I'm Back

Well Im back, in more ways than one. I have been gone for what seems like ever. First in SD for a week, then at work for a planning retreat the last 2 days, and now I finally have a chance to catch you all up.
San Diego started out with a bust. Of course when I was planning, which I'm Mister Planner so should of thought of this, I forgot that I would be leaving for SD on a Sunday morning following 4th of July week in Vegas. For those of you who haven't driven from Vegas to So. Cal on a Sunday morning, esp. following a holiday, I'm jealous, its one of the most painful experiences imaginable, you know, that and childbirth. Anyhow, I realized my error when I pulled out of my garage at 10 a.m. last Sunday and got ready to turn onto the freeway. In a split second I saw my whole day gone, engulfed in a nightmarish-traffic jammed-rage invoking-delirium of near nervous breakdown levels, and I changed my mind. I decided not to go down the 15, but to take some back desert roads down through Needles, out to Barstow, and then south from there. It was still busy, and its quite a few more miles in distance, but the stopping-starting, paranoid rush was avoided. Nevertheless, I made it to SD and was welcomed with a beautiful accommodation at the Sheraton overlooking Coronado Bridge and Island at the Harbor in SD.

The next few days were spent listening to lectures and attending workshops trying to find methods for working with failing students. I had the privilege of hearing Henry Wong speak who is a leader in Classroom Management, and while I teach in a virtual classroom, many of his platitudes apply. I highly recommend his book "How to be an Effective Teacher, the First Days of School" to anyone in the field. Douglas Reeves was another great speaker, and he is one of the country's leading researchers in academic leadership and student achievement.

After 3 days the conference ended, but I had to kill some time until the wedding at the end of the week so I hung out with a couple of friends down in the area. I saw Transformers, which is about as fun as a movie can get. The special effects were unparallelled and it was laugh out loud funny too. Also saw Die Hard 4, not bad, really intense, but not too memorable. When Saturday morning came around, I headed up to Temecula for a wedding of one of my closest friends from HS. It was a reunion of sorts. The 4 guys I moved out to Morro Bay with, the same 4 guys that I spent a majority of my time with the last 3 years of HS, were all there, plus a few others. Its amazing how well us At-Risk HS students turned out. Some got lucky and married well, others went to school, and others were just good at stuff, but we all are doing unpredictably well from where we were in 1994. The wedding was glamorous, the setting was beautiful, the camaraderie was life affirming. I owe you a few more posts, so check back soon.

c

115 Degrees Today

Well, we are in the heart of it now. Its summer in Las Vegas and record highs are scorching the Vegas Valley. Henderson is even hotter than Vegas so if you see the weather report on the news, tack on a few more degrees if you want to know what we are at. Its a mess and the only relief is to stay inside, which is doable since we are teachers and have the summer off, but sort of unfair. We have all day to do anything we want, but are confined inside unless we want to fend off heat stroke.

One relief from the torture is the movie theater, which suits me since I love my movies. So we saw 1408, a thriller from the mind of Stephen King two days ago, and today we saw Sicko. I recommend Sicko for anyone who has ever wondered why we are the only civilized country in the world without universal health care, this movie will answer that question.

The only activity we have even bothered trying to do outside when the sun is out is to go to the pool. My mom came down from Idaho last weekend and we spent the afternoon at the pool the other day. Niki's kids really enjoy it, and Caden seems to like it too. Sarah welcomes the zero gravity of the pool, it alleviates most of the pressure on her ever growing belly.





We had our final baby shower in Los Angeles two weekends ago. Nathan and Mel, Sarah's brother and sister in law, hosted it for us. It was a fun afternoon. Most of Sarah's southern California family showed up and I even had a few relatives come. We received some much needed gifts and donations, thank you to everyone who came. We have basically everything we need to get started except a baby and a clue.

We are at 35 Weeks tomorrow, so that's 2 weeks from full term. Its getting more and more real everyday because we are at the point that he could come any day and it wouldn't be a shock.

I'm heading out to San Diego this weekend. I have a conference to attend on working with At Risk students, kids who are at a high likelihood of not graduating HS, which is a majority of the population I teach. I'm staying in SD after the conference to attend a wedding of one of my best friends from HS. Most of my closest friends from HS are still in touch and will attend the wedding, so it will be a reunion of sorts; I'm really looking forward to it. But between the conference and the wedding, I'm leaving Sarah for a week, 4 weeks before the due date. While she is glad to get rid of me, its awfully close so its nice that Sarah's best friend Leslie is coming to town to stay with her while I'm gone.

For the most part there isn't anything going on right now. I will update you after SD. Until the next thought, c

Summertime

We started our Summer Break Friday, June 8th, at about 12:30. Well, it would of been earlier, but I did a bonehead thing. I rushed home, all 30 miles, from my goodbye breakfast at work and when I got there, Sarah had packed up the new Civic and we were on our way to Carson City. We made it all the way to the very northern end of Vegas, another 35 miles, and I realized I had left my wallet in the car I had driven home from work. So, knowing that we would be in Carson City, and I would be driving on to Sacramento for a few days, ugghh, I had to turn around. So, an hour and 15 minutes later I was back in the same spot laughing about it.
We made the long drive, 7 hours, up to CC with many 'baby breaks' along Nevada 95. Quite a road to see if you have never been out there: brothels, underwater military training camps in the middle of the desert, the road to Area 51, the Nevada Test Site where they held atomic testing in the 60's and 70's, and a little today. But for the most part, its just boring, those spots take up about 2:45 seconds of your drive, then the rest is a yawner, but its a price you pay to see family. And, oh, we had a baby shower. B.S. #2.
The first one Niki held for us in Vegas a couple weekends ago, this one Donna held for us at her house up north. Sarah had a great time, her best friend (Leslie) and family bought Caden his first Jeep. For those of you that don't know, Sarah and Leslie are big Jeep nuts. Or just nuts. I don't know, anyway, so she bought C a 4x4 Jeep stroller, his first Jeep. Donna had a great party and Sarah was very happy.
Meanwhile, I went up to Sacramento to see my buddy. Hung out in Sac a couple days, saw Oceans' 13, which was great, went downtown (very swanky, I guess Sac is getting rid of those cowbells), and relaxed. On the drive up to Sac about 10 miles west of Reno on I-80 in the Sierra Nevadas, I saw my first dead bear. It was strange, poor thing was hit by a car. It must of been a fairly small bear, roughly about the size of Donna's Newfoundland, Sadie (see pics link).
We spent Monday lounging around CC, looking at houses, waiting for Donna to get off work. Yes, looking at houses, its such a beautiful place and its a small town, might just make it up there before too long. Anyway, went up to Tahoe for dinner, beautiful summer night in Tahoe, if you haven't seen that, you are missing something.
Made the 8 hour drive back home yesterday and am now playing catch up.
We have a baby birthing class all day next Saturday, 9 hours or something crazy like that. Until next time, c