Memorial Day - Riverwest Style

I had a nice Memorial Day. It was quiet, but here are some highlights. Sunburn. Mosquito bites and yard work. A swim. A bike ride. Finished a great book - City of Thieves - read it! A water ski show. But then, you know how my day ended? A mayonnaise eating contest!

I simply wanted to buy some organic, locally grown spinach from my co-op. However, when I saw the contest being held outside, I had to stay and watch. The two guys split a jar of mayonnaise - actually it was Vegannaise, which I am not sure if that increases or decreases the gross factor of the contest. The guys were on their 28th spoonful when I arrived. They would only need 2 more each to finish the jar. It was strange to watch, but I felt that I had to stay because I really don't feel as if I'm a part of the neighborhood yet. I recognize people and they probably recognize me too. So, I took my first step today to get to know my neighbors. I cheered them on as they ate vegannaise by the spoonful.

Happy Memorial Day.

Grief?

Last Monday, someone broke into my house. The thief stole my computer, my digital camera, some cash, and my DVDs. I now realize that he (or she!) also took some of my security. The lost computer is not such a big deal because of the money, but because of all of the information stored on it - especially the pictures. And all of the ridiculous items I have been producing so that I can finally finish my licensing to become a teacher. Back to the drawing board, I suppose.

Anyway, today I was thinking about the DVDs that were taken. Only my West Wing and Lord of the Rings collections remain, so obviously the thief has no culture. I'm not much of movie guy, so I won't really miss the movies for the film value. But almost all of them had some sentimental value - or belonged to someone else. I had three movies from Jon - two of which were uncommon French Canadian films and hard to replace. I had a documentary from a guy at church about the Cuban medical system. I'm sure to find that one at Target next to Bringin' Down the House. I also had a library loaner. Owe, I hope the thief returns it to the library.

Many of the other titles were gifts. Shrek - a Christmas present from an aunt, The Shawshank Redemption from Tom, Dead Poets' Society a going-away gift from my co-workers when I left to become a teacher. I don't want them back because I plan to watch them again. I want them back because they were gifts.

Yesterday during class, one of my quiet Asian girls flipped out at her classmates. She tries so hard to concentrate during the lesson and she's surrounded by hooligans. She struggles to concentrate with so much chatter and tomfoolery around her. And then yesterday she snapped. Another student woke up during her tirade and said to the others, "I don't know what you did to make her snap, but I would stop it." When I told her 9th grade teacher about the episode he laughed but he seemed proud. "Good for her." he said, which is how I think most of the teachers and reasonable students felt too. When she was done, I only shook my head and told the class, "She's right."

Unfortunately most of the students laughed at her. Some of it might have been uncomfortable laughter. I hope most of it was because deep inside I want to believe that the majority of the students know that they have to do well in school (and in life). But I know that there was definitely mean-spirited laughter in that room. Kids can be so cruel. Of course, adults can be cruel too. And that's what worries me the most. I'm not sure how many "kids" were laughing. I think they could have been some young adults. And I worry that they just may be mean people who will not "grow out" of this.

The church service today was not especially moving. However, it was worth sitting through if only for the following statement from the minister. After a painfully performed anthem offered by one of the more colorful congregants, the minister acknowledged her by saying, "Yes, He surely knows how much we can bear." I found this hilarious. Why was I the only one laughing?

Mother's Day Record

On this Mother's Day I talked to my grandfather, my grandmother, and my mom in 7 minutes, 33 seconds. We don't banter about in this family.

Less Than Expected

Another teacher called me in the middle of class today to ask me which is the "greater than" sign. My students overheard the conversation. I'm still not sure how many people I should tell about this. At least he is not one of our math teachers.

Summer, are you really coming?

Even though temperatures dropped below freezing this weekend, and there is a chance of snow flurries tomorrow, I'm a little tempted to think of this past weekend as a prelude to summer. By postponing several work assignments to Sunday night (and later this week), we managed to achieve several of our Summer Goals just this week. First, Trevor, Christie, and I drove out to Madison for the Crazylegs Classic 8K run on Saturday morning. I can't believe how cold it was. My normal rule is that I don't run when the temperatures are less than 50, but I made an exception because I had already paid the registration fee. And I didn't realize how cold it was until we passed a thermometer on our way there.

We spent most of the day in the city visiting with friends who used to live in Milwaukee. As we had spent the morning running 5 miles, it was pretty low-key. And any time we hit a lull in a conversation, someone would just begin singing "I'm not gonna write you a love song. Cause you ask for it." We're not necessarily fans of the song. It just played on the radio frequently and we could never get it out of our heads.

Later that evening we headed to a local cocktail lounge. I can't even begin to describe how beautifully tacky this place is. But it has shimmering poinsettia trees and wood panel walls among its decor.

This evening we went to a bell choir concert at Concordia University, where Amanda went to school. She gave us a little tour, but it was too windy for us to eat our dinner on the bluff as we had originally planned. The concert was pretty good. It made me a little homesick for Moscow. Right now, I miss high school and how much simpler life was then.

Update

I'm sorry that I've been so bad about posting lately. But you see, the temperature of Wisconsin is now above freezing, and the snow if finally receding. My students are still demanding a great deal of my attention and the class that I'm taking is winding down. I have all sorts of assignments due in the next month. I handed in one of them on Tuesday, only to have given back to me on Friday to redo. Super. And this weekend I had to write a "self-identity autobiography" that focuses on my cultural background. I sit at my desk and think about the beautiful weather outside, I keep telling myself that I will have all the time I want in July and August.

And to be perfectly honest, I have had some quality down time recently. Bluegrass Wednesdays is still hot. Our kickball team is 1-1, which is already better than last year's record of 0 and every game we showed up to. I attended an MSO concert and saw the new conductor's first concert. And today I saw a woman with a Skip-it running down the street. And you know what my reaction was? I want a skip-it too.

This week is also looking to be jam-packed. I hope to find some time to tell you all about it.

Flattery?

Dental Hygienist (to me): You have good saliva flow. That's a good thing.

Stories from Home

My sister reports the followin from my mom after she saw a young hawk flying around the house.

Mom: I saw an egg in the woods last week and thought it was a squirrel egg...but maybe it was a hawk egg.

Spring Break, Day 5

I woke up at 5:30 this morning so that I could make it to the Spin class that I haven't been to since I began teaching. It kicked my butt.

I have several pictures from Easter. Hopefully I'll get to posting them some time today. Otherwise my plans for today include finishing my taxes and grading papers. Boy, oh boy, if I could get all of my "business" done early this week, the upcoming weekend would be super.

Google Maps

I found my car on google maps. Is it strange that I was looking for it? I figured that the pictures of the Milwaukee streets were taken last year, so I just looked around my old apartment for my car. And I found it!

No syrup for you!

We were turned away from a pancake breakfast today, because we had not registered and they weren't sure if they had enough maple syrup for us. What gives? Go to the store and buy some extra syrup. What a dumb fund-raiser.

Twice this weekend I have found myself driving through the ghetto and blasting Kenny Loggins on the radio. Footloose and I'm Alright.

PA Updates

My mom called me the other day with updates from home.

Mr. So-and-so died, which is too bad because his son was finally getting married this year. "Finally" because the bride graduated with me and they were dating back in high school. I've known the bride since kindergarten; we trick-or-treated together. The groom played bells next to me in the church bell choir.

One of the local firefighters, who is also a PennDOT employee, found the body parts of a dead (duh!) person on the side of the local highway. They found most of the woman except for her hands, which they needed for identification purposes. So, my sister, along with several other people in the area, volunteered to comb the area for the hands. Kelly didn't find them, but she did find a bag of poop. This leads us to more puzzling questions of who throws bags of poop to the side of the highway.

I gave these updates to Christie, but she already knew them. She told me she forgot to pass along those stories because they were surpassed by another story from her father. I remember her telling this story. It began like this:

Christie: Guess who called my father this week? Dr. Phil!

Of course, after a lead-in like this, weddings and murders are forgotten.

Seven degrees feels warm tonight.

Triangles

I'm grading the quizzes that my students took on polygons this week. The highest grade in 4th hour is a 60%. They are identifying polygons. Triangles and squares. Convex and concave. What am I going to do?

Here's an interesting conversation that happened this week.

Student: Man, it smells like liquor. You know one of those fruity drinks.
[Actually I think a girl had sprayed some perfume.]

Student: (to me) Have you been drinking? Have you ever had alcohol?

Me: No.
Me: (thinking) I'm actually hung-over right now.

2007 - Year in Review!

Better Late than Never

January.

• Began the year in Philadelphia among friends.
• Chugged along at work though not very satisfied.
• New ministers at church. Sure they came out of retirement, but they had spunk.

February

• Took a Pilates class. By “took” I mean I signed up for 8 weeks and only went twice.
• Took the bus more. Yea! Public Transportation.
• Not much happened in February.
  

March

• Flew to Europe with Felecia and Charley. Whirlwind tour of 4 countries in 7 days.
• Learned that Holland and the Netherlands are the same.
• Sang, danced, thought about life, and took pictures of French things.
• Continued to chug along at work, but applying for an alternative teacher-certification program.
• Forgot to register for an actuarial exam. Oops. Secretly relieved.

April

• Attended Brewers Opening Day. Proud to be Brewer fan.
• Met with a new pastor for the church.
• Took an exam for teacher certification; lie to get out of work for that morning.
• Easter included an egg hunt in the dark.
• Crazy Legs was first fun run of the season. 8 Kilometers. With our late registration we were in the last wave. Because we were at the back of the pack, we spent the entire race passing other runners. Not once did someone pass us.
  
• Trevor hosted first cook-out of the season though there is still snow on the ground.
• Attend ed retirement party and confirmed that I do not want to work for the Man.

May

• Worked a great deal even though I had been accepted to a teacher-certification program (MTEC).
• Organize MS Walk team – with only 1 other co-worker.
• Organize Symphony on the Square at lunchtime – with only 2 other co-workers.

June

• Jess visited during Riversplash. We had a blast and I tried to convince her to move to Milwaukee with my super friends.
• Christie and I talked about purchasing a duplex together.
• Met with real estate agent.
• Met with mortgage brokers.
• Small ulcer developed.
• Last golf outing with work. Said good-bye to job perks.
• Mick got married. Boogie-woogied as every white boy should.
• Ran in the Beer Run, the only race I know of sponsored by Miller.
• Mom and Alaina visited.
• Surreptitiously attended MTEC classes.
• Ulcer grows.

July

• Offer on house accepted. OMG!
• Announce d my intention to leave my job. But still plan to take the following week off.
• Storm the Bastille 5K Run through the streets of Milwaukee. Vive la France!
• Flew home for the Croomdaddy wedding.
• Got a little homesick.
• Rode a jet-ski for the first time.
• Visit ed NYC with aunt and cousins.
• Hope springs eternal for Hardy, Fielder, and the Brew Crew.

August

• Quit job.
• Bought a house.

September

• Started school.
• Showed various signs of stress.
• Slept less.
• But have much better stories to tell.
• Lost our first (but not last) kickball game. Did well at the bar afterwards.
• Flew to Philadelphia for Adina’s wedding.
• Tease, joke, gossip, eat, drink, and dance.
• Host Ugandan orphans in my house overnight. Talked to their chaperon, Julius, about being a twenty-something in the 21^st century in our different countries.

October

• First parent-teacher conferences.
• First homecoming dance.
• Learned that the latest dance craze is to hump the floor.
• Weekly kickball continues – thank goodness.
• Attended kickball tournament on a Saturday morning.
• Begin drinking at 9 am.
• Meet Papa Smurf.
• Organized church’s team for CROP walk. Realize that we have more Jews on our team than Christians.
• Jacob moves in for 3 months. Make the joke that I only live with “Jacobs” several times.

November

• Just kept swimming.
• Word of the Month: Survival
• Threw a House Warming Party with a wide range of people. Success!
• Ran around the zoo for the Jingle Bell Run
• Observed Dan Goldin Day with a Brewery Tour. This year we actually made it!
• Recognize another teacher working at the brewery. Say Hi.
• Went on another brewery tour later on in the month.
• Hope that fellow teacher/brewery worker does not remember me and the frequency of my tours.
• Teach origami to my students.
• Celebrated Thanksgiving with a close group of friends. Give Thanks.

December

• Countdown the 20 school days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Told by several people to “Hang in there.” Even the homeless guy who sat with me at the Co-op one day when there weren’t enough tables and we had to share.
• Realized that I am a bluegrass fan.
• Realized that Trevor is an a capella fan and Christie definitely is not.
• Flew to Moscow for the holidays.
• Tried to fly back to Milwaukee but became stranded in Cleveland.
• Drove a yellow mustang convertible back to Wisconsin in 8 hours.
• Welcomed my friends to MilONYE.
• Blacked out after 9pm on NYE.

She's not kidding

Student: How did I fail the exam? What did I need to pass?
Me: You need at least 60% to pass.
Student: But I did about half of the exam. That must be at least a B.
Me: Actually, if you only did half, the highest you could possibly get is a 50%, so that's less than 60%.
Student: Oh, ok.

Pictures!

In the My Pictures folder on my computer, I have an entire folder dedicated to the German Beer Hall. I had to create sub-folders to organize all of the pictures in there. Here is one of those pictures. This is Emily. She's a magnet for odd men. Here she has attracted a man in a silly hat. The bar was full of men in silly hats that night. All of their plumes were getting caught in the taxidermy on the walls. It was a haberdasher's nightmare.