I really need to update this more often!
School is out! Yay! I survived and am enjoying my summer so far. It is nice to have to get up somewhat early in order to get Evan ready for school; I am usually out of bed around 7 - 7:15 to make sure I have his lunch made and ready before he wakes up. The days are pretty quiet after I drop him off, it is nice. I don't have a chance to get bored because there is so much to do, both have to and want to - I work in a little of both each day. The office floor is still in progress, that is to say, we are working on completing the thresholds. It shouldn't take this much time or energy, but the unforeseen will always show when you want a job to go easily. As if that wasn't enough, and quite frankly, it wasn't, we now have eight new doors to install around the house (Home Depot was having a sale - 6 panel doors, all sizes, $25). In addition to replacing the doors in the office, we are replacing the doors upstairs in the hallway (3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 closet). It should be a little challenging since they are not bored, I will have to rout the doors for the hinges and bore the holes for the knobs - it will probably be more time consuming than I will anticipate (I think the "Rule of 4" will apply - if it is a project that you are not very familiar with, take the expected amount of time necessary and multiply by 4, that should result in how long the project will actually take!).
Fathers' Day was this past weekend. I have to say, it was probably the best Fathers' Day I have had in my now 7 years of being a Dad, not that we did anything out of the ordinary. We got up and Michelle made a variety of pancakes to choose from - plain, blueberry, banana. Next we went to Putt Putt to play miniature golf, ride the Go Karts and play some games. We then stopped at Taco Bell to pick up some lunch and bring it to Lake Johnson pool. From there, after changing from our bathing suits, we went to see Kung Fu Panda (funny movie, I highly recommend it!). And finally we went to dinner at Ruckus Pizza. Clearly a full day. It was very enjoyable!
I have been able to post some pictures on my MyPhotoAlbum site:
The Boys at Monkey Joes, April 6, 2008
My Birthday Dinner at Biaggi's, April 7, 2008
Brendan's 5th Birthday Party at Jump Zone, May 3, 2008
Strawberry Picking, May 17 & 18
Evan's 7th Birthday Pictures
Showing posts with label office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label office. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
April 13, 2008 - Do It Yourself
I spent a good part of the Saturday putting together furniture for the new office. I was somewhat excited to do ti and get it done. The first piece went smooth as silk, the second - defective. This is now the second piece, out of five, that I received for my office that was defective. In addition, each package contains enough waste to fill half a landfill! With all the styrofoam and cardboard in the packages I have to take it out to the trash over several weeks because it won't all fit into our garbage container. Ah, the benefits of building it yourself. But all that packaging is important so that is does not get damaged on the long trip from China. Without it, all the pieces will be damaged, instead of just my 40%. What ever happened to the days of things being made right here in the United States? And what ever happened to receiving them already assembled?
My frustration was the icing on the cake. I wasn't really in the mood yesterday to go to the prom. But by the time I finished being frustrated with the second piece of furniture, it was already after 7:30pm and the prom began at 7. Sure I could have still made it, but I was hungry, needed a shower and a shave, and my blazer is dirty. So at that point, I opted not to go even though it was the prom for the class I have been the advisor for the last four years. Michelle warned me about making a decision I may later regret. The way I see it is that the students will be far more interested in seeing each other than their advisors and teachers. I don't remember which teachers were at my prom. I don't even know who my class advisor was when I was in high school. Besides, I would have felt a bit weird taking pictures of the officers of the senior class (who I have worked most closely with the last 4 years) just so I could remember them. Creepy.
My frustration was the icing on the cake. I wasn't really in the mood yesterday to go to the prom. But by the time I finished being frustrated with the second piece of furniture, it was already after 7:30pm and the prom began at 7. Sure I could have still made it, but I was hungry, needed a shower and a shave, and my blazer is dirty. So at that point, I opted not to go even though it was the prom for the class I have been the advisor for the last four years. Michelle warned me about making a decision I may later regret. The way I see it is that the students will be far more interested in seeing each other than their advisors and teachers. I don't remember which teachers were at my prom. I don't even know who my class advisor was when I was in high school. Besides, I would have felt a bit weird taking pictures of the officers of the senior class (who I have worked most closely with the last 4 years) just so I could remember them. Creepy.
Friday, April 11, 2008
April 11, 2008 - Yay Friday!
Whew! Friday is finally here! It is inexplicable, any week with a workday always ends up being more exhausting. Why is that? As mentioned earlier this week, Monday was a teacher workday, a day without students - a chance to catch up and, for the lucky, get ahead. But for some reason, the ease of Monday has been made up for in the remainder of the week. That is to say, I had five days worth of stress crammed into four days. Ugh!
Report cards for the third quarter were distributed today. In most cases, the students are not surprised since most teacher will give their students a grade report at the end of the marking quarter. One of my students, I cannot remember if I mentioned this student before, is one of the biggest "trouble students" I have taught in a LONG time. That being said, she easily failed for the third quarter (note, since Wake County uses a "block schedule," each course is only one semester long). Her average was a 50%, literally. But my experience has taught me that a student that feels they have no chance to pass a class is going to be a bigger distraction to other classmates. As a result, I have adopted a policy of giving those students a chance by bumping their failing grade from, in this case, a 50% to a 63%. Although a 63% is still failing, it only requires the student to earn a 77% in the second half of the course in order to go into the final exam with a passing grade. Most students who need this boost, usually start off the 4th quarter (or 2nd quarter if it is the 1st semester) really well. Keep in mind that "really well" is a relative term. But in the least, they start out with much greater effort. So this semester's "trouble student" is off to a much better start. In fact, she has committed herself to this class since it seems that mine is the only class she has a chance to pass this semester. My hope is that her behavior will respond accordingly since she will very much want to pay attention in class and keep up with her work. I am hopeful, but unfortunately, not optimistic. Updates to come.
The office is coming together. I have been moving slowly this week with putting the office back together with the new furniture. I have assembled the desk and hutch and I plan on moving the computer from the folding table to the desk before assembling the other pieces. I am getting excited for it to be done. And even better, I am excited to purge my office clutter. Much of what came out of the office will not return!
Report cards for the third quarter were distributed today. In most cases, the students are not surprised since most teacher will give their students a grade report at the end of the marking quarter. One of my students, I cannot remember if I mentioned this student before, is one of the biggest "trouble students" I have taught in a LONG time. That being said, she easily failed for the third quarter (note, since Wake County uses a "block schedule," each course is only one semester long). Her average was a 50%, literally. But my experience has taught me that a student that feels they have no chance to pass a class is going to be a bigger distraction to other classmates. As a result, I have adopted a policy of giving those students a chance by bumping their failing grade from, in this case, a 50% to a 63%. Although a 63% is still failing, it only requires the student to earn a 77% in the second half of the course in order to go into the final exam with a passing grade. Most students who need this boost, usually start off the 4th quarter (or 2nd quarter if it is the 1st semester) really well. Keep in mind that "really well" is a relative term. But in the least, they start out with much greater effort. So this semester's "trouble student" is off to a much better start. In fact, she has committed herself to this class since it seems that mine is the only class she has a chance to pass this semester. My hope is that her behavior will respond accordingly since she will very much want to pay attention in class and keep up with her work. I am hopeful, but unfortunately, not optimistic. Updates to come.
The office is coming together. I have been moving slowly this week with putting the office back together with the new furniture. I have assembled the desk and hutch and I plan on moving the computer from the folding table to the desk before assembling the other pieces. I am getting excited for it to be done. And even better, I am excited to purge my office clutter. Much of what came out of the office will not return!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
April 9, 2008 - New Office
Most of the time when people talk about getting a new office they are referring to on the job. But not me, I don't have an office, per se. I am talking about my home office. As I mentioned a few days ago, while Evan and I were in New York, Michelle, with the help of Dan and his dad redid my office. They pulled up the carpet, and installed Pergo flooring. They tore down the wall paper and painted. Michelle even bought my new office furniture! It is nice! The problem is that in order to redo the office, my room exploded into the living room! It is amazing to see how much stuff I had crammed into this small room. But all this clutter is stressing me out! I began putting the furniture together today, and I will do it one piece or two per day and this weekend I will move back in and purge my clutter in the process.
Today I finally mowed my front yard. And believe it or not, it is actually starting to look better! There are places without grass yet, but over all, most of the weeds are gone and the grass looks healthy. I am happy with the result and can't wait until I get grass where some has yet to grow.
School was OK today. But clearly it is never too soon to begin reviewing. I am a little worried that by the end of the semester the students will remember very little from the beginning of the semester. I think it is even more frustrating now because I expect the students to at least half remember things we learned before spring break. But the next question is, with so much of the curriculum yet to teach, how will have the time to review in class as well?
Today I finally mowed my front yard. And believe it or not, it is actually starting to look better! There are places without grass yet, but over all, most of the weeds are gone and the grass looks healthy. I am happy with the result and can't wait until I get grass where some has yet to grow.
School was OK today. But clearly it is never too soon to begin reviewing. I am a little worried that by the end of the semester the students will remember very little from the beginning of the semester. I think it is even more frustrating now because I expect the students to at least half remember things we learned before spring break. But the next question is, with so much of the curriculum yet to teach, how will have the time to review in class as well?
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