A few weeks in review

I have been slacking on keeping up with my blog for a couple of reasons. First of all, I like opening my blog and seeing pictures of Craig's pond - a reminder when it was sunny and warm outside. Second, teaching has been keeping me busy... and sick. The week before my birthday I came down with the flu - I don't know for sure if it was H1N1, but it sure kicked my butt. I had a fever for almost four days, and I'm still feeling tired and coughing. I missed three days of school in the process, but I don't remember much since I slept almost the whole time.

The day my fever broke was my birthday. Reed and I had planned on going down to Portland to have a nice dinner and see Vertical Horizon. I was a little concerned that we shouldn't go since I had been so sick, but we took it easy and didn't stay out too late. So we had a great time and I'm officially 33.

The weather has been getting progressively colder, and we've had a few snow flurries here and there. The heater in my classroom is either all the way on or all the way off. I dress in layers never knowing if it's going to be a sauna or a freezer.

Speaking of my classroom - lately I've been having my Earth science students do an activity where they are learning about systems using a series of buckets filled with water and tubes. They are supposed to be getting a grasp on measuring rates and learning about effects on systems by changing outputs and inputs. While this sounds like a worth while activity... I question my sanity on a daily basis when I have students dunking their heads in the buckets, dumping gallons of water on the floor, and spilling water over electrical circuits causing them to start smoking. I need to start accepting the fact that a group of freshmen with access to large amounts of water will act like 3rd graders... not 9th graders.

Some work and some fun

Teaching has been keeping me super busy, but Reed and I have been able to get in a little bit of fun on the weekends. A few weekends ago we went to a place called Craig's pond. The amazing part was that the water was crystal clear, although a bit too chilly for me. There were some friendly minnows that came to nibble on my heals, though.

I mainly enjoyed the sunshine from my towel. We are hoping to go back there next year with a couple of kayaks or a canoe and do some exploring.

After Craig's pond, we drove towards the coast and found a beach that was loaded with shells. Mostly mussels and clam shells, which were covered in tiny snails. There was an odd crunching noise everytime you took a step. Reed and I were separately browsing the shells, and he said, "I found a neat looking shell" - and at that same time I also found a 'neat' shell. We came together to show off our shells... well, you can see in the picure below, we both had the same good taste in "neat" shells.

My mom gave me a new set of golf clubs for my birthday, so Reed and I decided to give them a try. We went to the Kenduskeg golf course and played nine holes. We were a both a bit rusty, but the weather was perfect and we had fun riding around on the cart.

Of course all of these activities are taking place on the weekends because I've been so busy preparing for school during the week. This teaching thing is a tough job! I'm not sure why I was complaining about my engineering job --- just kidding! I love it, but it's wearing me out. When is vacation?

1st week - not so good. 2nd week - much better.

I just finished my second week of teaching, and it had a bumpy start. The first day of school was only freshman, and I was able to guide them around and give them mostly correct information. The next morning I woke up at about 4:00am with the worst stomach pains. At first I thought I was just really nervous about the first 'real' day of school, so I took a shower and went to make myself a bowl of cereal. That's the point when I started to realize that it wasn't just nerves. I sat with my head between my knees trying to fight off the nausea for about 30 minutes - then I did what I never thought I would do (at least so soon): I called in sick. What teacher calls in sick for the first real day of classes??? AND, who has sub plans for the first day??? Not me! I gave the sub a some questions the students could answer in their lab notebooks, but I knew it would only occupy about 15 minutes. Oh well... at least they were able to catch up on their summer vacations.

The third day of school (2nd day of real classes) I made it all the way to school, although my head was spinning. I got there early, and about 20 minutes before school was going to start I realized that I was about to either 1. pass out or 2. throw up. Again... had to call in a sub. At least this time I was able to at least set up some cool earth science videos for the students to watch.

Turns out there is a stomach bug going around - and I got it. Eeergg. By Friday I was feeling mostly better and made it through a whole day of school. Since then I've been feeling much better. I guess every teacher has a funny story to tell about their first year of teaching. I didn't think I would get 'my story' so soon.

My last days of freedom

It's been about 2.5 years since I've had an official job, and starting next week I will be back in the workforce. This Wednesday I have my new-teacher orientation day and a technology day on Thursday. I officially get my first students on Tuesday, Sept. 1st, which will be only freshmen in my Earth Science classes. The next day is a regular day where all grade levels show up at the school. As far as I know, I'm still teaching four Earth Science classes and two Chemistry classes. In the meantime, I thought it would be a good idea to start getting up earlier (i.e. before 10am) so that when I have to get up at 6am it won't be such a shock to my system. So far, it hasn't worked. It's going to be a long first week with lots of coffee!!

I've got the keys to my new classroom, which happens to be right across the hall from the classroom where I did my student teaching. What I don't know yet is what I need to do to my classroom to get it 'ready'. So, I'm going to walk around the halls in the next couple of days and see what everyone else is doing. Suggestions are welcomed!!!

I'm also getting a roommate that will be staying with me for the next couple of months. She is a fellow MST student that is finishing her classwork in the fall, and doing her student teaching next spring. It will be nice to have some company in the house besides my three cats =) In the next couple of days I will be clearing out some space for her, and trying to get all the cat hair under control. yuck.

Swing batter-batter.... and you're out!

Saturday

9:30 am: Woke up late, and decided to take a walk by the river.

11:05 am: Made an iced-latte and enjoying my cereal.

11:06: Get a call from Mindi - "Hey dude, I need a favor. Can you come play on our fast-pitch softball team? And, the game starts at 11:30, so you need to come right now."

Mind you, I have never played on a fast-pitch softball team, and actually I've only played a handful of times in a slow-pitch game. But what else do I have to do? So I went. The group of gals I played with were a lot of fun, and really supportive of me even though I was in over my head.

We played three games on Saturday and one on Sunday. I wish I could say we won one, but we didn't. In fact, we were the oldest team in the tournament - I was probably twice the age of some of players on the other teams - oh I feel old.

They put me out in right field the first day, and I didn't mess up to much out there, but I really didn't have any hitting success. This was my first time having a softball being thrown at me at such high speeds. I had a hard time even seeing the darn ball! The first day I struck out every time (I lost count), and I only touched the ball with my bat when I thought it was going to hit me and I put the bat out to protect me. The second day I actually connected with the ball twice, but they both were foul, and the second one got caught. Oh well -- at least I didn't get any major injuries -- just two black fly bites and a sunburn on my neck.

The best part of the weekend, besides Mindi's yummy chocolate chip bars, was that after our last game there was a skills tournament. This is where they had three competitions: hitting, throwing and running. There were six teams in our open division, but like I said before, most of them were either in high school or just out of high school, and have been practicing all summer. Each team sent seven of their players to participate in this part of the competition (I opted out for obvious reasons). Turns out that the old ladies have some skills! The gals from my team won two of the three competitions, which came as quite a surprise not only to us, but to the other teams. Great job ladies!!

Hopefully next year they will round up some people with way more experience than me, and I can cheer from the sidelines! I would be quite content not having a ball coming at me that fast ever again!!

Done - well, almost.

Yesterday I defended my thesis in front of some of my department faculty and fellow graduate students. Whew... it's done! I think it went pretty well, at least that is what everyone keeps telling me. Now I'm in the process of doing my final revisions to my (written) thesis that will be submitted to the graduate department. And THEN I will be done! Almost... I will be going to a teacher's professional development workshop in middle of August to share about the computer model that I've been working with, and also to create a middle-school curriculum with the other teachers. Okay.. then I will be done. The hard part is over, though.

Today was my first whole day off, and I wasn't sure what to do with all the free-time. It's been raining off and on today, so I set my lounge chair on my front portch and did a bit of reading. Tonight I'm going to watch a friend's softball game (weather permitting). So... it just feels like my life is getting back to normal, and I can actually be social again.

I start my teaching job the last week of August, although students don't start till the first week of September. In the meantime, I'll be doing some planning and trying to get my classroom ready to go. So long student life, hello back to real-world job.

A break

This last Thursday I turned in my first draft on my thesis, and since then I've been taking a break from even looking at it. I've been permanently attached to my couch with my laptop these last six weeks, and I'm so relieved it's almost done. I do have more revisions to make, and an oral defense to prepare for (July 30th), but most of the work is done.

Yesterday was my first "day off" and I was excited that it was actually sunny. I bought a comfy lounge chair and a smoothie, and planted myself on my deck with the latest Real.Simple magazine. After the first hour, I was feeling a little guilty for not 'doing' anything, but the next article I came to was all about the joys and benefits of doing nothing - ironic?? So that was my afternoon -- basking in the elusive sunshine, and I even let my kitties out to roam around a bit.

Today, it's raining again, and I'm feeling the tug to organize my spare bedroom or my garage. We'll see if I get motivated enough to get out of my pj's =)