It's January

My Januaries are usually cold and wet, with lots of clouds and temperatures hovering around 40 degrees for the whole month. My body is used to being constantly cold and wet seeing sunlight for about 8 hours a day.



But then I moved to Houston where it is currently 10:00 AM and 70 degrees. I can't believe it. I'm in weather heaven. My windows and patio door are all open, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of this lovely, unseasonably warm weather.

All week long. I'm not bragging or anything. Really. You all know I love the rain and having distinct seasons.

Oh and the rodeo is coming to Houston.

Young at Heart... And In Appearance

It's nothing new for me to hear how young I look, especially while working in a high school where I look like I could be a freshman instead of teaching them.  Today all of the jokes came true when I was issued a school ID as a student instead of a faculty member. I'll have to scan it in and post it later, but when I went down to the main office to pick up my shiny, red ID which I planned on using to get a %15 discount at J Crew, the secretary informed me that they didn't have one for me and that they would order one.  Then during 3rd period a student office aid came into my room and told me they found my ID but it was a student one. They are going to order a real teacher ID for me, but I can keep the student one (more discounts!!!)

I hope my youthful appearance pays off later in life. Right now it's just funny.

This has nothing to do with teaching

I'm not sure what made me think of this, but I know what love is. Love is getting up early to make the coffee. Grandpa Jim would do this for Grandma, even though he didn't drink coffee himself. I remember helping him grind the beans in the morning and thinking that it was so great that he did this for Grandma. Why they didn't have a coffee maker with a timer is a mystery, and maybe it's because that wouldn't be love.

I also think love is getting into the bed first to warm it up.

Zack Braff's character in Garden State defines love as letting someone wipe their snotty nose on your sleeve like his mother did when he was a child and was crying.

I've heard it's love when someone lets you have the last bite of dessert. I agree.

My friend, Megan, once asked a class of 6th graders what love was and their answers were cute, insightful and hilarious. It's pretty amazing how our definitions of love differ and how they change as we get older. Does the definition of love change over time in a bigger sense? Is my definition of love different than someone who was 23 in 1620?


So what is love?

My friend, Luke, seems to find love wherever he looks, and takes beautiful pictures of it.

Start Anew

It's about 8:20 on Monday January 4th, 2010. I'm back at KHHS, and professional development begins in about a half hour. So here I am, looking around my empty classroom and trying to decide how to make it look new for my students. New seating arrangements? New bulletin boards? I think I need to make a trip to the giant teacher store that's near by and buy some new borders.

How else am I going to mark the beginning of the end of the year for my students? How about an updated syllabus? That might be useful... and I do have a class website now. That's pretty awesome in and of itself. Maybe I need to work on some reinvestment with my students. What is/are their goal(s)? What are my goals? Sounds like it's time to go over all of this again, beginning with my goals.

So what are my goals? Have they changed? I still want my students at an 80% average on their exams, which so far is working out for most classes. I want to be better at passing back and entering grades and I think that I'll assign students jobs to help me with that.

This is starting to sound a lot like New Year's resolutions, which I try to avoid. Oops.

Ugh. Time to make a few to-do lists and get some things done.

Music Thievery

I took so much music from Wyeth before I left. I went to Europe with about 8 GB of music, and now I have ... 14.38. Yowza. 


New additions (or re-additions, if you think about me losing all of my music at the end of summer), include:
- 2 Alicia Keys albums
- Amadan
- 227 Beatles songs (my kids are going to LOVE this)
- Bee Gees greatest hits
- more Coldplay
- more Dispatch
- 92 Eric Clapton songs
- Five for Fighting
- more George Strait
- James Taylor
- Josh Turner
- more Kenny Chesney
- more Lifehouse
- Matchbox Twenty
- Nickel Creek
- completed my Pink Martini albums!!!
- the Police
- the Postal Service
- Queen
- R.E.M.
- lots of Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Sheryl Crow
- The Shins "You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life I swear". 
- Stevie Ray Vaughan
- Sugar Ray
- Sum 41
- More, older Train
- U2
- Usher
- Van Morrison


Now I feel complete, at least musically. 

Barcelona Photos

It's been a week of review/tests

A year ago I was student teaching at Aloha High School. Now I've made it through my first semester of full-time teaching. REALLY teaching. REALLY dealing with discipline and rewards and school politics and moody teenagers.  Me a year ago would be proud of me today. Me when I was a freshmen would be proud of me today.


And it's strange to think that I won't be seeing my Houston family for two whole weeks. Sadness.


And it's surreal that I'll be spending two weeks with Wyeth. Thank God.


And it's sad that I won't be with my family this Christmas. First time in 23 years.


TIme for a New Years resolution? I think about my New Years resolution last year (and I think only Wyeth will laugh at that one), and it probably isn't practical to reinstate it for this year. Next in line... get organized. And walk more. And have MORE FUN (or just continue to have as much fun as I've had in the past few months!!!)


Ciao, loves. Happy Holidays and feliz navidad!