April 4, 2010: Happy Easter

Today flew by, unfortunately as I have to go back to work tomorrow after what seemed like the shortest Spring Break in history! I spent at least 3 hours today blowing leaves left over from the fall - and I am still not done. Please, I do not want you to think I have left the leaves all winter, I blew most of them in the fall, but now I am tackling the corners and areas I do not usually clear. It is unbelievable how many leaves fall in my yard annually! (You will get an idea as to why when you look at the pictures below of the Easter Egg hunt in our back yard - too many trees!)

We had Easter dinner at home with Pete, Katie, their boys and Mercer. Spiral ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and Banana Cheesecake for desert - my request for my birthday! Michelle made the cheesecake and found an alleged Cheesecake Factory recipe online - authentic or not, it was gooood!

The boys all colored eggs in the traditional dip and dye. We "hid" filled plastic eggs in the yard for the boys to find (all filled with jellybeans). It was nice, the boys played, the adults sat and talked, nothing much to brag about other than good company.

More pictures at: My Photo Album

Chris, Brendan and Evan coloring Easter Eggs

Chris, Brendan and Evan hunting for eggs

April 3, 2010: Turn Signals!!!

If there is one thing that drives me mad on the road it is when people do not use their turn signals! They spend so much money on their cars and then choose not to use all the features - what is up with THAT? They slow down, slow down crawl to an intersection and finally turn without any warning, and I then miss the light. That is the one time a person should be allowed to just punch someone in the nose.

Today Evan woke me up on the wrong side of the bed. Basically he does this every weekend. His routine is simple: wake up early and call into our room, "Mom, what time is it?" It is usually sometime before 7am. "It is ___, go back to sleep." After about 25-30 minutes, Evan climbs out of bed, uses the bathroom in our room, drops the toilet seat with a bang, flushes the toilet, and then climbs into bed. Actually, more like climbs ONTO the bed, onto Michelle usually but then proceeds to reach across and touch me. Not for nothing, the last thing I want at a quarter after 7 in the morning is an 8 year old gently touching my arm! Usually he will not be content until one of us gets up with him and goes downstairs. Even if we convince him to just lay there with us, he cannot lay still. So this morning after repeated commands for him to go into his own bed, I finally just got up and came downstairs. I hate that kind of morning, which, as I said, is most weekends.

Today we attended the Easter Egg hunt in downtown Raleigh, at Moore Square. It was nice, organized moderately well, but still pretty chaotic! Evan only came away with six eggs after two runs. Even though he would like to get many more eggs, he is over it. He knows whatever is inside he can get elsewhere, and likely already has somewhere in his playroom!

Afterwards, Michelle and Evan went fishing with Dan and Aidan. I chose to head home and attack the back yard yet again - my never ending battle with the trees and whatever they feel like dropping into my yard. My goal today was to get rid of more leaves from the fall and all of the "prickly balls" that the trees drop. I did as much as I could before I ran out of gas in the leaf blower, I will finish the job tomorrow morning in order to clear the way for our little Easter Egg hunt in the back yard.

We ate dinner watching the hockey game on TV and true to form, the Canes lost at home 4 - 0, AGAIN. At least this time we weren't at the game! We know they are not going to make the playoffs but I'll be damned if they aren't going to cut it close. It is made all the worse when the TV announcer before every game tell the audience how close they are and that the Canes still have a chance. Why do they do that? They renew my hope every time, even after I have resigned myself to a short season.

Anyway, here a couple of pics from the Easter Egg hunt today, I will likely add some of tomorrow.

Aidan, Carlee, and Evan

Evan, Aidan, and Carlee

April 1, 2010

I couldn't come up with a catchy title for today, so the date will have to do.

It was a gorgeous day today, and we spent part inside and part outside. Evan and I went bowling with Katie, Chris and Brendan. It was fun, but I opted not to bowl so as to not hurt my neck. It is doing fine but I didn't want to do something stupid to it and screw it up just days before our softball season opener. After the two game, we went to the game room to win tickets to cash into prizes. I dropped a dollar in the "Deal or No Deal" game and came away with 75 tickets! (the 3rd highest ticket total). Afterwards we all went to Chik-fil-a for lunch, then we parted and Evan and I came home.

At home we hung out outside for a little while. Evan helped me rake the yard, then we played a little basketball and Evan wanted to ride his bike - that is wanted me to help teach him some more. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside!

We came inside and just hung out some. I decided to work some on my website - to create a new page that will list the handouts as we encounter them so they can be printed. It will include the date assigned, date due, and instructions. . The goal is to minimize the number of excuse students will have to not have their homework. I was getting a bit frustrated at the process today when the design was not working correctly, fortunately I discovered the problem this evening and got past the first obstacle. I will like to work on it some more tomorrow but I have plenty of things to do to keep me outside most of the day, and by the looks of the forecast, that is where I will want to be!

If you are interested on the website I am working on the link is below. Presently I am only working on the "Civics & Economics" section as that is the only course I am teaching this semester. The page I was specifically working on today is also linked below. There is no direct link to it yet from the website because I haven't prepared any content, I was only working a little on the appearance. Let me know what you think.

Caggia Social Studies

Handouts at Caggia Social Studies

March 31, 2010: How to Train Your Dragon

Yesterday proved to be busy but mundane. Evan and ran errands for a good part of the afternoon - mostly groceries and such. We did manage to buy the last two Harry Potter movies we were missing (episode 3: "The Prisoner of Azkaban" and episode 4: "The Goblet of Fire"). We were able to watch "The Prisoner of Azkaban" before dinner and will likely watch "The Goblet of Fire" tomorrow.

Today was a little more leisurely, well for the kids at least. Track out camp at the gym was full so I volunteered to watch Aidan today. I figured the best plan to keep the kids happy was to get them out of the house. My plan was to go see "How to Train Your Dragon", then to the park for a picnic lunch (Jersey Mike's subs) and then to just run around and play. Considering it was 80 degrees today, outside was the best plan. Everything went well, the boys played at the park and I got to sit on a bench and just read while soaking up the sun. Very nice.

I watched "V" this evening, and although I like the show, I cannot believe how many commercials they are throwing in there! There is absolutely no way I will watch it unless I record it first - I absolutely HATE commercial television!

"How to Train Your Dragon" was a good movie! We all enjoyed it and the action was great. I did not drop the extra $3 per ticket to watch it in 3-D, but it was good nonetheless. I give it 5 out of 5 stars for a kids movie. We also saw the previews of a few movies I plan to see, including "Toy Story 3," "The Karate Kid," and "The Last Airbender."

March 29, 2010: A Day Lost

Originally scheduled, today was to be Spring Break, BUT the county decided to close school on a day that didn't need to be closed. So this morning I had to be up at my usual time to go to work. And what a WASTE of a day today was. I only saw 25 of my 90 students today - 5 in 1st period, 7 in 2nd period, and 13 in 4th period. Essentially today was a waste of a day in the curriculum. Fortunately I had planned to finish showing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and while it is an excellent movie and is an excellent example of Congress in action as well as the potential for corruption and the power of the media, the students didn't miss any actual instruction, only enrichment. So I can live with that. On the bright side, I used the day to my advantage to get a good many papers graded so next Monday when I go in for a teacher workday I will have more time to plan ahead and will spend less time catching up on the past.

I forgot to mention that yesterday we went to see the movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was cute, I enjoyed it. We took Chris and Brendan with us, they liked it too. I recommend it for younger audiences, I rate it 4 out of 5 stars for children's movie. (There is about a 25 second lead-in with nothing before the actual trailer begins).

March 28, 2010: The Average Day Returns!

I think I am finally ready to post here on a regular basis again. Things have been going well and I finally feel mentally up to the task again! (But does anyone really care?)

Softball season is here, and practices have been under way. We had practice today, it was a pretty good one, and our last one is tomorrow. Games begin the following week, so I think I am ready. Good news for me is that my trips to the gym combined with the education I received in physical therapy have really helped my shoulder. I threw today and for the first time in a long time, I felt strength in my shoulder and no pain! I am very excited and encouraged. I am looking forward to a great season, it should be a lot of fun.

Tomorrow was supposed to be the first day of Spring Break, but since we had one snow day too many, we will have to make it up tomorrow instead. My plans are simple - finish showing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. We began it in all my classes Thursday and Friday and will finish it up in all three tomorrow, which was my plan all along. It also means we are in a great place regarding pacing. For the first time in a long time I am not behind! I credit this to the fact that all of my classes are Civics & Economics (I do not have to divide my planning time between two curricula) and that I have students this semester that are inspiring me to challenge them. My biggest fear is that I am boring them. Once we get back from Spring Break it will be the 4th quarter. I am planning being refreshed and returning with some plans that will be more fun and thought invoking. We shall see!

Inabilities of State Government

Today I received an email from my professional organization, NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators) - it is not a union since North Carolina is a "right-to-work" state, any such combination would be seen as in restraint of trade and would therefore be illegal... whatever. Anyway...

Today NCAE sent me an email highlighting some disturbing information concerning a member of the NC Senate. Essentially, this Republican Senator is a liar. There is no mincing words, he is a liar. Let me explain.

As is the case across the country, North Carolina is no exception when it comes to budget shortfalls, especially in this difficult economic time. And, according to the NC State Constitution, the Governor MUST propose a balanced budget based on estimation of tax revenue for the upcoming 2 years (the North Carolina budget is biennial, it is a two year budget). This budget must then be approved by the NC General Assembly (NC House and NC Senate), just like any other bill. Once the governor proposes her budget, the House reviews it and makes its changes, followed by the Senate. Fortunately, the NC Senate rejected the House's budget, now the dirty fight begins.

The House's budget proposes to cut THOUSANDS of educators' positions across the state, especially in the classroom. Meanwhile the Senate Minority Leader, Phil Berger (R) says that there will only be a cut of 45 positions, and those will be from the Department of Public Education, positions that are mostly vacant at this time. Here is the email:

Berger's Whopper on Educator Cuts

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) sent emails to NCAE members this weekend claiming that the House budget only cuts 45 teaching positions this coming year.

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) sent disturbing emails to NCAE members this weekend, including educators whose teaching positions are facing elimination, and erroneously contended the "House budget cuts 45 funded positions, not 12,000, not 1,000, not even 100."

Berger even went so far as to claim that "NCAE is spreading false information" about the severity of budget cuts and even offered the possibility that the organization was disseminating a "purposeful lie."

Further down in the email, the longtime Republican Senate leader provided a web link (http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/sessions/2009/budget/2009/budgetreport06-13-09.pdf ) for members to review the 214-page House budget proposal for themselves.

"It was an odd link to provide in an email message falsely claiming only 45 positions were eliminated," said Government Relations Manager Cecil Banks. "The documents explain with no ambiguity whatsoever that thousands of educator positions are cut in the House budget proposal."

Banks points to page 21, item 20 in Berger's attachment. There it provides a $183 million cut by increasing class size in grades 4-12. "Where does he think the state will realize that cut?", asked Banks. "The $183 million comes from eliminating about 2,500 teachers."

Item 22 of the same page above, eliminates 200 literacy coaches at a cut of $12 million in the budget.

On page 22, line 24 of the document, over 4,000 teacher assistants are completely gone in the 3rd grade under the House plan at a cut of over $130 million. "There's also the non-instructional support positions facing elimination," said Banks.

So why is Berger claiming only 45 educator positions are cut?

Sen. Berger, shown here with Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, his Republican counterpart in the House, is known for his right-wing ideology and anti-public schools stance.

DPB can only guess (or hope) that Sen. Berger has not reviewed the House budget carefully. Short of that, Sen. Berger seems to be referencing page 23, item 35 of the House budget linked above. There it cuts 45 positions at $3.2 million from the NC Department of Public Instruction.

"It is mind-boggling how a five-term senator could find that one line-item and come to the erroneous conclusion that ONLY 45 positions face elimination," said Banks. "And then to question NCAE for simply reading what is clearly in black-and white. This is very disturbing."

To read the full text of Sen. Berger's email to a member on Saturday, click here.

Feel free to send Sen. Berger a note at phil.berger@ncleg.net. His office number is (919) 7....

And, Sen. Berger, feel free to drop NCAE an apology at sheri.strickland@ncae.org. DPB will even print the full retraction.

This is the nonsense that this state must endure. Either this Senator did not read the bill himself and is making his decisions on ignorance, or he he believes that the people are ignorant and will not read the bill themselves. (Actually, I am thinking he is both - ignorant and believes the people are ignorant). Never have cuts to education solved problems, they have only created new ones. At the same time, I am not, myself, ignorant to the need to tighten our belts when necessary, but cutting more than 10,000 teaching positions is NOT tightening of one's belt, it is stupidity.