It's the last day before Christmas vacation and those who didn't leave Belron class to go hang out elsewhere are sitting here talking about life and eating Boston cream cake. I traded a dozen candy canes for it. I'm not sure I got a good deal in that trade. I was just reading an article by David Jones in the Patriot Sports Page. In it he talks about Joe Paterno and his recent three year contract extension. It's weird because I came to this conclusion a few months ago while watching Glen Beck. The discussion was about retirement, and the subject basically was this. Why do we feel we need to retire earlier and earlier? We live longer, so why retire earlier? If we like what we do, why stop doing it? David Jones loves his job. He gets to write about sports, he gets to rub elbows with famous sport's figures, and he gets to do it from home. As he says, why would he stop doing it. I understand if you physically couldn't perform your job any more, you'd retire, but that isn't the case with many people. If you examine history, you will find stories galore of people over the age of 50, 60 and even 70 who have achieved amazing things. So Joe, go for it. If you can coach until you are 85, great.

I'm posting a number of Christmas tree pictures which were emailed to me.

I downloaded these images. I am wearing my son's Eagle's Santa hat. Many of my students are jealous of this cool hat.

The movie to the left is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I forced the Belron staff to include it in next week's edition of the Belron. Please, read the Belron, we want you to read it. I am having a delightful discussion with Olubode about professional football. Apparently his is a Giants fan, he refers to them as "we." Interesting. Fan is short for fanatic. He seems fanatical.

Tonight I am going to buy a pig stomach. Pig stomach is good eats. Only here in central PA. Good eats. We are getting Lebanon County favorites to take down to my in-laws in North Carolina.

It's Thursday. Lots of kids dressed up today. I guess a few cross-dressed, creating a furor over the appropriateness of men in women's clothing and women in men's clothing. I am sure this will lead to people not being allowed to have class wars with this type of contest. I don't know if anyone can anticipate the types of creative things kids can come up with to push the envelope.

Late start this morning and it's really dreary out right now. I don't know if it's the time of year, but I think I could sleep much of the day. I haven't blogged much lately. It's yellow day for seniors so I see lots of yellow in my room right now. I personally am wearing green because if all the teachers do, we will get to watch a movie next week. I guess they'll get us all subs while we leave our classes to watch a movie.
Best school movies:
Summer School
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (sort of a school movie)
The Substitute
Good Bye Mr. Chips
Dead Poet's Society
To Sir With Love
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Stand and Deliver

Home from Orlando....sitting in my room...listening to Christmas Carols.
Megan Miller

These are watermark Norwich terriers. I never heard of them before but aren't they cute little dogs. I'll bet they are expensive as all get out!

Kid eating and fooling around.


Osborne Festival of Lights.

This is what the castle at Magic Kingdom looks like at Christmas. If you went there tonight, this is what you'd see.

I should be scolded for not blogging.

What do you want for Christmas?

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I haven't blogged for over a week. Das ist shade. I'll do my best to blog now while Ms. Darrup is talking to my juniors about course selection next year. I think all kids should be kids. I wonder how many deer were shot this week. I wonder how many hunting accidents happened. Communication is important. Half credit. Half credit. Equals one credit. New math. I think someone is on her cell phone. In fact, I'd bet my bottom dollar that right now I'm looking at someone who is texting. Bay of Fundy. Do you know what I mean? School is cool. Cold is old. Put your cell phone away T____!

When you play a lot of acoustic guitar, you develop callouses on the finger tips of your left hand. It's weird because sometimes you lose feeling in those calloused finger tips.

Books I've read recently: What Angels Wish They Knew. Alistair Begg
Went to see a concert Friday. Annie Moses Band. Awesome family band. Intriguing blend of classical, jazz, gospel and some other genres thrown in for good measure.

It's too cold for November. It's not even winter yet and we had snow.

The van is fixed. Stay away deer!

Random questions.

How old is too old?

What color is an orange?

Pizza is?

What do they do with braces after they are taken off? Do they reuse them? Do they recycle them? Are they melted down? Can you get them at a yard sale?

What's the difference between a yard sale and a garage sale?

How do you know that the red you see is the same red someone else sees? What if your red is his green or blue?

Water freezes and expands. This is a law of physics. It's the only compound in the world that has that characteristic. Everything else contracts. So if the polar ice caps melt, will this create the flooding of the coasts that some suggest? Won't the water stay at the same level? I don't know the answer. I just think it's a good question.

We were talking about movies. Here are some of my favorites.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Sling Blade
Best in Show
Spinal Tap

I am here. Thanksgiving is a week away. We have much to give thanks for.

Students are working. I am checking blogs.

Dentists...

Does this hurt?
Yes
Does this hurt?
Yes
Which hurts more?
Does it matter?


I wasn't nuts yesterday. Gerald Ford ran for president in 1976 but lost to Jimmy Carter. His appointed VP was Nelson Rockefeller. Interestingly, when he ran for office, his choice was Bob Dole. http://www.nndb.com/people/400/000022334/
Then, who was William Miller? He was Barry Goldwater's running mate (VP) in 1964 running against Lyndon Johnson who replaced JFK after assasination. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Miller

How many former presidents are currently living?

Bush, Clinton, Carter,
Ford has recently passed on.
I think that's all.
Who am I missing?

What is wrong with the Eagles? I think it's time for a complete overhaul. How in the world can you tie to an 1-8 team! If anyone need directions to the Baltimore Washington International Airport, I'm your man. Just give me a call. I don't know how many times now that I've made that trip but it's been plenty. Only a couple days until Thanksgiving. I've already written about Thanksgiving and food. I don't know what else to do. I could talk about animals. I like animals. I am thinking about getting another electric guitar. I don't know what I would get. I know a guy who got a Carvin guitar. They actually do like a custom job. So much of what makes people who play electric play well is their ability to know how to use the electronics of the guitar and that's something that intimidates me. I think I could do it, it's just that it's all new to me. Gibson Les Paul seems like a nice guitar, but I have never understood the difference between that and a Fender Strat. Most lead players are playing a Fender whereas the other members play other guitars.

Personal Days

What's so personal about personal days? I went to the orchard. Lots of apples. An apple a day....finish the thought.

I'll post a picture but I'm not sure which picture. I think I'll post a really old picture from Walt Disney World.

My daughter who works for Disney used to be afraid of the characters. How ironic. Like my shorts. That's embarassing!

Katherine Baker Knoll died yesterday. She was the lieutenant governor. Her service to the state of Pennsylvania was greatly appreciated.
I did mow yesterday; I chopped up leaves with the mower as well. I don't know if this will be the final mowing of the year.
I am reading a number of books right now. I have so many interests I often don't know what to read.

Mowing the Lawn or not?

It looks as though mowing the lawn today is an option. Mostly it would be chopping the leaves. I think they are good for the lawn, and the weather doesn't look to promising for the rest of the week.
Today was the blood drive here at school. There were a lot of pale students walking around.
I couldn't give, out of the country last year.

Pretend it's Wednesday

It's Tuesday night. I am watching House, not really because I like the show but because my daughter does and this gives us something to converse about...really, we text back and forth during the show though right now my phone is in another room. The van gets fixed next week. Hopefully we won't hit any more deer. My insurance allows me to rent a replacement vehicle and I'm hoping to be able to rent something that is absolutely something I'd never choose to drive...like some big ol' Dodge, maybe a huge SUV, but my budget is $35 a day so I guess that's pretty limiting.
It's been a week since the election is over. The revelry has died down. The transition should be interesting.
Who said this? Maps are your friends.
BY
I like Thanksgiving. I feel as though it's a bit less stressful than Christmas. It's a long enough break that you can relax a bit plus I must admit, I believe leftovers are better than the first time.

Veteran's Day. Salute a veteran. Thanks for fighting for our freedom. I think we often take that for granted. God Bless America.

OK. Not the best weekend.
Vikings lost to the Scouts Friday.
Penn State lost. I can’t believe that I was upset by that, but I was.
Mrs. Miller hit a deer.
Eagles lost. They are really frustrating me.
Roya Bicher ran a marathon. Amazing.

Costa Rica canopy tour: Click Here

http://www.cienporcientoaventura.com/video_canopy.html

Parent Teacher conferences. I hope all you young ladies and gentlemen enjoy your days off. I look forward to seeing you on Monday. Good luck football team tomorrow night. Break a leg, play cast, and knock ‘em dead Marching Band!

Lines to vote!

I voted last night. I stood in line outside the Swatara Township Building for a good hour before I was able to vote. I was surrounded by strangers, neighbors, friends, fellow teachers, former teachers, students, former students, and I was struck by how incredible a nation this is. There we stood, complaining about the wait, talking about the Phillies, the Eagles, the Steelers, taxes, everything, nothing; and we voted. We voted without coercion. We exercised our rights, or freedoms, which were won for us by countless lives over the centuries. Some exercised their right not to vote, and as much as this might sound strange, that too is a right fought for and won. No one forced them to vote.

Often visitors from other nations, poor nations, who come to America aren’t amazed at our cars or our homes or our amusement parks and entertainment. They are amazed at our grocery stores, where necessities are plentiful. They are awed by the choices we have. But if our favorites happen to be sold out or missing, we grow frustrated and impatient. How much we have. I think we need to focus on how fortunate we are.

The election is over. The sun rose this morning as it will tomorrow morning and the day after that and the day after that. Lines into a polling place. Great!

The Belron is coming out. We will be giving them out randomly tomorrow. We did find a couple mistakes. Later, we will charge for them. Probably a quarter. What are grades? What do they mean?
Our football team plays Conrad Weiser on Friday. I went to Conrad Weiser. I graduated in 1973. I will root for Northern Lebanon.
Go vikings.
Last night I went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert. It was good, but it was also loud. We stayed almost to the very end, but we did leave a tad early so we could beat traffic. I was amazed that a couple had brought their little baby. I think the baby was probably ten months old, and then they allowed the baby to crawl around on the floor....of a concert in the Giant Center for heaven's sake. They knew it would be loud and stuffed something in the baby's ears. I mean, if you know it could be harmful to your child's hearing and well being, and you know your child is too young to even remember this five years from now, why would you subject your child to this? That's my rant for the day.

Halloween

October 31, 2008. Halloween.
I am not big on Halloween. When I say that I mean I am not big on the whole decorate your house and stuff. Little kids dressing up and going door to door, I guess it's cute. Mine did it until they were about ten or so, and they did stay in the neighborhood. I went trick or treating as a kid, again, just in the neighborhood. Sitting here thinking about it, I'd say there were fewer than 20 homes that we went to when we were children. The only costume I remember was when I dressed up as Robin, Batman's sidekick. That show was big back them with Burt Ward and Adam West. Now when I watch the reruns, it seems pretty tacky, but the idea of a utility belt and a batmobile intrigued me as a kid. The bat cave, that was cool. I think the appeal of superheroes is the dual personality/secret identity thing. Although I could never figure out how Superman could simply hide his identity by donning glasses. I can recognize people without their glasses.
Who was the Incredible Hulk when he wasn't the Incredible Hulk?
Who was Spiderman when he wasn't Spiderman?
Who was Batman when he wasn't Batman and who was Robin when he wasn't Robin?

The Phillies Win, The Phillies Win

OK. I know I couldn't blog without mentioning the Phillies win. So, did I mention the Phillies won. World Champions. The Phillies. The greatest team in baseball for 2008. Cole Hammels, MVP.

Didn't blog yesterday. Not much time to blog today. End of the marking period and students, those purveyors of procrastination, are pummeling me with precious pieces of past due work for me to peruse.

I will be thrilled when the election is over. The negativity of the commericals is depressing.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Tim-McGraw-spreads-his-father-s-ashes-on-World-S?urn=mlb,117404

This is a neat story. Happened on Saturday night.

The Phils win. I'm having a difficult time focusing today. Perhaps I'm becoming tired. I think the change of seasons makes me tired. I hate getting up and coming to school in the dark, but next weekend is daylight savings time so we get back the hour we lost last spring. I was hoping to go golfing before we lose that hour in the afternoon but if I want to it will have to be this week.

I really do have deeper thoughts than these, but I figure I have to be pretty innocuous. That's a great SAT word. Innocuous. It's from the same root as innoculate. The doctor wanted to give me a flu shot a couple weeks ago but I said not. No way I want a strain of the flu injected in me.

The end of the marking period is this Wednesday. Where did that time go?

I am hoping the Phils can finish off the Rays tonight. Yesterday in church I was talking to a guy who had been at the game Saturday night. He only got home at 4:00AM. I guess it suddenly hit me that this may be the only chance I had to see the Phils in a world series live and I missed it. It's been 28 years since their last world series victory. I need to take more opporunities for these once in a life time experiences. If someone else had asked be whether or not he or she should go, I wouldn't have hesitated. I would have told him or her to go for it, regardless of the cost. But here I sit, frozen in my indecisiveness.....

Tower of Terror. I think it's the best ride at WDW.




Sunday night. I'm watching the Phils. Wow. Penn State won, the Phils won yesterday and the Eagles won today. Sorry Steelers fans. Not a good day for you. I do like the retro jersey's though.





I was going to put a Phillies emblem on here but I wasn't able to and I don't have the patience to do it now.





End of the first marking period Wednesday. Where did the time go?

What are we owed? Does life, or the government, or school, or teachers, or students, or our parents owe us anything? Are we entitled to anything that we shouldn't have to work for?

I know, the Phillies lost. They left so many runners on base last night. Sad.

Responsibility. That is a good concept essay.

I am feeling a bit philosophical....

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

I'm blogging in front of the whole class. I was reading my Emerson quotes to the class. Tanya is putting her computer away. I guess she's done. I think I'm having a kidney stone. Kendra just came in late, as usual. Sorry, she was finishing a test.....blah, blah, blah.

The Phillies won. That makes Josh really happy. That is sarcasm. He's rooting for the Rays (Devil) just because he hates the Phils. Hate is such a strong emotion. Some say you can't hate without first loving and you can't love without hating. Hmmmmm. That's deep.

BG's is soon going to take over WalMart. That could well be the quote of the day.

I came in to more boxes this morning. Gotta have style.

I went to college with April Showers. She married Chip Freyberger. Her name is now April Freyberger. If cows eat only grass and we eat cows, how come it raises our cholesterol?

It's time to do the on line test. It's 9:45.

Some Emerson Quote for the day...

To be great is to be misunderstood.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

A great man is always willing to be little.

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.

A man in debt is so far a slave.

A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace.

Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

The Happy Couple

I posted a picture of the family at the anniversary celebration on Saturday night. The Millers are on the left. The Campbells are on the right and grandma and grandpa are seated. Enjoy!

50th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. This weekend we traveled to North Carolina to celebrate. On Saturday night, we had a nice quiet family get together with a dinner and slide show that my wife and her sister had put together. My father in law shared how they met. She came to their school in third grade in Newmanstown, and she sat right in front of him. He asked her to the Christmas dance in their junior year and then they began dating his senior year. So really, they were childhood sweethearts. He had been in the marines, and he was making $87.50 a month and could never afford a proper engagement ring. So on Saturday as he was telling us all the story of their time together, he pulled out an engagement ring, a diamond, and put in on her finger. Pretty cool, the old romantic. I'll post some pictures later of the occasion. Anyway, 1000 miles from Friday after school to Sunday evening make for a tired teacher. Now it's off to correcting 11th grade research papers and getting back into the swing of things.

The Phillies will be playing the Rays in the world series beginning Wednesday.

Panera bread makes great bagels.

School is cool.

The weather is turning colder and there was frost on the pumpkin this morning, and my windshield.

Katie Hess is homecoming queen. Congratulations Katie.

We beat Donegal.

There is a lot of noise going on in the hall.

Winter sports callouts are tomorrow.

I am so pleased with my am class. They are reading quietly. I wonder if I could fall asleep.

I don't know when I got my first computer in the classroom. I know I was still teaching in the middle school, which would have made it around 1994. The computer was a macintosh and I don't recall exactly what I used it for other than grades. I know I bought my own grading program. Some teachers had set up a program on excel to do theirs, but I didn't have that ability. I think the name of the program was something like easy grade pro and as I recall, it wasn't cheap, forty or fifty bucks. I used it for a year and then the school provided a similar program for us. I do know there was no internet connections at the time. Later, I got a powermac. That was my next school computer and that seemed so much more powerful. I don't know when exactly we got the internet but I know it was on that computer. My first computer at home was also a Mac. I bought it from Montgomery Wards, I financed it with zero percent financing for a year, and I believe it cost 1800. I had dial up internet with that one forever and first used AOL. They didn't have a local access number, but they did have an 800 number which cost 10 cents a minute to use. The trouble was it was so slow, it took forever to load graphics. It wasn't uncommon for it to take two or three minutes to load a page, so my bill for the month for internet was something like 16 dollars a month but the extra 10-15 for the AOL was unpredictable. I think it was a lot later before I got high speed internet at home. I still hate paying that bill at the end of the month. Until last year, in January, I had a big old desk top computer and when we got the laptops for the cff grant, those were replaced with these laptops. That's what we have at home, too- a dell laptop. Both the kids got laptops as freshmen at Grove City. When they came home, it became obvious that dial up was really slow, and they couldn't use their computers at home because of it. They complained a lot about it. My son nowhas a dell desktop and my daughter has returned to the world of macs. I really like hers; it seems so much more user friendly but they cost more and don't always run the same software that pc's do, though there is much more compatibilty than there was previously. I think the one thing I like about hers is that there aren't a ton of viruses out there that will infect a mac. I don't know what apple's market share is, but I suspect it's less than 10%. Who would have dreamed we'd be doing journals on line? Who would have dreamed that I could sit here at my desk at school and with my webcam, talk to Mr. Wallace across the hall, or a teacher at Cedar Crest or my daughter in Florida or a school in California. I do think it's important, however, to remember that computers don't make us smarter; they simply allow us to work more efficiently.

THE PHILLIES ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!

Isn't that the greatest thing!

A five to one victory last night over the Dodgers. Cole Hamells was great on the mound. I almost stayed awake throught the whole thing, but not quite.

Homecoming this week.

William Cullen Bryant.

To a Waterfowl.

Gotta go.

AR/Salem Witch Trials today!

It's period 11 and the usual discussion is going on. We just had a fire drill. I think it was a fire drill. I don't think it was a fire. I know we are back in the room.

School attendance is important. It's important to those who will give you recommendations for jobs in the future. There aren't a lot of jobs that you can stay home and make a lot of money. I enjoy replugging in all of the computers at the end of the day. Today is Tuesday but feels like Monday. Many students gave me planners to sign that actually had Monday's date. Tomorrow is Wednesday already. Wow. Half way through the week.

No school today. What did you do? I took Mrs. Miller for breakfast at the Giddyapp Cafe in Palmyra. I had a pancake. Yes, just one. She had French toast. Then we went to the orchard for some apples. I mowed and trimmed. A pretty productive day.

My kids....

What a beautiful day today. Sadly, we had to take our daughter back to the airport for her flight back to Florida. The wedding was quite nice, really nice. My son acted as the dj for the reception.

Dancing at the Lantern Lodge....

This http://www.maniacworld.com/twin-baby-moose-in-sprinkler.html is funny. We probably can't access it at school.

Phils won.

My daughter is home.

Time for doughnuts.

This is a blow hole in Hawaii. We should all go there. It's a beautiful state.

The Phillies won last night 3-2. That's good. My daughter is coming home tonight for my niece's wedding. I must run to Baltimore after school. I don't look forward to that. But I do look forward to seeing her. It's been a couple months. I am anxious for her to finish school and come home to live. I don't have a whole lot else to write and I just realized I didn't blog yesterday.

I am starting a new project with the eleventh grade classes today. It involves the play, The Crucible. Arthur Miller is the author and he is one of my favorites, not simply because he has the same name as me, but because he was a great writer, he was married to Marilyn Monroe, and he was 6'4". One of my professors at Millersville had done his doctoral dissertation on Arthur Miller. I would think that doing a doctoral dissertation on a living person would be fascinating because they would actually be able to get feedback from that person.

I have continued to read The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis. I am fascinated by the way he frames his stories. The way he weaves his story is truly remarkable and at times difficult to understand, but I am 'getting the point' of what he is saying and I'm moved to think deeply about the subject. He is an author I wish I had met. His death went virtually unnoticed because it occurred the same day as the Kennedy assasination.

Tomorrow we begin the new year for graduation projects. I find these interesting. In many cases, we meet with students for four years, and then at the end of the senior year, they scurry around to complete the assignment which they have four years to do. Usually it's done just to get it over with. I also wonder how community service, which by definition is voluntary, can be required. Wouldn't that be an oxymoron? Required volunteerism? Just some thoughts. The concept of a concept

essay....education....school....freedom....socialism....capitalism...cleanliness.....wants and needs.....

I'm getting low on gum.

This is a picture from Costa Rica which shows some of our kids playing soccer with Guillermo who was our guide and the coolest human being in the entire of Costa Rica and Freddy was the second coolest person in the country but certainly the coolest bus driver in the entire world. Just thinking about Costa Rica makes me hungry for beans and rice and fresh fruit.

Monday morning. Extended homeroom. A so so weekend for local teams. NL football won big. Penn State won. The Phillies lost Saturday but finished off the series yesterday with some hot hitting. The Eagles.....well. They're an enigma right now. Next Monday, we'll be sleeping in as it is. But that's next Monday. We've got a week to get there.

The Phils won yesterday so they are up 2-0 in the series. Victorino had his first career grand slam home run, but only after Bret Myers had a huge at bat which resulted in a walk. He increased the pitch count of the starter.
Kids are working on their rough copies. I am collecting whatever they have today. Hopefully this will move this project on more that we have been.
I don't have much else to say. My daughter's car is acting up but it's 1000 miles from here, so that makes me feel helpless for her.

Period 11

Period 11 class hard at work!!!!!!!!!! Look closely.

The Phils won yesterday afternoon. Go Phils. Hamel was amazing and Lidge hung on, but he made it interesting.
I began reading The Great Divorce last evening by CS Lewis. I read something this summer that referred to it and I had been wanting to read it, but recently some students and I were discussing it. I was told, and I haven't confirmed this, that it has been removed from numerous libraries, and I'm curious why. I have read the first two chapters. I'm pretty familiar with Lewis, so right away I'm thinking it's probably an extended metaphor, which seems to be the case. I can't believe it's October already. Wow. Where did the time go?

I wasn't here yesterday. Feeling better. Ms. Header was here for me.
Phils play tonight. They need to win this series. Then they can move on to the NLCS. We have a senior class meeting this morning. We are going to take the class to Six Flags again. It is usually a good time.
I wonder how long your fingernails grow in a year's time.
I wonder who ate the first clam.
I wonder why people eat gross stuff.
I don't like food that comes in a shell, clams, scallops.
I do like shrimp, though they are pretty ugly.
Lobster used to be slave food.
Rip Van Winkle was a fictional character.
So was Ichabod Crane.
Both are the creations of Washington Irving.

Sick.
Rosh Hashanah.
No pictures.
Random thoughts.

No story with this picture. I just thought it was funny. It's Sunday afternoon. The Phillies won the NL East, Penn State beat Illinois, and the Eagles play tonight, again a late night. After Friday, I think we are going to slowly walk our way through the research project so we get it RIGHT! QUIT COUNTING WORDS....

Gary Larsen creates Far Side cartoons. I got this as a card from a friend a few years ago and thought it was pretty funny.

I posted this picture of my mom and dad. I think this was probably taken round the time or before I was born in the 50's. I guess only professionals had color cameras back then. I have a few more I'll have to post over time. The older I get, the more intrigued I am about the history of the family. This picture was taken at a cottage in front of Dewey Beach, Delaware, on one of our family vacations.

Mom and Dad

This is one sweet guitar

I flipped the light switch in the darkened room as I have hundreds of times before, school day after school day. I look around at the off white walls, probably painted that way because some educational expert said this shade was soothing and invoked a positive learning environment among those who enter here. I find it boring and institutional. Cinder block is cinder block; you can’t do much with it; paint only covers the gray. The custodial staff did their job last night. The floor has been swept and the desks are arranged neatly in their tidy linear rows. The floor shines from the recent summer’s waxing. This will fade as the year progresses. It’s quiet now. The only noise is the hum of the ventilator which circulates air in this windowless room. I shouldn’t say it’s windowless. There is one window which looks into a storage area which the staff seems to feel is its own dumping grounds. Various announcements, menus, posters with random information is hung around the room. The chalkboards in the front and back are green, and a third is a charcoal gray. It becomes obvious that over time this room has evolved with the various building and renovation projects the school has known throughout the years. A large white Smart Board faces the class of empty seats. An antiquated and unused television from the old channel one days seems perched from the wall in the front of the room, while wires hand like vine from the ceiling and walls where the new technology has found its way into the life of this room. Piles of books and papers inhabit the flat surfaces while other books line the shelves below the lone gray chalkboard. The glow from the fluorescent lights contributes to the institutional feel. Brackets from past movie sceens protrude from the front wall, reminders of a time of film strips and record players and 16mm movies. Now we are laptops and internet and SmartBoards and wireless routers. Are we smarter? Are we educating better? Looking ten years into the future, what will we see in this room? Students? Or perhaps just a teacher and a computer connected to students who are at home, working through material at their own pace? Who knows.

I wrote this as a rough copy example for Comp 101.

Check out the cake below. Communication. A wonderful thing.

This picture cracks me up. Read it and you'll find the humor in it as well....hopefully.

See you at the pole was thing morning. All good.
Wednesdays. I guess I should mention that the Phils lost last night and the Mets won. Gotta give the bad news with the good. Still, the Phils are in first by a game and a half.
Lots of people are sick with an upper respiratory type illness.
The printer isn't working yet. Paper jams you know.
Izod. That's the name of the shirt I'm wearing. It's a new shirt.
No pictures today yet.
Libraries are interesting places. There are lots of books there. The Lebanon Public Library is an interesting place. If you lived within walking distance of a library, you wouldn't need to have internet or subscribe to a newspaper. You wouldn't need to buy very many books, if any. There is also quite a collection of videos. I say walking because all those things are delivered to your home so driving might somehow cancel out the cost of purchasing those things.
We need hangers.

These are the Marx brothers. Four of them. One is missing but honestly, I didn't know that until now. Memmo Marx is the little known Marx brother. From left to right, Zeppo, Harpo, Groucho and Chico. Harpo never speaks in the movies.

Beth Yingst showed me this booklet and I thought I'd add this to my blog. This is what ours looks like.

The Phillies won last night and the Mets lost. The Phils are now two and a half games in front in the NL East.
I guess long hair is back.
The printer isn't working correctly. That is sad. Teachers are going crazy trying to print things out. It's amazing how things we didn't even have a couple years ago have now become so incredibly important to us, like printers. Things like note taking have become obsolete.
Two teachers in the department are absent. Ms. Clouser and Mr. Shamp.
If you could turn back time, what things would you do differently? I think I'd work harder in come areas. I think I'd try more things.
It's cold in here today.

Good morning. It's Monday and what a great day to be alive.
Today is the last day of summer and the first day of fall. I'm not a big fan of cold weather, but as long I live in PA, I guess I'll just have to endure it.
The Eagles won yesterday over the Steelers. Big defensive battle. The Americans won the Ryder Cup. That's good. Penn State won big again over Temple. Phillies are now a game and a half ahead of the Mets with a week to go in the regular season. That's a good thing as well. I was just told I look like I just ate a lemon. Good description.
Choir started up again for the fall. I enjoy the choir.
I think Shane Victorino has a pretty good life. He plays baseball for a living and make a lot of money and then in the off season, he goes home to Hawaii (and the off season is winter). Now I've been to Hawaii and it's a pretty good place to hang your hat (or your spikes as the case may be). One of the best things about Hawaii was touring the Dole Plantation. They actually don't raise all that much pineapple there any more. They do have a nice tour. They also have Dole Whips. A Dole Whip is like a pineapple smoothy and is just delicious. The only other place I know they have Dole Whips is Walt Disney World. Go to Magic Kingdom, head towards the castle, turn left before you get there and you'll find the Dole Whip place over there. It's sort of tucked away from the major traffic areas which is great by me. Last summer, I got a Dole Whip and I picked up my own spoon from the spoons and the cast member scolded me a bit, cuz that was her job. I am using capitals today for those who are actually reading this.

Parents' night last night. I enjoyed meeting some of your parents. The Ryder Cup starts today. It's one of my favorite golf matches to watch. It is so nice out right now. This week has just been beautiful. There is a pep rally this afternoon. The football team plays ELCO tonight and the soccer team plays Donegal tomorrow. Good luck teams.

Wow, I didn't blog yesterday so I better put a good one out there today. I spent a lot of time correcting essays over the past few days. It's amazing the experiences of some of you kids.
Tonight is Parents' Night. Most of the time, I don't get a whole lot of parents. The hummingbirds were back, and I use the plural form because there are a few of them. I am hoping to golf soon. I haven't for a few weeks. The Phillies won last night and are a half game in front of the Mets for the NL East. Go Phils. Fall is pretty but I don't like cold. I guess you can't have everything you want.

testing the internet today. lots of work on the computers to see they work well with the wireless internet connection. it would be perfect if they work perfectly. i am ignoring capital letters right now.
the eagles lost last night but it was a good game. you could say two of the best teams played.

Some people say they like sports, but I don't know if they really do. It sounds like one of those things people say when they think it's the right thing to say. Sometimes when I capitalize with my right hand, I hit the enter button and everything get's all weird. Sometimes I lose my train of thought. When you spell definitely wrong on microsoft, it changes it to defiant. I need to stress compounds again. The football team won Friday night in the rain. The Steelers won yesterday. The Eagle play tonight, though to be honest, I don't remember the last time I saw an entire Monday night game because they get way too late for someone of my advanced age. Penn State throttled Syracuse on Saturday though I saw none of it because I was at a wedding. The wedding was nice. Charlie Weis, the ND coach, was injured when a player came across the sideline and hit his knee. He needs to have his knee reconstructed now.
That's all folks. They say that at the end of bugs bunny cartoons.

We are working on stuff here in class. Sometimes Fridays are fun because it's like the last hundred yards of a long race. There is a sense of accomplishment, knowing that it's over, at least for a couple of days. I wonder what it will be like to retire. You go home for the summer, but come September, you just don't go back. That must be when it really hits home. Words are cool. You can say just about anything using words. The dictionary is a cool book because it has all kinds of cool words in it. In a way, all the books ever written are in the dictionary. The words just aren't in the right order.

Gmade and Grade is over, at least for the majority of the students. I really know how the potato chip was invented. I know the Wongs have moved from the airport. I'm happy for them. I also know the Phillies lost again. Last year is nothing but a fond memory. The weather has turned a bit cooler. It must be an extended homeroom this morning for a variety of meetings. I have been following the case of a missing child in Orlando. It is sad. In some ways it is quite frustrating.
For fun:
EVER WONDER .... Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin ? Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'? Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word? Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'? Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food? Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes? Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections? You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff? Why don't sheep shrink when it rains? Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together? If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress? If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal? My sister sent me those....

We had an assembly this morning about internet safety. I have always been aware of how you can't be too careful what you post. I know of people who just put dumb stuff out there for people to see. I have always felt that posting pictures is pretty dangerous, but now I have posted a picture of myself. The horse is the one at the bottom. Once, I was able to figure out a person's identity simply from stuff she had posted on a discussion board. I don't think I'd ever post pictures of my young kids. My kids aren't young any more, but still.....

Looks like rain today. I guess that's good. No sign of the hummingbird last night or this morning. I am supposed to give Gmade and Grade tests. I will do that today with my juniors. I am hoping that my lovely and hardworking students embrace fully the research topics that I have planned for them. We were supposed to be finishing up the entire paper by Monday, but with testing and the internet interruptions, I think that deadline will come and go. I am looking forward to my seniors finishing their first essays. The correction is time consuming. Oh, and I have another wedding this weekend. That makes six this year.

The football game Friday was really enjoyable. Very impressive. The rain on Saturday was sorely needed. The hummingbird just kind of hung around because the feeder is under the porch and he didn't get wet there. He has since found some flowers closer to the kitchen window, so we get a much closer view of him. This week we are doing gmade and grade testing with the classes. This will be the first five day week of the school year.

I just clicked on next blog at the top of my page by accident and suddenly I was on a blog of strangers. Weird. I watched a bit of the convention last night. Seems like a big peprally. Lots of balloons and confetti.
Today is AR day for the juniors. STAR reading test. Fun and games. It may rain tomorrow as the remnant of hurricane Hanna come up the coast. We actually could use the rain. It's quite dry.

Extended homeroom this morning. It gives me a chance to blog. In August the temperature was fairly cool, but now it's hot. There are a number of storms brewing in the Atlantic, one quite dangerous it would appear. Next Friday is picture day and tomorrow is dress down day for the American Cancer Society. I like dress down days. I'm hoping to get the works cited pages done and I'm hoping to get a good bit of the intext citation samples done as well.

I'm waiting for one of my classes to finish reading. The Republicans are conventioning now. I've heard bits and pieces of a speech or two. Interesting. Not much else is going on. The soccer team played last night but I didn't hear a score. People keep calling the house about the election but I don't pick up. If you sneeze, let it out. Don't do that whimpy little 'chew. Let it go. I don't see how people who hold in their sneezes eventually explode.
I don't know what will happen if I change fonts. Perhaps more people will read my posts but perhaps no one will even notice.

Back

Why do they call it Labor Day if everyone has off work? That doesn't make a lot of sense. I golfed yesterday with my son. It's was fun but the golf was lousy. We had a picnic Saturday and a picnic Sunday. Not much else really happened. The hummingbirds are good. I fished another two dead animals out of the pool. They really get gross after a day or two.
Penn State won big on Saturday. A pretty big hurricane hit NO again, though it doesn't appear the damage is nearly what Katrina was. Gustav...that's this hurricane's name but apparently there is a Hanna and an Iris or Ivy or some other I name in the offing. They just keep coming.

Inservice is fun

I'm sitting here in the empty room 76. So far I have loaded about two dozen or so blogs. McCain has just announced his Vice Presidential running mate. Interesting choice. I wonder how this will play with Americans....
I responded to a couple student blogs. I should give a prize for the best entry...perhaps gum. I could give away gum.
There were two hummingbirds at the feeder this morning.

Did you hear about the butcher who backed into his meat grinder? He got a little behind in his work. That's how I feel.
I arrived at school to 19 emails. About 10 of them were from students who have mailed me their blogs. The rest were things of little value to me. The hummingbirds were back yesterday. I can see why bird watchers get so excited about see rare species of birds. No school for the kids tomorrow. I have inservice though at the present time, I don't know what I'll be doing.
I have a bunch of plans for the weekend. We have a picnic on Saturday and another on Sunday. The Sunday one is family. My brother and his family and their families and my sisters and theirs. I guess there will be quite a few people. Both my mom and dad are gone, so for us to get together is something that we have to put together. While my dad was still living, we used to congregate at his place on holidays, but it was December ten years ago that he died. Now, my older brother and sister have grandchildren of their own. Both of my brother's kids have two children each, and my older sister's oldest daughter has a little girl.
Enough of my ramblings.

I didn't do much terribly interesting last night. I did see the hummingbird again, though I have no way of knowing if there is one or more than one. The Phillies came from seven runs behind to beat the Mets and take a half game lead in the NL East. Jamie Moyer looked awful. The were hitting everything he was throwing.
Today is the third day of school. It's tiring when you aren't used to the schedule. This Friday is the home football game. Penn State plays Coastal Carolina this weekend. Come on...Coastal Carolina? I didn't know they had a team.

I am trying to get the classes to create blogs today. The purpose of this is for the students to be able to save paper and journal online. I expect to be able to check these at least every week. I am not terribly computer savvy so this is an adventure, just like Costa Rica was an adventure. Last night I went for a walk and when I got home, a hummingbird was at the feeder. Cool.
It's a bit later. I ate lunch. I don't like eating this early because when I go home I am hungry again.
Walking through the cemetary is weird. You see all sorts of tombstones from ages ago and you wonder if those people have relatives who come and visit them, not them I guess, but their gravesites. I'm getting depressed now. Let's think happy thoughts.
LONG WEEKEND!
I love Sunday nights when there's no school Mondays....you can stay up late and eat popcorn. Once in college I got a piece of popcorn stuck in the back of my last molar and that sucker made my whole face swell up. I went to the dentist and he popped it and gross stuff ooooooozed out.
I'm not making this up.
My wife wants another dog.

August 25, 2008

Just got done with the first day of school. I must say, it's overwhelming at times because no matter how may first days there are, they are always different and you never quite know what to expect. My classes seem great. It's hard to believe that I started here back in 1987. I think I finally have the children of someone I had in class. That's old.

Heard from Megan today. Her classes are working out well and was assured that she will be graduation in May of 09. I hope her internships work out so that she can finish her last semester here at home. I know that's what she wants.

Her roomie is leaving and she's not unhappy about that. She will be living alone for awhile. I guess I should visit Florida more frequently...Ha.

I hope some of you take the opportunity to post and reply to my posts.

Have a great school year.