professional development" in the realm of reading upon us, taking up our time, taking us away from our classrooms, and shelling out tens of thousands of dollars that could be much better used in other ways. One of our teachers is so stressed over it all, she is getting migraines and has had to go for medical treatment.

This is madness.

I have e mailed the person in charge of retirement and plan to meet with her. I may not wait until the end of the year either....

Morale is falling sharply at school

2010-09-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Meetings, meetings and more meetings, most of them about "test scores." Another burden was placed on our math and ela teachers today; they are to give "benchmark" tests earlier, before they have had time to teach the needed things to their students. Then they are to spend more of their "copioius" free time, posting that information on a site, paid for by the school system. The sole reason the site is being used is that it supports job security at central office. Add to this, it will make seeing and comparing test results between teachers. It seems like every week some new thing comes up, furthering muddying the proverbial water.

We're undergoing SACS reaccredidation too, requiring additional meetings, with much of the effort being duplicitous.

And it appears the whole state is caught up in it. North Carolina is gonna find itself short of teachers again soon... Who will want to tolerate this?

Education "reform?" I doubt it.

I learned something today...

2010-09-21T16:28:00.001-07:00

I blamed the wrong person for the scheduling mess. Turns out it was done by our now retired principal, who wanted to avoid the appearance of "elitism.' Funny....he didn't seem to mind that same elitism in the years before when that pushy, now retired math teacher, had things all here way. Sometimes the education business is just too much to believe.

Best laid plans don't work sometimes. I had hoped to go to a charter school next year, but it turns out that since they are public schools, I would not be able to do that for six months, and then, only parti-time. Do I even want to think, about private school? Helicopter parents, yuppie larvae, money and politics....not the ideal situation at all.

There's always the possibility of DOD schools or an overseas private school, but I am not sure they would want someone at my age. All I can do is ask.

I could go over to the Summit Environmental ed program. Possibilities....all kinds of possibilities.

Summer officially ends tomorrow or is it the next day? This weekend, I go on my final kayaking adventure of the season. This season went swiftly. Time to take the kayak off the car.

Gotta grit my teeth and get through this...

2010-09-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

The field trip problem was solved. I will have to attend the "training" on another day. Sigh....

I'm in bryson city and it's raining; most likely no kayaking today.

Ugh....

2010-09-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

The "suits" have struck again.

With three weeks warning, "training" for science teachers in reading, has been scheduled on October 5th, the date we set for our field trip. Add to this, the zeroes that did our "reading training" last year will be back to check up on us. I will have to stage another horse and pony show to appease them. Just when you think it is safe to do your job, something like this happens.

I am so weary of "stupid."

Going to the mountains again this coming weekend. Not a bad idea. Mike's egotistical son won't be going along. His old "girlfriend, " aka "stalker" will be, though.

Ah well....

2010-09-05T08:30:00.001-07:00

It appears that the "suits" will win this round and the children will lose. So what else is new? It's happening all over the state and the nation. Children first? A sad joke. That hasn't been true for a long time now.

So I just need to set my face like flint (where'd that come from?) and just move ahead, doing the best I can with what we have. Just because the "suits" have lost perspective does not mean I will.

I have made a personal decision, as I believe I have mentioned once already. If I certify for national boards, I will seek placement in a REAL middle school, somehow, someway. If not, I shall put in my retirement papers for the state of North Carolina and seek placement with either a good charter school or with an overseas school. As I know I have said many times, my problems are not with the kids, just with the jack asses who are in charge.

Labor Day week, the "unofficial" end of summer....could that be real? Summer sure went by in a flash. I keep saying that I will stay home next summer, but really, that all depends, on a lot of things.

The political climate, from my point of view, has turned very hostile. The GOP is set to sweep both of the state houses in North Carolina and to seize at least one house of congress. Faux news and those goofs from the Tea Party crowd have distorted the truth and stirred up the peasantry. Sad, but we have a lot of dim witted, uneducated people in this country and these dweebs from the right wing are exploiting that to the max. Many things need to change in this country; Obama pledged to do that and when he did, The Glenn Becks and Newt Gingriches portrayed him as a "marxist" and worse. So many forget the reasons we got ourselves into this financial mess, not to mention gotten ourselves bogged down in two winless wars. When their kind take over the country, as they seemingly will, I don't want to be here to see it.

If I retire, the my course is obvious. If I pass national boards....well, you know, I just may retire anyhow....

Things are become that bad.

A trip back in time....sort of....

2010-08-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

I had not been to Hickory Nut Gorge in....well, a long time.

This occasion was Mike's 62nd birthday. That barely seems possible, that and the fact that we have known each other for 38 years. We were there to see the "dragon boat" races. Mike's sister is into it. I will stick to my kayak.

The scheduling mess does not look to be unraveled anytime soon, if at all. I might have worked a way out of our dilemna where the field trip is concerned, but this situation stands to stain the whole year. Plainly said, this is what happens when an assistant principal without much classroom experience is placed in a leadership position. They simply are not ready.

At our school improvement team meeting a few days back, I came to the conclusion that I am simply outnumbered and outflanked. The concern is about the infernal test scores and about reacting to mandates coming from central office pukes. There is little sense in my pretending otherwise. And there is nothing I can do about it......

The first day wears everyone out....

2010-08-25T17:52:00.001-07:00

They should not give lockers to 6th graders. What a trauma they are.

This will be my final year at RCMS. If I pass national boards, I will seek a position elsewhere, preferably in a MIDDLE school, a real one. I had several calls this summer. That should not be difficult. If I don't pass, then I will retire and seek employment at either a museum or a charter school.

After today, I realize that the bundles of problems with public school are more than I can deal with. The cross teaming problem was not solved. It seems our AP decided he just didn't want to. There is nothing I can about it. Attending the school improvement team meeting and hearing about the focus on, what else, test scores....I know that I am just outnumbered. No sense in doing this much longer.

Brace for impact....

2010-08-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

It begins anew in the morning.

We weren't able to work out the cross teaming issue completely; we did the best we could. Our assistant principal was NOT happy with us for trying. He's just gonna have to get over it. Mr. H is just one of those ap's who didn't spend enough time in the classroom and is a bit too young to be administration. There is far too much of that.

It turns out that we will have a student who was under "house arrest" on our team after all, despite everything our admin could do to prevent it. I still don't know what his particular difficulty was and don't want to speculate. Our administration got overruled by central office. Pukes.

All the more reason to make this my last year in public school.

Here goes.

Two more days and we're backl at it again

2010-08-22T18:23:00.001-07:00

I am hoping our cross teaming issue will be solved tomorrow, but I am also not very hopeful. We just may have to deal with it. What I need to learn is to not overreact. I hope I do.

Our final weekend.....

2010-08-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

...open house went well, but there are some problems....

In other years, EC drove the train and dominated our lives. This year, it is AIG doing that. It's caused us to have to "cross team," which utterly disrupts everything. Eleven students in my homebase don't have math with our math teacher. When we have field trips or other events, that will hamstring both teams dealing with these students. Our assistant principal, in charge of schedule, says we "must" do it this way. He is but 31, has never taught middle school, and seems a bit full of himself since our former principal left. Hopefully, this will be resolved. How is the question.

A student scheduled to come to us has been under "house arrest;" I am not sure exactly why, but it has something to do with his being violent. Efforts are underway to assure he does not come to us, but who knows?

Our deputy superintgendent is requiring us to jump through some hoops regarding reading. Not only that, but she has personally intervened in some student behavior issues. Guess which ethniticity those students are.

I've said that the decision on retirement will depend on whether I pass national boards, but now, I have begun to wonder....

Public education becomes more difficult with each passing year.....

We'll know more tomorrow....

2010-08-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

We have our first full faculty meeting tomorrow. Rumor has it that our new principal has rewritten vritually all of our school handbook. I loathe rumors.

New beginnings are always hard. Our former principal was in place for eleven years. Folllowing him would be tough for Moses, never mind a mere mortal. We'll see tomorrow.....

And so summer 2010 comes to an end...

2010-08-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sure went fast...and for a good reason.

I'm already saying that I will be staying home next summer, but that is what I say NOW...who knows? Cannot see myself really doing that. Just not in my nature.

We report to school tomorrow, officially. I've already been there, off and on, since returning from Belize. My classroom is almost set up. Got my one bulletin board up.

Who knows what the coming school year brings? There are already signs that our new deputy superintendent is going to interfere a great deal in our day to day teaching. Well....but then again, how much is a "great" deal? That's relative. She is insisting on the use of a "new" reading program that we must implement with a monthly theme. There are rumblings about having to spen d 15 minutes of our classtime on it each day. We already don't have enough time to cover the territory we are required to, by the state. This won't make things any simpler.

I am hoping for a good year. Something I have figured out about myself over the course of this summer is that I spend far too much time brooding over injuries that occured in my past. My thoughts turn to such things far too often. That tends to make me see the downside in things in the present and that helps no one.

Still, if things don't go well this school year, I am already contemplating retirement and the moving on to other things, possibly even in other states. My health is good right now, but there is no promise that this will continue for a lot longer. Who kinows? Tomorrow is promised to no one. I want to make the best use of my remaining years on this planet and I just won't spend any of that time doing something that causes me (or anyone else) grief.

But there I go again, looking at the downside. Gotta work on that. Onward....

Well, they talked me into it...

2010-08-15T04:18:00.000-07:00

And things went really well. Not even a close call. Perhaps I am not as slow and bulky ads I figured. Still, I need to lose a boat load of weight. No pun intended.

Their younger son continues to be a vexation to me. He is very knowledgeable about kayaking and about computer technology, but is not shy about boasting about it and makes regular practice of ordering his parents around. They once observed that I let Mary to do that to me and I wasn't completely aware of it. Their son does the same thing and I wonder if they know. It sure bothers me.

Another school year is upon us. We don't report officially until next Wednesday, but our deputy superintendent for cirriculum is trying to badger us all into going in two days early to attend the educators' conference she has arranged. I am going to attend a few of the sessions, but do not plan on attending any of the keynote speeches, particularly hers. It would be an understatement to say that I do not like nor trust our deputy superintendent. Too much history there, from another school system....

It's taken some time to recover....

2010-08-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

It was an experience.

That's a bit like saying that the planet Pluto is far away. Understatement. Classic understatement.

Safe to say, this summer has disuaded my notion of retiring in Central America. I'm almost 62 now. Change is already difficult for me, any kind of change.

There were some neat things about my trip to Belize. But would I endure what I did again. Not likely.

Mike is trying to goad me into making a trip to the river. I don't feel comfortable doing that. Something I learned about myself this summer is that I am simply carrying far too much weight. I need to lose about 50 pounds, just for starters, in order to feels safe doing things like white water boating, again. My mobiillity is sufficiently limited that I don't feel safe. Haven't told Mike. Not sure how he will react. Truthfully, I am not eager to do anymore "testosterone rallies" with Mike and his eogcentric younger son. That is stoking the fire as well.

This summer has seen a good number of changes. I met with the new principal. My gut feeling is that she will be good for us, buit I fear being too optimistic, as that has backfired on me before. Still, I now see that change was needed at RCMS. Our now retired principal even acknowledged this himself in explaining one of the rationale for his retirement. Eleven years is a long time for any one person to be in charge. I have never remained anywhere for longer than six years. That seems to be my limit.
Once I reach it, things seem to stagnate for me. So it was, I think, with RCMS. Our retired principal did some special things for us, but, just as it is with all of us, there were some things that needed doing that weren't. Time for a change.

I still haven't returned to church since....well....it's been months, most likely early spring. I now wonder if I ever will.

Whew!!!!!

2010-07-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

I was RIGHT to feel apprehension. I have never been this hot or quite so miserable as I was for six days. Every bug in the jungle feasted on me and it seemed I could HEAR myself stink.

Still, there were some mountaintop experiences as well. I got to shake hands (literally) with this howler monkey while visiting the preserve. And we are wrapping up three wonderful days on an island off the Belizean coast. Got to snorkel on two living reefs. Got some great photos.

We depart in the morning. More later.

The time grows near....

2010-07-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

I confess to being a little anxious about the trip to Belize.

This won't be a vacation, but a teacher workshop. No flitting about in an air conditioned bus. I am told we will be on the run from the moment we hit the ground. The up side is that we will not have problemsome teens with us or other groups with spoiled, children of privledge to deal with.

It is going to be hot, very hot Still, I will have opportunities to do some things I haven't done in decades, like snorkeling on a reef. We'll also see some Mayan ruins. Am I up to it, physically? For everyone's sake, I hope I am.

Belize in four more days....

2010-07-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to post on my blog for weeks. When I attempted to, I was told I no longer had a blog. Glad to see that's been resolved....

The summer is passing swiftly. I'm off to Belize this coming Tuesday. In my most recent visit with Dr. Jordan, my "numbers" were the best they have been in some time. BP 126/60, bad cholesterol down, good cholesterol is up, triglycerides are good; weight is my recurring problem, but at least, it isn't up too. Still gotta do something about it.

src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QaDjCZnX9gY/TD_SfIqI2bI/AAAAAAAAAXA/blz0IzcHsQ0/s320/IMG_0665.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494341502757296562" />

I've left the Catholic Church....again. It might be permanent this time.

Truth is, I have had problems with organized religion for a long, long time, particularly the catholic variety. I got several eye fulls while working in parochial schools. Just because the religious wore than collar or that habit, they figured themselves infallible, above blame, absolute in authority. So mamy decent people suffered because of that. The "Poker" club ran amuck at Pius because they had so much money and so much political pull. The clergy either looked the other way and openly aided and abetted them and their corruption. The same thing is involved, now, with the Bishop of Rome helping hide and protect pedophile priests. Their "authority" appears to be more important than the welfare of the defenseless and the innocent. So typical.

I'm troubled because this is the same road my drunken "mother" went down. Geezz....am I becoming like her?

My first "girl power" class at the Natural science center ends tomorrow. We had a rough beginning. One of the girls wanted to know why a man was teaching "girl power." Several chimed in. But what hurt was when my 22 year old teaching assistant joined in.

"Et tu brutus..."

Things have gone okay since then, but I was THIS CLOSE to walking out the door. Guess I'm just overly sensitive to such things....

Sure is good to be home....

2010-06-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

There is only so much riding about in a bus and living out of a suitcase that any man can stand for very long.

The trip back was uneentful. Customs is an ordeal. Thanksfully, it did not last long. We were in Miami for 9 hours. Never had a layover that long. How that town has changed. 4 million residents. We drove right past the University of Miami. I didn't even recognize it.

Cannot believe Miami is even an American city anymore. I barely heard an English word spoken while there.

It's two thirty AM. Time to get some sleep.

Day 7?????

2010-06-24T18:53:00.001-07:00

The caribbean coast is HOT and muggy. Would not want to live around here.

Our journey is coming to an end. Tomorrow we return to San Jose and the following day, we fly home. I think most of us are ready. 9 days can be a long time to be away from home.

Home....what a concept. Until I moved into my own house, I seldom really knew the feeling of being at "home." As a youth, my "family" wandered endlessly.... It was not uncommon to attend two or three different schools in my early years, during the same school year. I've been where I am now since 1992 and while the neighborhood I am in is not the friendliest towards me, the place is still home to me.

They say that the two most valuable things parents can give their children are roots and wings. Growing up, I had neither. I seldom knew where I belonged and my "mother" made it her business to try and control every choice I made. Breaking away from that was unfortunate, but needed.

And so, here I am. Gotta stop looking back and look ahead.

Day 6

2010-06-23T06:52:00.001-07:00

...or thereabouts. I have lost track of days and days of the week.

The Nantahala River is a fish pond when compared to the Sarapiqui. Never seen such a rough river. Even the Ocoee does not compare. I almost got thrown out of the raft twice. Only my tightly wedged foot keep me in, but barely.

We are headed for the beach this morning...

day 5

2010-06-22T06:27:00.002-07:00

We did the zip line. What a ride! What a ride!!!!

day 5

2010-06-22T06:27:00.001-07:00

We did the zip line. What a ride! What a ride!!!!

Day 4

2010-06-21T05:47:00.001-07:00

It's early here in La Fortuna. We are staying at the Tacotal hotel in the shadow of the Arenal volcano. It's had some small eruptions, oozing some lava and emitting some puffs of steam during our time here. People seem pretty sedate about it all.

We visited the La Fortuna waterfall yesterday. That entailed a 600 meter walk down and the UP some pretty steep stairs. I took is slow but I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt. Still, a dip in the frigid waters at the base of the waterfall (it reminded me of the Nanty) made it all worth it. Next was a boatride on Lake Arenal and then a visit to the local hot springs. That seemed to help the knees some. There might be a knee replacement in my future.

We visited the Poas volcano the day before, but the area was clouded in (it's the rainy season) so we saw nothing of the crater or the nearby lake. There was a half mike hike (mostly all uphill) to the lake and both knees were screaming after that.

We've had a littel drama on our trip too. While driving through San Jose, on our way out of the city, our bus driver drove over a train track with the warning lights flashing and the train was VERY close by. It scarred teh frijoles out of a lot of us.

The rest of our tour group is from Virginia and Maryland. The Maryland group seems particularly odd. The drinking age here in Costa Rica is 18 and some teen members of that group bought a case of beer, much to the horror of our groups leaders. One membrr of our group decided to partake. Not good.

While visiiting a local biodiversity center, a video we saw mentioned evolution and one of our leaders, a fundamentalist, got righteous about it and plans to complain. I respect her feelings and her beliefs, but I do not see how anyone can talk about biology or life without at least mentioning evolution.

It's on to the zip line today.

Costa Rica is green and rainy...

2010-06-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

I was up at 1:30 AM this morning, after not getting to bed until nearly 11. Met the group at the high school, we loaded aboard a bus and it was off to RDU, where we jetted off to Miami and then on to San Jose, Costa Rica.

I haven't been back to central america since I spent three months in Guatemala in 1994. Costa Rica seems very different from Guatemala, but I can still see some similarities. They actually took us to a mall after we arrived today; I don't know if Guatemala even has a mall. And there was KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway, to mention only a few. Many of the stores were familiar too. The people in the mall looked at us funny. With our EF backbacks, we had tourist written all over us, which, of course, is what we are anyway...

We're in a nice hotel tonight, one that would set us back $99 a night if we were not part of this group.

Looks like my trek to Belize won't work out. Dr. Jordan simply said that I "know my body" and he didn't want to deny me the opportunity. What does THAT mean? So now they want me to get a physical and they want to talk to the doctor afterwards. Sounds to me like they are just scared of taking me along. I don't want to be a burden. Mary was enough of one for me that I don't want to ever be one for someone else.

So I emailed them and gave them an out. It seems like the right thing to do. And, who knows, perhaps nine days in Costa Rica will be enough central america for one summer. My knees are really hurting me too.

Perhaps I should just take some time to chill out this summer.

That last hour seemed to stretch into infinity...

2010-06-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

But it all ended well. One of them asked if I would miss them. I had to say yes. I will. I do. They were a good group.

We had a few troubles towards the end. One set of parents felt I had not given their son his due when it came to grades. The truth was, he has just stopped working for the last few weeks and his grades showed it. Momma and daddy just wanted to rescue him. Nope.

We met out new principal. She is not a young, minority female, as I feared. She is a 26 year veteran, with experience at every level. Her latest is an elementary admin assignment. I wonder how that will play out. The woman seems amiable enough, but her first act was to ask that everyone turn in their keys so she can decide who gets what next next.

I don't want to read anything into this, but that single act does worry me some.

I'll be off to Costa Rica in 36 hours. I hope it's the adventure that's promised us.

It ends tomorrow...

2010-06-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

And unless something unexpected happens tomorrow, it will be one of the calmest, least eventful school year endings I have ever known.

I will miss this crew, more than many I've known. Sure, we had a few bumps and bruises here and there, but compared to the last five yrears, this year was absolutely tranquil.

It's off to Costa Rica in a few days. I've looked forward to this for almost a year.

Only two more days....

2010-06-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

And one of them will be test day, for me....national boards test day.

I'm told it's a tough challenge.

This school year has been my best in five years. We had our difficulties and challenges, but life is made of such things. But it's over in few days and this crew we have called the "Voyager" team will never be together, as a group, ever again. They'
willl be scattered to different places in 7th grade. Some of them need to be.

I'm off to Costa Rica in less than a week. That should be a real adventure.

seven more days

2010-06-04T15:35:00.001-07:00

End of grade tests are history. Child abuse. that's all they are. 2 and 1/2 hour tests for 11 and 12 year olds? University students don't have to deal with that.

I wish parents would rise up and demand an end to this. Few there are, in high places, who really listen to us. We are merely the hired help. the field hands, if you will.

There were a lot of tears when the results came back today, among students and teachers. Our math specialist, a new teacher, was devastated because her students' scores went down a small percentage of a point. Is all this trauma worth it? Madness, pure madness!

Memorial day

2010-05-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

We did the Tukaseegee today. I tumbled once. Hit a rock the wrong way. It happens.

Today is the day we honor the fallen, those who serve and those who served. The war in Iraq and the war on terror drag on with no end in sight.

Robert E Lee said it right"

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we become too fond of it."

Memorial day weekend

2010-05-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

The "unofficial" start of summer is here already? May sure went by in a blur.

Here I am in Bryson City. Not sure what our plans will be, but it's nice to be here.

The school year is rapidly coming to a close. Compared to the last several, this has been a good school year. We had some drama at school, a helicopter parent worried about the teacher eval her daughter got for cheerleading. I had thought that would be confidential, but it turns out the summary of the evaluations was shared.

Fortunately, the situation was defused. One of my teammates has known the mother for years and was able to talk to her, via phone, about it. Meantime, me and the cheerleading coach went round and around about it, on facebook of all things. I have since unlinked my facebook page with anyone in my school community. They see me six hours a day, five days a week, ten months a year...they don't need to know about my personal feelings too.

We won't know until June 14th

2010-05-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

The board met tonight and we hoped to hear something about our new principal. Not gonna happen until June now, when it is too late for anyone to put in for a transfer. I still maintain that it will be a politically correct appointment, most probably a minority and also, most likely, a female. Just can't shake that idea.

I continue to have issues with the Catholic Church. Recent revlations, involving even the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) in a cover up of sexual abuse of children leaves me doubting. It seems to typical of the church. I witnessed such attitudes when I taught in "catholc" schools; because they wore that collar or that habit, they figured they were above the law, were accountable to no one. Some of the things they did were outright sinister, if not illegal and immoral, but it was all right for them to do it because they were nuns or clergy. Seldom have I seen such hypocrisy and arrogance in any segment of society. What makes it yet worse, is that they claim to represent and work for God. I have come to question that a great deal.

May is going by in a blur.....

2010-05-23T03:41:00.001-07:00

3 more weeks and the school year will be history.

Still no word on who our next Principal will be. I am still betting on a minority female. That would be the politically correct move to make. I've known three of that vintage and all three were terrible leaders. They were selected due to their ethnicity and NOT their ability.

EOGs loom ahead, the annual ordeal by test. The upcoming week will be, for all means and purposes, our last "academic" week. After that, it will be testing, remediation, retesting and making due with those who don't have to retest. Any academic pursuit will be just about impossible. So much for "children first," huh?

The march in Raleigh was hot. I felt a little foolish, marching through downtown Raleigh, listening to emphatic speakers, and hearing slogans shouted. It kind of reminded me of the 60s. Those who saw us were very supportive. No word yet on how the budget will flesh out. Perhaps it is cynical, but I am wagering against our little get together having much effect. I sent e mails to my represenatives in the general assembly. The democrat responded right away; the republican never did. Does that tell me anything?

Our trip to Costa Rica is soon. I am very much looking forward to it.

The trip to Belize is a different matter. I attended the orientation for that, at the Museum of Natural Sciences. The leaders seem great, gave us some very good information, and the other 11 educators seem like wonderful people, with the possible exception of one, who seems a bit of a flake. Still, the trip sounds more like an ordeal than anything else...hot and muggy, insects galore. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Physically, am I up to this???

What? April is history, already???

2010-05-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Springtime is always difficult with 6th graders. This year is no different.

I had to be really hard on them yesterday. Of course, they weren't particularly decent to me, either. I was merely reacting to their behaviors and attitudes. Still, I left school feeling bad about it.

I am becoming more and more convinced that next year needs to be it for me.

There is just too much stupid afoot in public education. Kids aren't the priority anymore. The educrats will say they are, but it's not so. The 'suits" seek to make themselves look good and there is a multi-billion dollar industry of "talking heads" out there, trying to sell us repackaged ideas that didn't work the first time around. Our state budget is taking a major chunk out of the education funding. Peculiar for a Governor who is a former teacher!

I am attending a rally sponsored by NCAE in Raleigh next week. Gotta wonder how much good it will do, if any. No one listens to us anymore.

2010-04-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Another weekend.

Seems as though we are rolling down a steep hill, now, yet, we still have over six weeks of school left. And it becomes more difficult with each day.

Report cards are going to be bad news this time around.

This group of 6th graders have been much better kids than last year, but they do share some of the same afflictions. As per usual with 6th graders, they have very little organizational skill and little sense of time management. When things are perceived as too "hard" or as a fair amount of work, they seek to avoid or shirk it. The work ethic just isn't there. That is really showing up now, at this time of year.

We are studying the Middle Ages in Europe, or, at least, trying to do that. Part of our study includes a contrast between the world and values of ancient Rome and that of the Barbarians. With all its faults and excesses, Rome represented civilization, order, law, and, to an extent, learning. So did Ancient Greece. The Barbarians were a horde, interested in few things. When Rome feel, the dark ages began.

Interesting, but I see some parallels between those times and our current times. I see some in the attitudes that some of our 6th graders have. NASCAR, football, fishing....nothing evil about any of them, but they don't do a lot to advance the lot of humanity. They don't require a great deal of depth of thought, at least, not in the way that the sciences and the arts do. My inference should be fairly obvious....

Once again...it's been awhile....

2010-04-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

My national boards paperwork is long gone. Will I be certified? Who can say for certain? I figured I had little chance of being picked for a trip to Belize, this summer, since only 12 were being selected from the entire state. And so? I was selected. I will be spending part of June in Costa Rica and then part of July in Belize. Between that and doing some science classes at the natural science center, this looks to be a "short summer" for me.

That will leave a little less time to do kayaking. Odd thing, but I am not really upset over that. I have begun to wonder if I do it because I want to or because the Griffins want me to. I have this bad rep for letting people push or draw me into things. "no" does not seem to be a consistent part of my vocabulary.

Things at school are still going okay, but our 6th graders are morphing into 7th graders, particularly our little girls. Seems like almost every day, one of them is having one of those "female issues." They're very open with me about it all and I guess I should feel grateful that they trust me so much, but at times, I wish they would keep their personal things to themselves. No, it doesn't embarass me, but it just seems odd to me (and feels odd) that they tell me. I also live in mortal fear of someone making something of it. "what are you doing discussing personal issues with young ladies?"

Answer: I don't. They discuss it with me. It isn't something I solicit or encourage.

Part of what fuels this is that one of our substitutes, a 25 year old guy, got busted to sexual assault. Seems he picked up one of the girls from behind, under the arm pits. Dumb thing to do, but I don't believe it was something he ought to be jailed over. Yes, it was an action of poor judgement, but not a criminal one. People can be so terrible about this sort of thing, particularly when the perpetrator is male. Funny though....most of those being convicted of things like this, lately, are either women or married men with children themselves.

Yeah, I am a bit sensitive about this sort of thing. I've a right to be.

Spring break at last...

2010-03-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

...but there is no rest for the weary! The deadline for my national boards porfolio in this coming up Wednesday!

Here I sit, in the library, working away at it. Just had to take a break. I hope all this is worth it. If nothing else, my just attempting it will give me enough renewal credits to finish out my career.

Spring break is here....

2010-03-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

After tomorrow anyhow. And spring itself seems to have snuck in while no one was looking. Temps have been in the 60s and 70s for the past week or so.... Just in time, too. I had had all I could stand of ice and snow and cold.

There I go complaining again. Sigh.

National boards deadline approaches....next week. So close yet so distant. Not certain I will be able to finish.

Trouble in a major way at school. A substitute teacher, one who had only recently been approved, has been charged with "sexual battery." It had to be a men, of course. Things are tough enough for us in the educational arena. We sure didn't need this.

This is madness....

2010-03-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

I was told today that the useless ERG training we had to endure this year cost the school system $200,000. I only hope this is a vile rumor and not the truth. The "training" was worthless. Our own ELA teachers could have done a better job.

Stupid was has indeed come to our school system.

We're headed for Richmond in the morning....

2010-03-18T10:54:00.001-07:00

...at least, that is the plan.

Turns out they didn't plan for a group as large as ours, despite the fact that we took larger groups last year. Someone new must be in charge at the Holocaust Museum. We're trying to sort it out now, as I type.

While driving home last evening, it occured to me that I belong to a decent church community, my job at school is not nearly so stressful as last year, I have a good roof over my head, I have great medical benefits, when I got home I had a great massage machine to work the kinks and the stress out of my back and some great technology to entertain me.

No one is going to kick down the door and whisk me away because I criticize the government and I won't likely be persecuted for my beliefs. I'm still relatively healthy and spring is well on the way. (It was 72 today)

What in blue blazes am I complaining about so much???????????

It's been a wild week and a half

2010-03-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I took part in a 30 hour famine with our teens, at St. Paul. 30 hours of nothing to eat but juice and water. Felt a little wobbly at mass on Sunday. Felt lightheaded and feared I might keel over. How embarassing that would have been! But we done it! The event was not planned particularly well and not as organized as I think it ought to be, but don't ask me to do better because I could not.

Then there was the time change Sunday morning. Our 30 hour famine was actually 29 hours. I've been out of whack ever since. My classroom management skills have been at their worst lately.

And then this afternoon, the principal calls me out into the hall to speak to him. Oh no....what have I done now?????

I'm one of those nominated for teacher of the year honors. The world is just too nuts sometimes.....

Another lazy sunday...

2010-03-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

Here I sit, the Rebecca Clay Edwards library, working a bit on my National boards...

Didn't really accomplish much. The deadline comes at the end of this month.

We took 3 teams to the OM tournament. None did particularly well. Two of them finished dead last. But, at least, they did go, unlike last year, when only 1 of 2 teams went. Our structure team outright embarassed us. Their structure was disqualified and their "skit" consisted of someone reading aloud about how they "built it." Since there were only 2 teams competing, our team technically qualified to go to state and to get a trophy, but we felt they didn't deserve that and requested it not be awarded. Now the coach is having second thoughts. She is one of my teammates and sometimes, she is just a bit too much of a mother for her own good...

At least the weather is warmer this weekend. The snow is gone, finally.

Carolina Beach

2010-02-28T05:46:00.000-08:00

I didn't get here until midday, yesterday. I'm staying at the Oceaneer motel, right on the water. It's cold and windy.

Before leaving home, I buried "Lizzie" in the backyard and moved the terrarium out of my room, where it had been. Trying to make a break with this sad event and this is one way of doing it. Only hope it works. Life needs to go on.

March arrives tomorrow. I believe we all hope spring is not far behind.

We finally went to school for a full week

2010-02-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

By our standards, this has been the harshest winter I can remember. Never enjoyed winter and am learning to really loathe it now. It shouldn't last a whole lot longer, but March is such a fickle month in the Carolinas. We could get a foot of snow next week and it could be 80 three days later. Schitzophrenic weather someone once called it.

I'm pressing ahead with national boards but am dubious about my prospects and about how much good it will really do me. Of course, by doing this, I obligate myself to one more year in a north carolina public school classroom. While I am fine with the school where I am now, "stupid" has come to our school system, via a former school system of mine, and things look to turn grim in the future. We're already obligated to attend worthless "professional development" that pulls us out of our classroom and wastes our time and our scarce monetary resources as well. There is talk about making us come a few days early next school year to attend more "training." NCAE tells me it is not legal to require us to do this, but I'll wager "stupid" will try and force us to do that. Teachers in North Carolina have so few rights. They can compel us to do just about anything and there is almost nothing we can do or say. I grow weary of having to buy my own supplies, everything from glue to copy paper, now. Our school system would rather pay big salaries to "stupid" people to come harass us and run down our morale, rather than invest the money and effort in the classroom, where it can do some lasting good.

In a few hours, I am headed over to the coast for the weekend. Just need to get away from the familiar for a bit. I just lost yet another water dragon, my 4th lizard casualty in 8 ,months. This one lingered. I tried to save her, treated her for a couple weeks. It just wasn't enough. Her tiny body could not endure the infection she had gotten. It hurt. It hurt badly. I know my troubles are so small compared to others. There was an awful earthquake in Haiti recently. Thousands are dead and many more injured and homeless. But still, little things in my little world cause grief. No denying that.

It has been a rough couple of weeks.

We went to school one day last week

2010-02-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

One day out of 5.

The kids were delighted, of course. Ah to be 11 years old again and live in the moment, with no thought about the consequences that lie ahead. I guess I did that too.

Lost power twice. The house got a bit cool. My water dragon seems to be suffering ill effects from it. Hope she comes around. Losing another one would be upsetting.

It isn't the snow so much as it is the ice. Trees fall, power lines snap. Should have invested in a generator a long while back, but never did. The past several winters had none of this. We forget. What was it I was saying about living in the moment?

Thoughts of relocating to Central America keep popping into my brain. This past week hasn't helped. I don't think there would be many ice storms in Belize or Costa Rica. I checked on life in Costa Rica on line and found some interesting facts. They have more teachers there than police. They have no military at all. Literacy rate is around 90%. There is universal health care for all. Sure is tempting. When I go there this summer, I am going to have a serious look around.

It's been awhile since I've been here....

2010-02-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

And we've been inundated again, this time worse than the last one. I fear we will be in school until the end of June if this continues. They call for freezing rain tomorrow and snow again next weekend. That end of June scenario may not be such a long shot.

I spoke, personally, a few weeks ago, to the chairperson of the school board. I don't recall if I mentioned that. Might have sealed my doom for what I said, but I regret nothing. I told her that they needed to watch out for hidden agendas, political correctness, and morale busting by inept educrats who not only don't know what they're doing, but don't really care about who they are doing it to. Their sole and overriding concern is their own benefit. It's the truth. I know it is. I saw it, i lived it for 12 years while in the school system they came from. Saying nothing and just letting it happen is NOT an option.

Things continue to go well, meantime, on our 6th grade team. Oh, for sure, we have our challenges and occasional difficulties, but they pale by comparison to last year. There have been a few altercations (read that, fights) but those involved have been dealt with swiftly and surely, with the guarantee that the alternative school is next if they continue on their present course. Had some other schools I've been in adopted such a practice, things would have gone much better there, too. And that is one of our greatest fears. They don't make administrators like our present one anymore. When he retires, it will not only be the passing of an era, but probably an end to the "no nonsense" way of running the school. I've not been thrilled by everything that's been done, but I have felt far more respected and supported at my present school than I have ever been, anywhere else, in my 27 years in the classroom. That is quite a statement.

I recall, earlier in the year, a group of prospective administrators coming through out school for a visit. Not a one of them looked to be out of their 20s. Not one. Some barely looked old enough to have graduated college. In my biased opinion, none of them were old enough or experienced enough to run a school. The few that I have known, personally, who were on this track, were doing so only to make more money. I would bet that a need for having power over others also figures into the mix. And then there's the kind I dealt with not so long ago in another school system, members of some minority group with a chip on their shoulder and a zest for trying to make a name for themselves, very much at the expense of the rest of us. This is my fear where my current school is concerned. The new influx from that "other" county will try to promote that agenda. Providence help us if they succeed.

Do you believe in miracles?

2009-12-31T06:57:00.001-08:00

I sure do.

On the way home from Columbia, I was rear ended by a rather large, green, pickup truck. I dutifully pulled over, expecting the culprit to do the same. They sped on. Expecting the worst, I climbed out and went back to look. No apparent damage. Nothing. Nada. Meantime, another motorist got the tag number and came all the way back to provide it for me. I summoned the highway patrol and waited some time for them to arrive. Seems there was another mishap just up ahead. That has caused the slowdown in traffic that caused me to slow down and for the apparently inattentive driver of the truck to hit me.

When the highway patrol arrived, the patrolman asked me if I was SURE that someone had hit me. Like me, he saw NO damage at all. The paint wasn't even chipped. I had looked for myself a few more times to be certain. The bumper didn't even seem like it had absorbed any kind of blow at all and those plastic bumpers don't hold up real well. The entire thing was beginning to look like a non event. Still, I asked for an accident report. What if the frame was bent or some such?

I headed home and, next day, had the jeep checked out at the dealership. They found a small scrape under the bumper, likely a result of something other than my encounter on the way home and NOTHING else.

Now, of course, this all leaves me to wonder if I am hallucinatory, delusional, or have a brigade of guardian angels following me about, who cushioned the blow that day. I KNOW I felt some force impact the jeep. I am certain of that. Something propelled me forward. That is NO illusion. But neither is the lack of damage from this apparent impact. Nothing. Nada.

Very strange....

Columbia, South Carolina

2009-12-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

Seems a lot warmer here than at home. This sure beat being at home alone.

Tis the season to be....

2009-12-23T04:08:00.000-08:00

...fill in your own word here.

It's a madhouse out there. I spent more time sitting in traffic, yesterday, than anything else. This season of the year truly becomes less tolerable each year.

Made my biannual visit to my cardiologist. BP is up and I now weight 275 lbs. Never weighed that in my entire life. I better do something about it, too or, speaking plainly here, I may not be around much longer.

Finally heard from my people in South Carolina. They still want me to come for the holidays. I remain skeptical as to the wisdom of this, but go I will, if only for a few days.

Finally got out of the house

2009-12-20T22:52:00.000-08:00

Finally ventured out of the house and drove into town.

It wasn't difficult at all. Don't know if that was due to my having my front wheel drive Jeep Patriot of what. They had just scraped the neighborhood roads. Highway 150 was clear, even dry in most places. I've always been a little leary of driving in ice and show since sliding off the road (doing a doughnut) in my RX7, many years ago. Had a few slips and slides since then, but that was the absolute worst. Haven't driven much in the snow in my life and am not real good at it.

I find myself disliking the Christmas season more and more with each passing year. It's not just the commercial exploitation that irks me. Perhaps the season just reminds me of what I've lost, of what I never had and never, ever will. Hmmm....does that qualify me as a "bitter" old man? My Aunt Mary always claimed I would be one of those some day. Of course, she never seemed to find much good in anything I said or did or was. And she was the ultimate cranky, bitter, old lady. So does it take one to know one? Not a pleasant thought.

I find myself not really wanting to drive down to Columbia for the holiday. Just don't need the soap opera drama thing just now. Last time I spoke to Mike, our conversation was brief. He had yet another "crisis" while on the phone with me and had to beg off, pledging to call me back later. He never did, as is too often the case. That was nearly a week ago. Some of our more recent discussions included his seeing a "different America" than me (my words) and his penchant for seeking to be a "super hero." I had quieried about whether he was saving the world, at the moment and he had replied with something about getting ready to sue his principal. There is always something going on, some intrigue or some campaign against perceived evil. Even Deb remarks that her life is a "soap opera."

Not sure I want to be in the midst of all that. Winter officially begins in a day or two. I don't do the cold, dark, months very well. All that drama does not help. I don't plan to call them. If they call me, then fine.

Meantime, on the home front, I have a cardiologist visit later on this morning. I am gonna get fussed at a bunch and with good reason.

I got snow for a birthday present...

2009-12-20T07:48:00.000-08:00

I only thought we would get a dusting. Did I miss this one! We got 5-6 inches of the white stuff, a veritable blizzard by our standards.

Got a reply from the family in Belize. They seem interested. Well, so am I.

Today is the 61st anniversary of my arrival on earth...

2009-12-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

One more year and I become eligible for social security benefits. At least, I think that is how it is. Seems surreal. Outside, right now, it is snowing, snowing like it seldom ever does. Don't ever recall having snow on my birthday. For us, this is a really early snowfall and it leaves me to wonder what this winter is going to be like. In North Carolina, you can never tell. though. It might be in the mid 70s next week. Who knows for sure?

We're out of school until January 5th. Seems like a really long break, longer than I've had in a long, long time. The break will do us all some good. Things were truly squirrelly at school. Bedies the rising excitement of the holiday season, we had a shortened day. They dismissed at 10:45 AM. I have never seen that before. Seems they anticipated the snow. This school system actually has some leadership. Another first for me in a long, long, time.

Thinking more and more about retiring in central America. I emailed some people who are looking for a homeschool teacher for their children in the Belizean jungle. They run a resort, there. Crazy, I know, but life has been a little crazy for me. I grow oh so weary of the joke that is public education, in North Carolina, and I truly don't want to see what this country will become when the republicans take back control of congress in 2010 and, most likely, the white house in 2012. Perhaps I am a coward. Perhaps I have just had me enough of the twisted people and twisted value system that dominates the United States of America now.

I used to be fiercely proud of being American. Not so certain anymore.

My newest scheme...

2009-12-07T17:52:00.001-08:00

I like where I am. This year is much improved. But I continue to feel concerned about what is ahead for us. As I said in my last post, I just could not endure another lesson in political correctness. The staff will rebel. They will. I came to a startling realization today. Our faculty is 100% caucasian. There isn't a minority in the bunch. How have we gotten away with that in this day and time? All the more reason for fear.

And speaking of fear, there is another apprehension in my mind. Things are not going well for President Obama. The media, mostly in the personality of FOX news has been after him since he took the oath of office. His approval rating has plummeted. Things do not look good for the democrats in 2010 or in 2012. If the Rush LImbaughs, Dick Cheneys and Newt Gingrichs take power in this country again, then God help us! Thus, I am looking hard at retirement no later than June 2011, when I can draw social security. I am going to Costa Rica this summer on an educational trip. There are a number of international schools there. I have already sent a resume to one. The plan is to go there to live and, possibly, work.

I feel my personal morale beginning to wane....

2009-12-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

...perhaps it is time to doiuble my dose of zoloft??????????????

Yesterday, we had to attend yet another worthless "professional development." This session was a complete waste of time. And you gotta know that our cash strapped school system is paying big bucks for these "consultants" to conduct this "training" and then come by the schools to see if we are, in fact, implementing it.

This is all being driven by our new superintendent for curriculum, a former principal in my former school system and a chum of that former principal (the incompetent, corrupt one) in my former school. It helps validate her job, one that coiuld and should be done by the superintendent himself. And we wanna know why we don't have any money for education?????

Our newest associate superintendent inrroduced yet another central office person for her staff yesterday. Gee....GUESS which ethnicity she is!!!!!!!!! African American to be sure.

There is certainly nothing wrong with hiring minorities. But IF they are hired simply because they are minorities, then I see a problem in that. Affirmative action? There is nothing affirmative about hiring ANYONE who is not suited for the job or merely hired for their skin tone.

Gee....where have I seen this scenario played out before?

It's sad.

And I am beginning to see where this is leading. We hired a minority to replace the guidance counselor we lost. She is a nice girl, but cannot speak English and comes across as very indecisive....not a quality you want to have in a guidance counselor is a school full of raging hormones.

My greatest fear is that our superintendent is going to do the politically correct thing when our current principal leaves and will hire one of the young, minority women who currently occupy several of our assistant principal positions around the county. That is fine IF she is a good leader and won't come in looking to make herself famous, as others I have seen, of her persuasion, have done. I have seen, up close, TWICE, what happens when that takes place.

I just cannot stand it again.

Columbia, South Carolina

2009-11-26T13:28:00.000-08:00

An uneventful drive here. All the weird stuff happened in Greensboro. Someone ran a red light, right in front of me on Battleground Avenue. Had I been going a bit faster, we would have t boned me. Then in downtown Greensboro, I was headed down a one way street, along with all the rest of the traffic and here comes this guy in a pickup, going the other way, oblivious to it all. TNanksgiving does indeed bring out the turkeys.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

I ought to be thankful for plenty this year.

Matters have gone well at school. My stress level is a lot less.

Just heard that one of the more difficult teachers on our grade level will be retiring at year's end. I think I commented on that already. That will be a giant step in the right direction. Now if another of our more unpleasant colleagues would find someplace else to go....Ah, but no place is perfect. Our principal is retiring. He made it official. In one way, that will be a good thing, but in another.... They don't make 'em like him anymore. Too many young ones out there without the experience or understanding or machiavellian ones who want to make a name for themselves and care less about the real reasons we do what we do. One of that kind has managed to get herself hired as an assistant superintendent She's already caused a stir, has us going to useless training, jumping through hoops...all to validate her overpaid position. The money we have spent could well be used elsewhere. But that's not my call.

I'm off to Columbia in the morning. Time to spend some time away. And it will be good not being by myself over the holiday.

Things seem to be going along pretty well

2009-11-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

Yeah, they're a little antsy with the thanksgiving break coming up next week and a bunch of them have just quit working, but it still isn't as difficult as it got during the second half of last year

The weather has cooled and it's rained a lot. We need the rain.

Got some good news yesterday. One of our 6th grade "teachers" that I have dubbed "the wicked witch of the west," is retiring. That will be a blessing for all concerned.

November is here...

2009-11-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

...usually my worst month of the year.

It was during November a few years back that I hit (or more probably) was hit by a deer, doing $1400 damage to my ford escort. Looking back now, I am surprised they didn't just total the car out, rather than repairing it.

John F. Kennedy, one of the best presidents we ever had, was gunned down during November. Yes, it's been a long time ago, but I remember it like it were but a few years ago. It changed everything and for the worse, too. Still think the assasination was orchestrated by someone within our own government, probably rogue elements of the CIA, in cahoots with the mob and cuban exiles. Many of that last group were bitter about the Bay of Pigs fiasco. You don't want latins mad at you. They can be quite vindictive.

November is also the month when it seems to get dark sooner and longer. I am told there are people who actually have disorders related to that. Maybe I am one of them.

Things at school continue along well, much better than last spring. That much I am certain about. There remain some challenges and difficulties but that is just the way reality it. More than a few of our 6th grade teachers should not, in my biased but experienced opinion, be dealing with students as young as ours. One, in particular, should not be around children at all. Our grade level meetings are charged with tension and unease, primarily due to one in particular. I think she's gotten the message that I've little use for her and that's okay because I don't.

A newly appointed deputy superintendent, one who is buddies with my former principal in another county, has come to my school systems. I hate having to watch my back, but I need to. That type is very vindictive, too.

A former co worker of mine is having open heart surgery this week. Most peculiar. He is more active and more health conscious than I am.

today was not a good day...

2009-10-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

They have been a bit difficult all week. Today I got so aggravated, I slapped the top of my desk with an open palm. Scared them good. Hurt my hand too.

I hadn't done that since I left Alamance, over four years ago. Maybe it is time to hang it up.

Almost made it through another week...

2009-10-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

...and fall is most definetly here.

The last few days have been warm during daylight but cool at night. Before that, it got downright chilly both day and night for a week. It just seems a little early for all that. An early and prolonged winter would be most depressing. I already don't handle November particularly well.

Something else I don't handle well are lies and liars.

The GOP has long been good at it, but they are turning out some of their best demon spawn, lately. Former vice president cheney has been a constant critic of the new administration. New polls say that the public is starting to buy some of the distortions and outright falsehoods being spread by such vermin. And, of course, the pharmaceuticals and the medical community are spending millions (billionms?) to discredit the health care reform initiative. Gas prices are creeping upwards again. That's gonna affect everybody and everything.

Why must Americans be so gullible??? These swindlers and deep pockets can only control us if people do not think for themselves and listen to the propaganda they put out without considering its source and its authemticity. Fear is winning out, just like it did for the 8 years prior to this.

We give in to this campaign of distortion, mistrust, and betrayal and we can just about kiss our democratic way of life good bye. In some ways, it's on life support already....

2009-10-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ugh!!!!

I look so chunky in the picture down below. My BMI now says that I am "morbidly" obese. Wish I had the resolve to do something about it...

Grades are posted on report cards for the first time and will go out on Tuesday. They were mostly good. the first time out, they often are. But there are signs, already, of students letting up. Next time out could be very different.

Our principal announced, formally, this past week, that he intends to retire at year's end. There was a lot of speculation, but no one knew for sure. Even he didn't know until this past week, or so he told us. Reasons? Red tape from Raleigh and central office are making the job more stressful. We all can relate. He also told one of my teammates that the job was getting to be "no fun" anymore. Probably a result of all the red tape, I would bet. I can fully understand.

The move is a two edged sword. In one respect, since he has been at the school since it opened, over 10 years ago, few, if any, things would change much so long as he was in charge. And SOME things DO need to change, I believe. I am not alone in that feeling either. But he has been good to the staff, seems to respect us and the kids. He knows what he is doing, even if some of the things he does cause me irritation. I'm not alone there either. He's not seeking to promote himself, at the expense of the school and the students, as another "principal" I endured seemed intent on doing. He has a lot of sway with the higher ups. More than all this, he tends to leave us alone and let us teach. There is no micromanagement.

I've been through four administration changes. Three of them were bad, very bad. Two of those changes severely impacted the school, the school community and staff morale. One of them nearly ran me out of the classroom for good. Sister Sandra was outright twisted. Some might say evil. Another gift in my life from the sisters of charity. But here I am dwelling on the past again. Gotta stop that.

This leaves me yet again pondering retirement. Only, now I find myself thinking of doing it at the end of THIS school year. It would mean finding another source of income, as I am not yet eligible for social security, but the pension from the state and the one from the military, things might be doable.

With all his flaws (and WHO of us doesn't have them?), they don't make administrators like our current principal anymore. They just don't. Too many, particularly the younger ones, are in it for the money, the prestige and the power they gain over the lives of others or a wicked combination of all three of those things. In a small, mostly rural, school system like mine, most of the good administrators have moved on to higher paying positions in the bigger school systems, leaving us with....well, you get the picture....

It sure was like that in alamance. And we just recently got one of their machiavelian principals as one of our deputy superintendents. Kinds of shows the direction things are going ih. And with the world eaten up with political correctness, who knows who or what they will send our way.

I'm not sure I want to stick around and find out.

Still, everything is only in the thought stages. And decision time is still far away.

I did something today that I wondered if I would ever do. I went back to st paul the apostle catholc church. The new priest seems like a really decent person.

Another lazy SAturday

2009-10-03T18:08:00.001-07:00

Found me a spot on the back porch of the Rebecca Clay Edwards library and did some serious lesson planning. Too much clutter and distraction at home. All I had to contend with at the library was one woman who parked herself in a chair not far away and an occasional visit from her son, neither of which bothered me. The porch has an open screen and a good breeze blew thru almost constantly. Add to this that the wireless internet was accessable out there and...

Tried to refinance my car and get out of the outrageous "deal"I signed myself into with Wells Fargo Financial. Why do I let those pirates fool me, not once, not twice, but three times???? No deal. Not enough equity. I'm no financial wizard, that's sure.

Coming up on six weeks

2009-10-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

Actually, this WAS the 6th week. This coming wednesday, we close out grades.

My teammates want me to stick around for a couple of more years after this one, but I am skeptical. Testamania seems to be intensifying and once again, at my current school, our lives and being are often defined by the EC department. Our schedule, our classes, our everything seem to be guided by a singular regard for students with exceptionalities while the needs and rights of other students are either neglected or disregarded. This week, we were trying to set up times for our "benchmark" tests (translate that, practice for the end of grade tests) and everything has been put on hold while accomodations are made for the exceptional students. None of us can plan for next week without knowing what next week will look like, yet we cannot do that because the EC department hasn't replied to our repeated request for information on how we are to procede. It isn't right. It isn't fair. Still, there isn't anything we can do about it.

Gotta be careful not to shoot my mouth off about it, this time. It won't help. It won't change anything.

In fairness, this team of special ed teachers have done their best. They are dealing with the same troubles and issues that we are all subject to. It just seems like that, this time, they let things get away from them. Perhaps not. But at least, they are making an effort to support us all and not merely to make their jobs easier and life more convenient for themselves, like most of the other special ed people I have dealt with.

I know we don't live in a perfect world. LOL! Good ole Sister Natalie used to suggest that I thought we did, way back when, at St. Pius. Now there was someone who would have made an excellent, very enabling, grandmother for some spoiled, pampered kids, but had absolutely NO business running a school. Well, let me qualify that. Those kids would have needed to be living in an upper crust neighborhood. Yup. Upper crust, overinduldged, yuppie larvae. Those were seemingly always the ones who gained advantage and special treatment, the ones with the money and the social and political connections. Ah yes...daughters of "charity," pledged to serve the "poor."

Gracious.....WHAT am I doing dwelling on the very past??? As Jesus, Himself, used to say....the troubles of today are enough.....

the maiden voyage of the chili pepper

2009-09-27T03:44:00.000-07:00

I am all the time taking the cheapest route, so this time, I didn't.

I have me a brand new, remix XP, kayak, bright red in color and swift, like the wind. I took it on its maiden voyage on the Nantahala yesterday afternoon. It cost me $850 dollars, but I had set aside nearly $1000 just for that purpose. I could have gotten a cheaper, smaller, boat with fewer "bells and whistles," but decided to do what I felt this go around. Payday is this coming up wednesday.

It rained on us nearly the whole trip, rained hard. I was wearing a wet suit and a rain jacket on top of that, so I stayed warm, even when I took an unexpected and unplanned swim in the river when I tipped my boat over and had to bail. Still don't know what it was that tripped me up. No matter. I just beached my boat, emptied the water, and boarded again and...off we went.

As I said earlier, the boat moves fast through the water. My greatest challenge was in not running away and leaving the other kayaks behind. That happened several times.

This will likely be my final kayak trip for the season. Summer seems to have gone by so quickly this year. The first day of fall ushered in but a few days ago and it is already noticeably cooler. Some of the trees here in the mountains are already changing color. It's morbid, but I always wonder, right around this time of year, if this might be my final summer. I do have heart disease and cannot seem to shed weight. That is a not so good combination. I feel fine, but felt that way back in 1999, just before my cardiac event. One never knows.

Still, better to live life while you have it rather than as if you might lose it tomorrow.

The more I ponder it, the more I favor early retirement. I turn 62 in December 2010 and am eligible for social security by June 2011. That, joined with my military pension and what I would get from the state, would provide me an income about equal to what I have now. And I could always work part-time, if needed.

It isn't that I dislike what I am doing. Indeed, I really like my 6th graders this year. It's all the other nonsense, the poor leadership, the politics, the focus on the almighty test, that is wearing me out. And after more than two decades of affiliation with the military, I just have NO tolerance for stupid, inept, and inefficient. I would not gain that much by continuing to work to regular retirement (I would be nearly 65 by then) and with the additional stress and aggravation, might I be shortening my life anyhow?

It all seems so logical from this viewpoint.

I will miss the kids. Yes I will. They've been the focus of my existence for oh so long. Never had any of my own. Never will. I gotta wonder how their absence will affect me too. Things are never simple, are they?

Still, there is still must to see and do in life and I would like to have time to experience all that before I am no longer able to. Always wanted to write, to travel; I owe myself something too.

IN THE MOUNTAINS OF nc tonight...

2009-09-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

....for one final fling.

Rain and dark most of the way, but here I am. Might get another kayak this weekend, one I can use on both the river and the lake. Not sure.

Things at school continue to go well....some of our 6th grade staff members not withstanding....

Turns out I can retire, with reduced benefits, since I am 60. I am sure thinking about it.

week #4already...

2009-09-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

Nearing the end of another week. Progress reports went home this week. Things continue to go well. Just wish our school wasn't so mired in the junior high school tradition. Our team, the Voyagers, is trying to unwork some of that. It will take some time and some serious effort.

2009-09-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

I've finally gone over.

The school year has gone so well that I have decided to "believe." That was hard for me, initially. Been burned too many times in the last four years.

2009-09-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

We ended up watching the President after all, led by our staunch republican, baptist, ELA teacher. Never woulda figured it. One of our other teachers, a weak teacher at that and not a particularly bright woman, stuck to her skepticism and refused to let her students see it.

I have never been able to stomach ignorance. This is no different.

What has happened to our country in the past 9 years?

A last fling of summer

2009-09-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

We made two runs down the Nantahala this weekend. Think I am getting better at this all the time. The confidence level is definetly up. I am still anxious beforehand, but that is actually good. Otherwise, I would just get careless. That could be dangerous.

Still, it has been an interesting weekend.

We met up with some friends and convoyed down the river. Today, there were fewer of us, but the trip was still a good one. The downside is that all three of us, Mike, Deb and myself, came out of it with a lot of aches and pains and totally exhausted. Still, we went out again today. Gotta wonder though, how much longer the three of us will be able to do this sort of thing. That old sun has gotta set. Just hope that doesn't happen soon.

I find myself highly irritated lately. President Obama is making an address to the nation's school children on Tuesday, exhorting them to do their best, to stay in school, etc etc. The right wing haters have turned it into a controversial event, saying the president is going to indoctrinate them, make them socialists, turn them against their parents. This is beyond absurd, not to mention tragic. Like they have done from the outset, the ring wing has slander and misinformed and distorted. What is most sad is that so many are buying into it.

I never realized just how very polarized we are as a nation.

I am starting to believe, but...

2009-09-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've done that before, only to have things go south.....

Last spring traumatized me more than I thought. Some of the students I had then were the worst I had had in about a decade.
Still, things continue to go well. The students do what I ask. I am actually doing more teaching and less dealing with behaviors than I can recall in awhile. I could get used to this.

Of course, that what I fear most.

I was hoping to go to two science workshops, one in Ft. Lauderdale in November and another in Houston in February, but we were told today that there is just no money for subs in terms of professional development. Odd, they are compeling us to attend a local workshop, some lame thing called reading across the curriculum, doubtless some repackaged panacea that didn't work the first time it was introduced. They have sub money for that. Some of the faculty was asking about that today and I remarked it was because someone needed to have their job validated.

I guess I am overly cynical these days.

2009-08-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

We're into week two. Things are still going pretty well. It's amazing the difference it makes when three teachers actually work together as a real team and use real middle school methods. The whole aura changes. Rather than three teachers, all doing their own thing with three groups of kids, we have three teachers who are actually looking out for and sharing concern for those kids. Yes, some strong vestiges of junior high remain. Only today, two teachers from what I call the junior high side of the 6th grade hall, came to me, wanting me to do the bus requests for all four field trips the 6th grade is going on. I don't mind doing it, but these women seem actually afraid of taking some independent action of their own. They are so used to and comfortable with "lock step, everyone together." One of them was the complainer than goaded our principal into deigning that all will take the same field trips. Is a little of autonomy and independent thought that much of a threat to them?

Seems that it is.

Funny though...just today, one of the "junior high" teachers noted that wehad a team name and remarked that her group ought to have one too. ah...subversion is so much fun...

2009-08-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

The first two days have been good ones. I don't see the nasty, mean little boy kind of things I saw last year. Not yet. I am guardedly optimistic, but afraid, as of yet, to really believe.

My greatest issues, thus far, have been with fellow staff. Some of our 6th grade teachers just have very difficult personalities. They are very teacher centered (junior high) and I've come to hate meeting as a grade level.

And so it begins....

2009-08-24T18:42:00.001-07:00

Summer is over for our kiddos. Back to the books and the routines tomorrow.

Ya know, it did seem shorter than ever before.

I had begun to think things would be better, until this afternoon. That was when the EC people came down and showed me how I have 7 ec kids in my last block class. That is the class with 29, the great majority of them boys. And, of course, just like it has been for years, I get virtually no support from the EC department. My classes are not tested and therefore don't matter. What short sighted people we have running our educational system. And, also, I am additionally on the "dumb" hall; the bitchy women on the "smart" hall get preference in student assignment. It's just easier to give in to these difficult women than it is to stand up to them and do what is right for the kids. I hate feeling this way, but the truth is a tough thing to get away from.

Still, I gotta give it my best go. I owe everybody that much.

Still, if things go bad and it looks as though I will have tough year, #4 in a row, then I don't plan to finish the year. I may not finish the semester. My health and sanity are far too important to me to just put up with it another year. I simply won't. Nope. And I don't need to. I will simply withdraw the tens of thousands I have in my retirement account, payoff the jeep, fix the house up and sell it or rent it out. Then I will go work for the Nantahala OUtdoor center or some outdoor program or perhaps even a private school, preferably one without EC kids. The modicum of income I get from that, coupled with the pension and bennies I get from my army retirement, will allow me to get by just fine.

I pray it doesn't come to that.

In the MOUNTAINS OF nc ...

2009-08-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

for one last fling. We did that yesterday. The NAnty was way up, with standing waves like I don't ever recall seeing; we moved faster too. It got tough in a few spots. I didn't spill, but thought I'd had it for sure a couple of times.

We have one more workday and then it's for real. Open house was an event. It usually is in this school. Nearly all of our students and their parents showed. Hard to gage how things will go. The ones that don't show are often an issue.

Overcoming inertia can be daunting....

2009-08-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

The painful part of our grade level meeting didn't last long, but I did not like what I heard and saw.

Rethink, Relocate or retire. That was his advice to us. Thankfully, for all of us, retiring is what he will do, hopefully at year's end. It's time, too. He then announced that we WOULD all do the same field trips, something he told us we did not have to do just last spring. He was simply giving in to one of the whiney women over on the other hall who was perturbed about the different field trips I had proposed. I am oh so weary of whining women who want to control the world.

If this guy does not retire, I am moving on to somewhere else myself.

If I canjust get by tomorrow's grade level meeting....

2009-08-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

without blowing my stack or losing my cool, then things should be okay. I feel a sense of rising excitement about the coming year. I am teamed with an actual middle school person and and a new teacher who has not been "infected" with junior highitis and or the ingrained sense of mediocrity and sameness that appears to exist. The coming weeks will tell.

Meantime, summer 2009 is history. And it was one for the record books too. Gonna miss having my days to do what I want, but I'm also eager to get back to doing what I love.

Good heavens! Did I say what I think I did?????

There might be hope after all....

Summer is just about over for me....

2009-08-16T18:58:00.001-07:00

We don't have to report to school until Tuesday, but I am going to drop in tomorrow, for a few hours anyway. I did that most days this past week. It's just time to get back into it again.

As I said before, I dread our grade level meeting. Mr. Hall seems pretty steamed up about some things. If it's about our not working together, I've no problem with that, but if it turns out to be about Mr Hall's ego being bruised, then I cannot deal with that.

It won't be real long now....

2009-08-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

I'm into my final week of my summer break. It went by oh so fast. But it has been a full summer. I've literally been from sea to shining sea....well, if one includes spring break, the last time I saw the Atlantic Ocean.

I am most surely hoping and praying that the coming school year will turn out well. Right now, I am dreading our first grade level meeting. It could get kind of tense. I never like that kind of thing, but there's little doubt that some things need to be done differently on the 6th grade hall. I am not the only one who feels that way. It seems like no matter where I go or what I do, controversy pops up. Sometimes I wonder if I am the cause of it.

The video above (if it EVER loads) is about the science workshop I did for middle school girls this summer. As I believe I said, I am skeptical about doing such a thing again. In previous years, it was a great experience. Not this time. The jury is still out on whether the failing is in me. I am actually inclined to doubt it.

2009-08-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

We did the Nanty, but I still did not have the courage to try running the falls. Mike did. Sometime this summer, I will too. But my kayak needs some repair. The seat is busted and I get little support from it. That makes it a strain to paddle.

I've departed from the Knights of Columbus. Just don't like the manner the chapter I belonged to is being run. Some of the personalities are none too pleasant either. My relationship with the Catholic Church is hanging by a frayed thread....

Going to go in and do somemore work at school tomorrow. One more week and we're back at school. The kids come the following week.

Summer is going by too quickly....

2009-08-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

Another school year will be upon us very soon, now. That should not worry me so much, but there are apparently some storm clouds on the horizon. Sigh. I thought I had left this sort of thing behind.

.

There is some contention among 6th grade teachers...something about "dumb hall versus smart hall," disgreement about field trips, and some comments made on the school satisfaction survey this past spring. Our principal has vowed to address these these things, most forcibly, at our first grade level meeting. What a way to begin a school year.

What is worse, for me, is that I might have made one of the inflamatory comments. I do not honestly recall. The only thing I am sure of is that I was very aggitated when I filled out the survey and, thereby, very capable of saying things I should not have. I really ought to know better than to do such a thing, but apparently I am still not. Supressed anger can be a very destructive thing.

I'm headed for the mountains, again, this afternoon.

The next school year is on the horizon.....

2009-08-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

We don't report for another two weeks, but I can see the dust of the approaching stampede. I hope this school year goes better than the last four have....ALL of it, not just the first half of it. I don't think I can stand it again. Alas...maybe I just don't have the stamina anymore.... That thought has crossed my mind.

Looking back, I suspect that some of the trauma was the mid year switch of students. The second group was clearly of a lower caliber and had many more challenges than the first one did. Switching students in the midst of a school year would never be easy, but would be made particularly difficult if the students I inherited were difficult.

Working with different teachers didn't help either. The first two, whom I worked with during the first half of the year, were clearly better teachers than the ones I had to work with the second half. I hate having to say that, but I feel it is true.

Neither of those situations will present itself this year. I will have the same students all year and work with the same, two teachers.

And, honestly, some of the blame is mine. I was not as consistent as I might have been and didn't establish or enforce expectations in a way that I should. After 25 years, I ought to know to do that. But being in a new situation, not knowing community mores and expectations complicated things. I won't have that excuse this year.

IN THE MOUNTAINS OF nc tonight...

2009-07-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

When I ponder it, modern transportation is amazing. Days ago, I stood gazing at the might of mt st. helens. Today, I ran the Nantahala River in my kayak. I do get around....

Home again

2009-07-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

Mt. St. Helens was awesome, even spewed a bit of steam for me. I took photos, some of which I will eventually post here.

We flew through some fearsome storms on the way home, but here I am, back home. It feels good. Now, back to the grind.....

Kirkland, Washington

2009-07-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

We roamed about the Seattle area, talked a lot about past times, about Ginny's search for a job, about a lot of things. I've gotten to know more about Ginny in the last 24 hours than I ever did in all the years we spent at camp.

I'm on my own the rest of today. Might head south....towards Mt. St. Helens....

Everett, Washington

2009-07-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Washington is really scenic. The ride up from Eugene was something. I initially thought I had blunder in going by AMTRAK. The train was jam packed. There were two whiney toddlers, one in front and one in back and the guy seated next to me...I truly suspect he was on drugs or had some emotional issues. I finally determined that I could move to the lounge car and went there for the duration of the trip. The view was better (I had an aisle seat) and the company too. Food was EXPENSIVE, but I rather expected that. I think next time, I might do the business class thing. I could see my doing an extended trip on AMTRAK, in short segments, knowing what I know now.

I met Ginny at the station. We barely recognized one another. It's been 6 years. Time passes. Things and people change. And neither of us is getting any younger. Such is reality.

The two of us were commenting on how much our lives were impacted by our summer camp experience, oh so many years ago. Those who have never experienced that could never fully understand and those of us who have could never explain well enough for others to comprehend.

We'll be going out and exploring the Seattle area today. Still undecided about whether I will fly home tomorrow or the next day. Of course, I don't know if I will ever be out this way again. That's gonna be a consideration.

Our next school year is taking shape. Yes, I am already looking at that. It seems I will get to team with the person I hoped to team with. Just hope our principal does not change his mind at the last moment and decide to accomodate that difficult "teacher" on the other hall. We will have a new math teacher. Not certain what to think about that, but I have to believe it will be an improvement over the one we had before. Not sure exactly why I feel that way, but I do.

Today is the forty year anniversary of the first moon landing. Wow. Has it really been that long? Sure doesn't seem like it. There is talk about returning to the moon and then going to Mars and beyond. The students I have in my classroom now will be the ones who get to go that. I tell them that quite often. Told the girls in my summer program, too. Some say we shouldn't spend the money or time, should not take the risks, but yet, how has this country, indeed, the human race ever gotten anywhere or prospered in any way without doing those things?

We are living in some turbulent economic times. No doubt about that. But not looking ahead, thinking about the future....that isn't wise. All we do, then, is stagnate, become hesitant and timid. There are those in our society who favor that. I hope we don't wind up listening to them.

And so it ends

2009-07-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

Funny, when I took the post test today, a device intended to measure how much we learned this week, I knew OHHHHHH so much more than I did when I took the pretest last week.

Gotta wonder if there is a lesson to be learned in that.

I depart tomorrow afternoon, via Amtrak, headed for Seattle. Going to see an old CCR friend there, then fly home on Wednesday. This has been quite an adventure. I guess I should not complain so much about things. I just don't like having my time wasted or being bored. That has been particularly true since I suffered my heart attack back in 1999. Time almost ended for me back then. I don't like having it squandered now.

One more day

2009-07-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Today is the final day of "he Heat from within."

The presenters mean well, but among the workshops I have taken that were affiliated with NASA, this one rates as the absolute bottom tiered. It will be good to have it behind me.

My future plans are a little muddled right now. I would love to go over to the Oregon Coast and look around, but am not sure my budget can support that, a trip up to WAshington state and a flight home. Gonna have to see what I can work out.

I've just about settled on another year at my current school. True, there are some things that go on there that vex me a bit, but nowhere is perfect and with the unsteady economics of the times, I might do well to just stay put for now.

It will be good to get home, whenever that is this coming week. Visiting the great american northwest has been good, but like Dorothy said it so well....there is no place like home.

Back at the university of Oregon

2009-07-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's good to be off that bus. Four days was an ordeal. Two more days of classes. One more rock lecture and....well, at the end, when most everyone else got off at a stop, I just stayed on. I had simply reached my saturation point...

Crater Lake was very scenic. I have never seen water that blue.

Diamond Lake

2009-07-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

today was the longest day yet. It seemed like we toured the whole of the east oregon desert. And I HATE desert! At one point our bus brakes started smoking and there were visions of our being stranded in the desert. We were lucky. That didn't happen. But our guides from LPI just do not seem to grasp that the rest of the world does not live eat, breathe and exist for the study of igneous rocks. If I had had to endure another rock lecture today, in the relentless desert sun, there is no telling what I might have done.
Tonight we are in the Diamond Lake resort, on the shores of crater lake, oregon. Beautiful place. Certainly more scenic than the high desert! But the mosquitoes are legion! They drove me indoors tonight.
We've one more day in the field. Then it's back to the university.

Bend, Oregon

2009-07-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

We've been all over eastern oregon in the past two days. Volcanoes everywhere.

I guess I am not into geology so much as I thought. Everytime we stop, we are subjected to detailed and overdone lectures on the types of igneous rocks there, how and why. Our earth science teachers in the group are delighted, of course, but as someone who teachers general science and only skims over geology with 11 year olds... TMI...too much information.

We go to Crater Lake tomorrow.

Eugene, Oregon

2009-07-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

Rainy and dreary.

Someone told me Oregon was like that. They claim it will clear up and get sunny beginning tomorrow. I confess to being a little skeptical....

It was a LONG flight, 5 1/2 hours from Washington Dulles to Portland. I nearly missed my connecting flight o Eugene. Stayed in a dive of a motel for the night, after my shuttle driver recommended it. I guess he meant well...

Got a phone call this evening, telling me that my water dragon, ET, was killed by the cat of the people keeping my pets. They had promised that would not happen. Just hope it doesn't go for one of the birds next!

It saddens me. I had ET for many years.