After several attempts in vain ...

I tried several times to post to my blog, each time meeting with some sort of computer failure.

Good news ! Monday, the new Auto Tech teacher started at the school. My student population dropped from 61 to 38. I know it doesn't seem like much to have only 36 students in the course of a day, but it is, if you think it through. 3 of my classes consist of 4, 4, and 4 students. The remaining 2 classes, both first year students, are 12 and 14 students. Still, 12 and 14 don't seem like a huge number, until you consider that they are in the shop at least 50% of the time, working around power tools and some darned expensive equipment. Add to that, that the HS sends us the kids they can't control, for the most part.

This makes enormous sense. We can't control him in a classroom. Let's send him to a shop with power tools. Of course, it does make sense. He/She is out of their hair for 90 minutes.

Still, it is easier to teach 12 than it is to teach 12 and watch 17.

This week has been a mostly good one. Come on, I teach HS students. A mostly good week is a great week by anyone else's comparison.

It is hump day. All downhill from here. Let's see if I can coast it on in.

I am impressed by my Bravada. We needed to move a fridge from the old place we lived. We needed to do it today. We didn't have a truck we could borrow on such short notice (well, probably did, but didn't try too hard,) so we (meaning me and the mouse in my pocket) decided to use the Bravada. For those that don't know, a Bravada is an SUV. It is the fancy version of the Chevy Blazer. Anyway, Tammy took the Bravada and with the help of Jordan and Sierra, put the fridge in the back of the SUV. They laid down the two second row seats, and were even able to close the gate. As I said, I was impressed.

Now, we have to unload it. Awaiting the Chris. You know the type. Strong back, weak mind. Perfect for such projects.

Later y'all

This is after much receding 

Flooding on our street 

holey moley, batman

Another week has passed. It has been busy.

Still no Automotive teacher, and last report was that we wont have one on Monday, either. So, I am still pulling double duty, mostly. I did have a day or two this week when I wasn't doing the double. They had a sub in. My thinking (flawed, I am sure) is that, if we are not paying a teacher, why can't we afford a sub ? We did have a sub for a month before we hired an IT teacher.

Wednesday was a trip. We had a field trip scheduled. We were taking 80 kids to a Construction Fair in Shelbyville, KY. Tuesday afternoon, an hour before the end of the school day, we get an email from the high school and 34 sophomores will not be allowed to go because of a PLAN test. The thing on Wednesday was going to take 30 minutes and it was going to knock the students out of the whole days trip. I called a counselor and got her to approve them going. Then they called back and said the Principal nixed the whole idea .. No Sophomores.

We prepared to go, sans nearly half the group. The phone rings and it is Robyn (one of the counselors) and the Sophs are almost done. If we can wait 10 minutes, they can go. We wait. Then I have 74 students going with me and 2 others supervisors. It was an interesting trip.

It made for a split up week.

But .. Friday is finally here.

It was a tough day. Still, I made it. I am here. I am resolved to go on.

I am looking forward to getting out tomorrow. Dinner with friends. Singing. Fun Fun

Yes, I know

It has been a week since I last posted.

It has been a busy week. School is insane. Literally !

My principal called my classroom and asked when we were going to be done with the new classroom we are building. It is slated to be done in December. She wants it done in two weeks. Add to this that I still have an extra (can't take into the shop) 28 students. I have 2 classes of first year students, 11 and 14 in them, that are not at the level to help, that they should be, because I cannot take them into the shop.

Auto Teacher # 3 is now precariously dangling, about to drop off the list, maybe. Here is the run down:
#1 .. Took the job .. Had to give notice .. Then decided, since his daughter was sick, that he wouldn't take the job, even after Herculean efforts to get his teaching certificate reactivated.

#2 .. Great candidate .. Going through the process .. Suddenly, there is a marijuana conviction in 1990 .. Mistakes of a young man .. Disqualified him for a teaching certificate ..

#3 .. Great candidate .. Took the compass test (comprehensive readin, writin, & 'rithmatic test) .. Passed it .. Took the NOCTI (National Occupational competency Testing Institute) to see if he knew what he knew .. FAILED it ! .. retaking it .. We will see

My 2 week, can you do me a favor, has now turned into 5 weeks .. I have insisted that they get someone to take the class next week.

There is good news about Tammy's car .. I wont steal her thunder though .. Go to her blog (www.troubleshandful.blogspot.com) to find out what that news is .. She should have some news there this afternoon.

We are off this morning to a yard sale of one of my students .. Then to WallyWorld for some phoneline parts .. Then to crawl under the house to add phone lines .. Oh joy! All I can say is: It is good to have children of house crawling age in the house !

more to follow .. I will try not to be so remiss in my blogdom duties ..

Nine-eleven

Five years have passed since the Twin Tower Terrorist attacks. It seems as far as a lifetime ago and as close as yesterday. I have heard people recalling it for days. There have been special ceremonies and marked moments of silence. We observed a moment of silence in school today at 8:47 am, the time the first plane hit the tower.

Lots of people have talked about how 'nine-eleven' changed their lives. I have taken inventory to see how much that day changed my life.

In the immediate, it added sadness for our nations loss, and joy for our nations unity. It prompted prayers and discussions. It fueled our hunger for news (mine began in High School in 1975 when our class on current events scoured Newsweek ever week and I fell in love with the news.) It caused my heart to swell in the devastation and in the heroic efforts of those involved. It even prompted a letter to the editor.

Now, five years out, I look back at those incredulous days.

I can give the short answer. Of course, it changed me. However, it didn't have any lasting profound effect on my life. I still get up and go to work, as always. I still love my children like before. I don't worry anymore than before. I feel we are as safe as we ever were and are ever going to be. I don't fly on any regular basis, therefore the security measures at the airports haven't affected me. I don't dwell on the events of that day, any more than I dwell on Pearl Harbor, D-Day, or any other national day of heroism or attack. They are there to remind me, and around that day, I think about what happened and how it changed our country. I know nine-eleven changed our country as a whole, but don't see the over time long lasting effects it had on my life. I know they are there. I know, in ways I may never know, this day has changed things in my life. However, to look at my life and say, this day, or that day, or any day, made a dramatic change, is difficult.

Change doesn't come in sweeping swoops. It comes in small things. It comes in daily things. Nine-eleven may have been the catalyst for many changes, but I think they were inevitable changes. They were going to be ushered in slowly. The Gov't was going to implement them secretly anyway. Nine-eleven gave them the chutzpah to do it on the 11 o'clock news.

Please don't take this as any attempt to make less of what happened and to make light of any of the lives lost on that day. They were all parts of someone's family, someone's circle of friends. Someone's co-workers, and so forth. I feel for everyone of them. I would give each of them their loved ones back if I could. I am sure they feel just like the mothers and fathers of our sons of Vietnam. Every war has it's casualties. Again, not to diminish the lives lost. This war was brought to our shores uninvited. It came to a new generation. Vietnam was over there. Korea was over there. The Gulf War was over there. For the first time in a long time, Americans were dying, in America.

The long and the short of it is this:
Nine-eleven changed us all. Some it changed individually. Some it changed in the collective way. The sorrow passes. The outrage dies down. The passion wanes. The pain diminishes. When it all gone, only the real changes remain.

Some are just as arrogant. Some are just as mean. Some are just as sweet. Some are just as helpful. ... And a few are different ... Different on an inside level ... That is the slow sweeping change .. The change that lasts .. The change that brings us closer to who we were always meant to be ..

And that makes us all different .. So .. Yes, Nine-eleven changed me.

Without incident

The weekend came and went without incident.

The waterbed is up. We actually slept in our bed last night for the first time in 2 weeks. Wahooooo. The sleeper sofa we have is a quest bed, for sure. It sleeps ok for a night or two, but after three nights, it is way uncomfortable. It was designed with the Ben Franklin motto (fish and quests stink after three days) in mind. If we had quests sleeping on that sofa, they would be looking for a motel room after three night. We toyed with the idea several times of tossing the kids out of their beds on alternating night and letting them have the sofa and us sleeping in their beds, but we did the 'bite the bullet' parent thing.

Last night was great. Sleeping in the bed. It was quiet. Much quieter than I am used to after so long in the big city. In one evening, at our old place, more people drove by our house than live in Mt Sterling. More than once we have looked at our watches to check the time and were amazed at how early it was. It was quiet. It was dark. It had to be ... What !?!?!? 8:30 !! No way !!

It is a change I will gladly get used too.

The rest of the weekend was quiet as well. We didn't venture out to do any singing or other evening activities. It was just a much needed quiet weekend at home.

Yep, I could get used to this. Of course, eventually, it will get old and we will be heading out on occasion to do the singing thing, but I am not rushing that at all.

And your weekend ?

front porch .. waiting for new porch people 

the angel hutch mantle 

Dining room .. in progress 

quarter side shot 

front ..early Sunday morning 

OMIGosh

I can't believe it is Friday!

I was looking at blogs and took a gander at mine and realized I hadn't blogged in 4 days. That is so unlike me. Of course, it is unlike me to be so overwhelmed with work. Two nights this week, I have taken tests home to grade and never got to them. Moving in is time consuming. Tammy and I have a great deal of respect for each others opinions, and, while we think alike about most things, the things we think differently about are just as important. One of those areas where we might clash is in setting up the cosmetics of the house. You know .. The picture hanging and such.

Now, TJ can put her knick knacks and glassware just about anywhere she wants and I am fine with it. I am equally as sure that her choice in the placement of the pics is just as fine. She, however, likes to get my opinion before committing to any permanent hanging. I appreciate that. It does slow it down a bit though.

Then there is the living room and our bedroom. For now, they are the same room. Our waterbed mattress was damaged in moving. I ordered a new one. Until it came, which was yesterday afternoon, we were consigned to sleeping on the pull out sleeper sofa in the living room. Tonight, we put the mattress in and fill it up. Give it a day and a night to heat up, and we will be sleeping on our H2O flotation bed. That will be so sweet. I think a sleeper sofa is designed to chase guests away. They sleep comfortable enough to toss and turn, but still sleep. However, after 3 nights (longer than any guest should stay) they can be murder. The tossing and turning increases exponentially. So, by the third night, you barely sleep. I have a very comfy recliner, but it doesn't fit two. Soon ... Sweet sleep.

Mid term grades are due this week. I still have my two week automotive class. That two weeks has stretched into 5 weeks now. It is getting more and more detrimental to both classes. It seems that I am the only person that sees this as a continuing problem, besides the students themselves.

Let's see ... The rest is the same. I am still threatening a haircut. It is still getting longer. The cookout was a blast. The gazebo is up. Slowly, things are coming together. Chris has court today. It won't resolve anything. It is just time consuming.

The weekend promises to be busy. I'll try to stay in touch.

Whew !!

What a whirlwind. The weekend finally arrived. It has been a good weekend so far. The highlights:
Friday was a try to stay in night. We had plans for Saturday. We (briefly) considered driving to Carlisle to pick up the loaner moving van to have it here in case we had time on Saturday to move some things. The problem with that was that we really didn't have time to move anything on Saturday because of previous commitments. If we had the truck, however, we would try to make use of it. That would make Saturday a day from Hades. Like I said, it was a brief thought.

Saturday, we met friends that drove in from Chicago for lunch. Retro-Girl & Dark came for a visit. Retro is from Lexington for the most part, even if she was a transplant from Ohio so many years ago. Dark is from Canada but worked here and became one of Kentucky's native sons. It was great to see them for lunch. We were joined by Dwayne and Tina (mutual friends) and Brandy and her brood (being Cy, adopted Belle, Fallon the felon, and Cadence.) It was a great time at Buffalo Wild Wings, eating, playing trivia, and just fellowshipping.

We left there for a stop by the old house for packing and moving, even without the big truck. We didn't make Tucker's BD party, but did join his parents, C & R, later for a surprise birthday thing for C. It was at our favorite Karaoke spot, Todd's Karaoke. Retro, Dark, Dwayne, and Tina were there as well. We were also joined by friends, Sandra, Sandra's mom Sandra, and Jack. There was singing, drinking, and dancing.

We left Todd's around 10:30 and stopped by the 11th Frame Lounge to see another set of friends. Then, it was off to the Hacienda.

Sunday started around 9 AM. We got special permission for Chris to be on our old street to help move. This required calling Pre-trial Services every hour. We also alerted Metro to be aware in case the "Tadpole" called to report Chris. We loaded, and loaded, and loaded. We got most everything out that is coming out .. and coming here. Anything else, is coming out .. To the street.

We got home with the load and unloaded in time to collapse for am hour. Then, it was off to return the graciously loaned truck. While returning the truck, we bought an entertainment center for the living room. I know, we just unloaded 3 truckloads of furniture and stuff this week and here we are, adding to that amount. Go figure.

It is finally late. We have a cookout planned for tomorrow. Time to grab some z's

Later all ..