Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

I finally received my placement in Milwaukee Public Schools. Unfortunately, though I still don't know my grade or subject matter. So, I continue to look for general lesson plans and general thoughts about teaching math. I'm currently reading an interesting book about how to teach problem solving.

I suppose I should also be working on items that I know I'll have to do at one point or another. For example, my certification class requires that I write out my Philosophy of Education and a Letter to the Parents.

However, the unemployed life has been fun. I have been "bumming" around the house, cleaning and fixing things. I still spin and swim in the mornings. I have been shopping and lounging in coffee shops. I have been able to volunteer some time at the church and help Katie set up her classroom. Who needs a job?

Neighbors

I moved into my new house yesterday. I've begun to meet my neighbors. The guy to the south has already offered to "keep an eye on [our] house and shoot anyone breaking into it". To the north, our punk neighbors told us that they like to have "shows" about once a month. I asked them to please warn us ahead of time. Christie wonders if we'll be invited. I think we may be too square.

I lied about my employment status during yesterday's closing. So, I keep imagining the bank coming to my house and forcing me to move out. The word "default" is terrifing.

Things I Have Found While Packing

• Bills due last week
• My Social Security Card
• Frozen Date Bread
• Motivation to post on the Blog
• "Made in Korea" written on my plates. Notice only one Korea.
  

Unemployment

Well, yesterday was my last day as an actuarial analyst. And currently I don't have a job lined up in the school district. They say that I will be placed somewhere, but until I see the contract, I won't feel 100% secure. I am sad to leave the friends that I made at the firm, but I have no regret about leaving the work behind. What feels good is how many of my coworkers told me that I was making the right move. Even the management (and partners in the firm!) said that I would be much happier.

My (ex-) peers have been supportive. Last night we went drinking at the local Dueling Piano Bar. I had a great time. I sang and yelled enough that my throat is sore today. My voice is much deeper today, which has me singing all types of things. "Old Man River" for one.

Next week I am buying a house with Christie. I don't know if I'm excited about the house or not. I'm very scared, but it feels so much better going at this with a friend. At least we can bounce ideas off of each other. And we are able to share the multiple tasks that this process takes.

All of this stress is having an effect on me. I'm not sleeping well, which is very unlike me. My skin is dry in patches, like around my eyes. And I've been irritable on occasion. For example, Christie and I went washer/dryer shopping today. It was a bad experience and, to skip the details, ended with my frustrated request to the front end manager to "explain the amortization schedule they were using for the 'interest-free' payments." The manager gave me a look that said, "I don't get paid enough to deal with wackos like you." And I think Christie almost kicked me.

Bite me.

This is my last week as an actuarial analyst. Friday will be my last day working on pension valuation and administration. I will leave behind the world of the PBGC Form 5500, service cost roll forwards, and Qualified Domestic Relations Order calculations. I will instead enter a world of lesson plans, prom committees, and children who bite their teachers.

Today I skipped work (at the job who still provides my medical benefits) so that I could go to training for Crisis Prevention for Milwaukee Public Schools. It's a two day course, so I'll be skipping work tomorrow too (at the job that actually pays me). Part of the training feels silly. For example, we have to memorize these four stages of crisis, verbatim. Don't say that stage one is "stress" because the correct answer is "anxiety".

Anyway, the bookwork is pretty dumb, however I think that the practical part of the lesson will be useful. We do a good deal of role playing. We pretend that we're students refusing to do homework, or who punch teachers, or who threaten the teachers' cats. It's good to be able to practice responses to things that we had never considered possible. The student-teacher verbal interactions took place during the morning. But the real fun was the afternoon.

After lunch we practiced techniques to escape various holds that students may try on us. We'll do more tomorrow, but today we covered Wrist Grabs, Hair Pulling, Choking, and Biting. That's right - biting! Are students really going to bite me? I didn't sign up for biting students. I just want to teach them to solve systems of equations. With two variables. I want their teeth nowhere near my skin. Not just because teeth hurt, but because some of them have awful dental hygiene. And some of them don't have all of their teeth. They have a "grill". That's has to cause more damage than normal incisors. And if it's gold, couldn't I end up with gold poisoning in my blood? I hope my medical coverage will handle gold . This medical coverage doesn't begin until November. I have two months during which I can't let any students bite me.

A Teacher's Budget

This weekend I found a great sale at an office supply store. I was able to buy:

10 notebooks
3 protractors
24 pencils
24 pens
10 folders

for $2.45. I rock school supplies.

Headlights

I have been at my parents' house in Moscow, Pennsylvania for the past week. I'm home for the Croom-daddy wedding. Today Lindsay will leave behind her single ways and become Mrs. Croom-daddy. In the week between the bachelor party and the wedding I have had plenty of chances to spend time with family and friends. Sometimes we just talk, but often we eat and drink while we catch up.

As I drive around NEPA, I am reminded of the skills that I learned while growing up in a rural area that I don't use very often in Milwaukee. For example, scanning the upcoming road for deer and looking at other drivers so that I can wave if I know them. Another important set of rules that I almost forgot about is the use of high beams instead of the normal head lights when I'm on dark roads.

The thing about driving on back roads is that you need to use the high beams as much as possible. If you just use your normal head lights, you'll easily be over-riding them and by the time that you see a deer or other obstruction you will already have hit because you didn't have enough distance to stop. However, you can't leave your high beams on all of the time because then you'll blind the other drivers. Of course, some people forget, so you just have to flash them once and then they'll realize their mistake.

On windy roads, I like how I can tell when a car is approaching by looking at the reflection of its lights on the telephone wires. I like being able to tell at what point he turned off his high beams. It's also an interesting situation when I approach another car on a long stretch of flat road. This is because we know that we don't have to turn off the high beams as soon as we see each other - there are still several hills between us. However, at what point does our own vision need to be held back because it's hindering someone else's? It's a question that goes so much farther beyond Rts. 307 and 435. It's a question for life. How much do we sacrifice for other people?

How much do we sacrifice when we don't know the other people - and we never will meet the other people. They're traveling in the opposite direction at 65 m.p.h. and all we have to know each other is the shape of our headlights. But we both made simple changes to help the other person's journey.

Work Hugs

It's acceptable to hug your coworkers when you give your notice that you plan to quit. Who knew?

Death by Popsicle

If I don't wake up tomorrow, it's probably because I ate expired popsicles. Seriously, my popsicles expired back in May. It's frozen fruit juice - how does it expire? Well, to test it out, I let the neighbors' dog try it. He's not dead yet. Just kidding. It was the neighbors' kid.

In other death-defying news, I am one step closer to home-ownership following the home inspection that we had on Friday. Our home inspector was Mr. Fix-it. Really. Mr. Fix-it has a radio show on the AM, and he inspected our house. Our realtor was impressed when we told him, however he wished we had told him earlier so that he could get Mr. Fix-it's autograph. I reminded him that we did get Mr. Fix-it's autograph - on our 30 page Inspection Report.



Anyway, it appears that Christie and I are about to buy a death trap! If the chimney doesn't fall on our heads in the night, then surely we will be electrocuted by the mis-wired electric outlets. And don't forget the asbestos!
Actually the inspection went very well. We do have a few things that need to be fixed before the closing, but they're not too big. And some are code violations that would need to be fixed whether we had the inspection or not. Christie and I are already planning the house warming party. See more pictures at Flickr!

Moving on Up

Last week, Christie and I settled on a price for the duplex that we want to buy. Our only contingencies are based on the financing and the inspection. The financing should be no problem. The inspection could uncover something big, but we don't plan on that. So, it seems that I will be a homeowner in mid-August. It's exciting and scary at the same time. When I have pictures, I will be sure to post them.

There are 5 bedrooms in the house, a sleep-able attic, and 2 more futons. Of course, Christie owns half of this, but all of this free housing has to place Milwaukee as a contender for New Year's Eve 2008. MilONYE!

Conversation

At Mick and Kate's wedding

Christie: That was a nice picture of you in the slideshow. When did they take that?
Me: I don't know. Probably the night we went out for Kate and Molly's birthday, which is only a few days before mine.
Chrisite: That's weird - they have the same birthday. Oh wait, they're twins.

Mom

My mom came to visit this week. After three days of my sleeping on the floor (because she had my bed and my cousin had my futon), I convinced her to go to a hotel. My reasoning was that they have air-conditioning. And I would be more pleasant if I weren't sleeping on the floor. (I have beautiful hard wood floors. Beautiful to look at; not beautiful to enjoy via your back.)

I am not sure if Mom had a good time here in Milwaukee. I was very busy so we didn't spend a ton of time together. I worked on the weekdays, because I'm saving my vacationtime for a trip home in July. And I had to continue my house-hunt as the deadline looms. She was invited to come on both house-hunting trips but decided against it. (I am so thankful for this as I don't think she will like the neighborhood to which I am moving.) And it was hot, which she talked about frequently.

However, we did go to the Lakefront Brewery for its Fish Fry. And we sat right in front of the polka band! We did go to the Botanical Garden, which we both enjoy. It's one of the few things we have in common. We like gardens. We both like looking at landscaping. She likes plants for their beauty. I like them for their Latin names. Quercus alba! We also had some great meals. Milwaukee did not let me down in the food department.

Hit the books

This week I started my evening class to prepare me as a teacher for Milwaukee Public Schools. My first homework assignment was due at 11:59 tonight. I submitted it at 11:49 - ten minutes to spare. This is not the best way to start a new career.

Beads

As a member of the Easttown Association, I received 3 free tickets to Milwaukee's Bead and Button show this weekend. Score! And I'm allowed to ask for more if I need them. I'm thinking about going just because it would make an interesting blog entry.

Grilling!

The last time Trevor invited me to grill there was snow on the ground. This time, there were thunderstorms overhead. Despite the rain and cold, we had a great time tonight. Christie summed up the experience well: "I was miserable, but I had a lot of fun." See the pictures below.

What do you think, Christie? Rain?

Funcionality before Fashion.

Christie: I can't tell which ones are the Boca Brats, because they're too charred. Sorry, Trevor. Great job grilling. I like them charred. They're good.

The realtor just left my apartment and Christie and I just signed our offer for a house that we want to buy. While we have only been going through this since Sunday, I feel that it has been a lifetime. I am so tired by all of the reading, and talking, and haggling. But I have a good feeling that I am going to become a homeowner. It feels weird to type that, let alone to actually know it.

The building is a duplex - two apartments with the same layout set on top of one another. There is an attic and a basement, both of which we would share. There is a two-door garage and a garden; grass to mow. There is a porch and a balcony. The building is old, more than 100 years. It has character. It also has hard wood floors, a claw-foot bathtub, and a shrubery.

The neighborhood is not the best. But it is certainly not the worst. Riverwest is the area of town where the hippies and the hipsters live. There may be more crime there than in the white picket fences neighborhood, but there's also a stronger neighborhood association, of which our realtor has already invited us to join. The Food Co-op is only two buildings away from the house. And there are two coffee shops within a block as well. We're a block from my favorite bus line - the same one that Christie takes to work. Oh, and there's a sex toy shop on the corner too.

My feelings are all over the board. I'm excited, but extremely nervous. I hope I did not make the wrong decision. I keep thinking of all that can go wrong. And I feel guilty when I catch myself thinking of all that can go right. But mostly I just feel tired.

Memorial Day Check List

• Eat frozen custard
• Yard Sales
• Run - twice
• Bike ride
• Finish Sophie's World after months of reading it
• Clean up the house - especially the bathroom
• View house to buy, meet with realtor, place offer on house
• Buy flights home to Pennsylvania
• Buy books
• Swim multiple laps
• Eat sushi
• Cheer for the Memorial Day Parade
  

One day, lad, all this will be yours!

PRINCE HERBERT:

What, the curtains?

FATHER:

No. Not the curtains, lad. All that you can see, stretched out over the hills and valleys of this land! This'll be your kingdom, lad.

- Monty Python and the Holy Grail


Tonight I am hanging curtains on the windows of my apartment. They look so much better than the blinds. But more importantly, now I can leave the windows open, and not wear pants!

Today, I learned a valuable lesson about tailgating the car in front of you on the highway. Don't do it. Because the driver may vomit out his window and splatter your car worse than a swarm of bugs. True story.

That sums up my day: vomit on the car and hanging curtains.

Prayer Rug

I received a Prayer Rug in the mail today. I didn't ask for it; someone sent it me. It's not really a rug. It's a large piece of paper that has been folded up. It has the design of a Persian rug, but then there's a large picture of Jesus in the middle of it. Jesus' eyes are drawn to be closed, but the directions with the rug say that if you look at them long enough they appear to open up. Then you are too kneel on the Prayer Rug (Prayer Sheet of Paper) and ask for what you need. You then write your prayer on the letter that came with the "rug" and send it to another person.

It's a little strange. The weirdest part is that I'm not sure who sent it to me. And I'm suspicious, but I can't find anywhere that I'm to send money. Currently the Prayer Rug is in my garbage. I feel a little strange about that, but I really don't want to hold onto it.

In other news, Tyler commented on the blog. He didn't say much, but it sure is nice to hear from him. I've been writing to him each week since he was sent to Iraq, but I have no idea when (or if) the letters reach him. I wonder if he got the porn I sent him. Maybe the censors "censored" it for themselves. Just kidding, Tyler. There's no porn coming your way from me. But, Adina - she might send you some.

Three paragraphs is all it took for me to get from "Prayer Rug" to "Pornography".

Go Brewers!

Milwaukee is very excited about the 2007 season. Check it out.