It's a Wonderful Life

I just want to tell you, hon, how much I appreciate your taking a day off to take me out of town and just dote on me for a day. (Yes, I know I sound spoiled but everyone should get to be spoiled once in awhile!) I had a wonderful time and I feel blessed to have such a wonderful husband. Thank you for loving me the way that you do.

There have been a lot of for better or worse's in our twenty years together but I wouldn't trade our life together for anything. I feel as though I live in a storybook love. You are my treasure. I appreciate your love. I appreciate the kind of father you are. I appreciate that you put God first and that you are the priest of our home.

Thank you for twenty wonderful years. I can hardly wait to see what the next twenty and beyond will bring.

Merry Christmas!!!!

I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May there be peace, love, joy and happiness in your home this season and throughout the year. But most of all may we ALL remember what this holiday is really all about. Thank you, God, for the gift of your Son who came to save us all.
God bless you!!!

Ooooooppps!!!!

Apparently I had something set wrong in my comments profile. I think I have it fixed now so please repost any comments that somehow got lost in cyberspace.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience with my blond moments.

The "Fridge"

If you have been reading this blog, then you have figured out by now that I am a science teacher. Being a science teacher is a lot of hard work, preparing and researching for lectures, preparing for labs, researching new technology, etc, etc, but there are distinct advantages. For example, I can act very strange at times and no one seems to think anything about it. People who know me say, "She's a science teacher" and the response is simply, "Oh" as if that description alone explains all my eccentric behaviors.

Another advantage is being in like flint with the biology teachers. They always have access to a private fridge for their experiments and specimens and are more than willing to grant me some space free of charge for my lunch and drinks. Some people may get grossed out by having their pastrami by fetal pigs or cow eyes but it doesn't bother me in the least (remember that eccentricity thing). I'm just glad to have some safe place to stash my stuff.

The one time I decided to put my Diet Pepsi in the fridge in the teachers' lounge someone in an earlier lunch period DRANK it! I had to bum money off of another teacher to get a soda (note to self: pay Janice back)! That cinched it! I went back to sharing space with the cow parts.

Well, yesterday morning I went to get a bottle of water out of the bio fridge and they were all gone! I finally found my water on top of another small dorm fridge which was sitting on a counter unplugged.

I went to ask the generous bio teacher, essentially, if I had done something to lose my priviledge of sharing space with the animal parts. He explained that he had so much to store in there on Friday, that he had to move the water and forgot to put it back. He continued that I probably would want to find a different spot for my stash starting next semester anyway explaining it may not be a good idea to store my food with the e.coli experiments he would be conducting in microbiology. I thought this was probably sage advice.

He offerred the small dorm fridge for my use. I would just need to clean it and move it into my room. So fourth period I had my handy, dandy lab assistants complete the highly scientific job of cleaning and sterilizing the fridge and moving it.

The young gentleman did all that I asked and when finished I checked the setting on the fridge and waited for it to cool in order to store my stash in this new found treasure.

2 hours later, the fridge was still not cool. I had students check the outlet. It worked. I thought perhaps it needed more time. I waited until the next morning and checked it again, still not cool. I remarked to the bio teacher that it didn't work. He said, "It did when I last used it. The problem with it was it froze everything!" So I went back and checked it again, outlet works,... check, thermostat set to max, ...check,...wait ...look through bottom of glasses... check thermostat again, ...thermostat set to off!!!!! (I thought the reading was "10"!) Ooooopps!

I went back to Mr. Bio teacher and announced, "I discovered the problem with the fridge. I need new glasses!"

NOTE: I enjoyed an ice cold Diet Pepsi with my lunch today. No one was able to steal it! Life is good again!

The "Tech. Guy"

Our librarian/technology guy at Knoxville High School is... well, let's just say straight forward. You never have to guess where you stand with Phil. Good or bad, you will always know. Now, I truly like people like this. With Phil, I never spend all day or night concerned that I did something "wrong" or said something to offend him. He lets me know immediately. No anxiety there. If he's grumpy, I know up front if it is me or if there is some other cause.

Last week, during 8th period study hall, I was having difficulty accessing the internet from my computer. Now, I just figured it was my computer because I'm constantly having trouble of one sort or another with that machine. In fact, the last time I told Phil I was having trouble, he pretty much said, "It's a crappy machine". (His language may not have been as benign as the quote.) So I just kept checking all the connections and even tried rebooting trying not to bother Phil with a nuisance over which he had no control.

Then one of the students from the adjacent computer lab comes and informs me he is having difficulty with the internet. I went to check on the students and sure enough, everyone who was trying to access the internet was having diffuculty. This prompted me to go across the hall and "ask" Phil if there was a problem with the internet. Now, I was fairly sure of the answer I was going to receive considering the mounting evidence, but I wanted to let Phil know there was a problem without sounding demanding.

Phil was busy working at his desk when I came in and made my inquiry. He quickly finished and took a break to respond, "It's supposed to work." He then proceded to check his computer. Before he even tried the browser, however, he continued, "I'll call the internet provider and get an answering machine because they already know its down and won't want to talk to me." I politely said "thanks" and returned to the computer lab where I informed the students, "Chaddy says, 'It's supposed to work!'" The students chuckled and I returned to my desk getting nothing accomplished during the period.

The bell rang, I packed up my belongings and returned to my classroom for homeroom, the last period of the day where we listen to the daily announcements and watch Channel One. The secretary read the announcements in her bright cheery voice as usual, then a deep, slow, monotone voice takes over saying, "THE INTERNET IS NOT WORKING...... DO NOT TRY THE INTERNET..... THE INTERNET IS NOT WORKING. .... IF YOU TRY TO USE THE INTERNET, ....IT WILL NOT WORK ......SO DO NOT TRY THE INTERNET."

As I said before, Phil is straight forward. Do you think anyone misunderstood what he was trying to get across?

"Merry Christmas" from some Students

Two of my students sent me this link in an email as a Christmas card. I thought you might enjoy it as well. You may have to copy and paste the address because I still don't know how to do links on this site. http://www.andiesisle.com/thefirstchristmasgift.html (It works on my computer but I find that isn't universal truth for computers.)

Also, regarding the previous post, my apologies if you use Mozilla as your browser. I can't figure out how to fix the overlap of the pictures. If you use Explorer you should have no problem. However, the pictures have been moved since the comment that was posted.

Christmas Cheer

Just some pictures I found that remind us of the season.
Merry Christmas!!!!!

Apologies

Trying to get access to the computer at my house is, to say the least, difficult. With Darrell using it for work and the kids using it for school, availability at home is very limited. So I generally write on my blog at school during study hall supervision. When I would check the presentation of the font after publishing, it would always be large enough and easily read. I figured if I could read it (as my eyes have gotten weak in my old age), anyone could read it.

Last night I actually got to check my blog at home. I couldn't believe how small and difficult to read the fonts were! What a difference! We have the exact same operating system at home as we do at school but there is still a big difference.

So, my apologies for straining your eyes. In the future I will try to remember to make the font "larger than life" so to speak.

lol I just checked the blog and realized I forgot to change the font again just now! It's fixed now (I hope)!

Points to Ponder II

Our librarian is at it again. Here are some "Kids' Instructions on Life..." collected by Phil.

Never trust a dog to wathch your food

When you want something expensive, ask your grandparents

Never smart off to a teacher whose eyes and ears are twitching (my personal favorite~twitch, twitch, twitch)

Wear a hat when feeding seagulls

Sleep in your clothes so you'll be dressed in the morning (my own children have taken this advice from time to time)

Never ask for anything that costs more than five dollars when your parents are doing taxes

Never bug a pregnant mom

Don't ever be too full for dessert

When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?", don't answer him

Never tell mom her diet's working

Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a baseball bat

When you get a bad grade in school, show it to your mom when she's on the phone

Don't spit into the wind

When mom's happy, everybody's happy

As before, please feel free to add in the comments section

TEENAGERS!!!!

I love teens. Yes, I know they can have smart mouths occasionally. They can be messy and otherwise generally drive a person insane. I have had many people accuse me of being nuts for wanting to work with them day in and day out. Sometimes I question my own sanity, but then things like the following incident occur and I remember why I love working with teenagers.

On Tuesday of this week my students watched what is known as an EFT (electronic field trip). Through the magic of the internet and streaming video, my students and I were able to watch a live broadcast from Houston where NASA flies its C-9 plane for astronaut training and research purposes. The plane is flown in repetitive parabolic motion (up and down like a roller coaster ride) in order to experience free fall for a few moments of time.

The students were able to call in on an 800 number or email questions for the astronauts and pilots to answer, virtually in real time. The delay in the feed was only a few seconds. The students thought this was great.

One of my students asked if he could call and ask a question. After I approved his very intelligent question, he proceeded to make the call. When the representative from NASA came on the line, the student was asked to state his question, where he was from and his name before he was transferred to the live feed. "Timothy" proceeded to ask his question and give the requested information. Unfortunately, when he came to his name he apparently had a "brain fart" and said he was "JOHN SWANSON". At that point it was too late to stop him.

When he got off the phone, I asked him why he didn't use his real name. His response, "If it was a dumb question, I didn't want them to know who asked it!" Like they would ever meet him or know who he was anyway, right?

Today I received a phone call from the electronic field trip personnel. I was called out of class to receive the phone call so I figured it must be important. When I answered the phone the voice on the other end explained who she was and asked, "Do you have the student named John?" Knowing to whom she referred I said,"Yes" (What else could I say?) She proceeded to tell me that John was selected from the students who submitted questions to win a prize. She asked for the correct spelling of his name and to confirm the address. I verified the address but then explained, "He prefers to be called Timothy". Fortunately, only his 1st name was recorded when he asked the question.

The prize? One of 4 movie posters to be personally autographed by Tom Hanks. (I thought he might want his real name on it.)

Merry Christmas!

I wish you a merry Christmas.
I wish you a merry Christmas.
I wish you a merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year!!!


Just a reminder of what the season is really about!

Points to Ponder

Disclaimer - Most of these have been borrowed from other wise souls. Primarily, the sage we at Knoxville High School call our librarian who may or may not have gleaned his wisdom from another wise sage.

Why is it that every time you fill your mouth full of food while in a restaurant, the sever comes and asks you a question?

Never under any circumstances, take a laxative and a sleeping pill on the same night.

If you had to identify in one word why the human race has never, nor will ever achieve its full potential, that word would be "meetings".

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, that a lone amateur built the ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic!

The most destructive force in the universe is gossip!

You should not confuse your career with your life.

I will add more as I come across them or think of them. If you have any to add, please feel free to comment. I need all the advice I can get.

SNOW!!!!!

I hate the cold! I get depressed if winter lasts too long. My family and I spent several recent winter and early spring vacations in Florida and Myrtle Beach to get a break from it.

This year we are going to NY in May to hear our daughter sing at Carnegie Hall so we had to forego our winter escape. I've been dreading the seemingly eternal winter ever since. I have put off making our flight and room reservations because one can never be too sure how many days the school year will be extended due to snow.

Well, right on cue, the first official day of the meteorologists' winter, we get our first accumulation of snow. The weather man said an inch, maybe two. My husband swept 5 inches of light snow off of our vehicles this morning. ...And at least another inch was brushed off again by the time I left for work!

The roads were terrible. Even the interstate had only a path on one lane to drive on! Somehow it still wasn't bad enough to call off school. I'm actually relieved. I don't want the end of school extended. Although, those surprise days off, especially in december, are really nice.

In spite of my hatred for winter, even I have to recognize its magic. I looked out my bedroom window upon the new fallen snow and was in awe. All the ugliness of the barren trees, the brown, dingy, dried up leaves, dead grass and withered flowers was now covered with a beautiful blue-white blanket that glowed in the faint morning light.

I know all the science behind "how it works" but still I was fascinated. The little kid in me wanted to put on my galoshes and go out and play. I envied my husband a little bit (very little bit) because he got to play using the broom. It looked fun brushing the snow off the cars. I wanted to go pack some snowballs and pound him with them. I wanted to fall on the mounds and make angels. I followed the tracks that my dog left to see if I could figure out exactly where he went on his morning excursion. I wanted to put up twinkle lights outside and watch the beautiful colors that reflect on the snow. I caught myself wishing I had already decorated for Christmas outside. I would have turned the lights on this morning just to see the glow they would make under the snow.

I would love to put my life and obligations on hold and go out and play! But I must return to reality. My students are turning in tests that must be graded. I have classes to prepare lessons for, a dinner engagement after school then a concert for my daughter. By that time it will be bedtime and the whole cycle will start again. And so I will be the adult I am expected to be. Just know that in my heart...I'm making snowmen!