rantings of a loon

Growing Up

sdazzle — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:09:31 +0000

I’m pretty proud of my kids. They’ve managed to find lessons in those “rough patches” called life. Tonight was one of those for my 10-year-old. He was up for the All-Star team, and in my viewpoint, he should have been on the team. What dad wouldn’t think that of their child? But he found out tonight he didn’t make the team.
He took it like a champ. He realized, with our help, that he would be able to go down to Champaign to visit his brother and Michigan to visit our extended family. If he would have made the team, not so much. The entire month of July would have been dedicated to baseball. Once that reality set in, he was almost giddy he didn’t make the team. Deep down, so are his parents.
Roof Over Her Head

Fishing Hole

Until Next Time,
Peace!

Field of Dreams

sdazzle — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 01:26:49 +0000

It’s Father’s Day and I tend to look at this as just another day. But today turned out to be a pretty nice “just another day.” First of all, my family surprised me. They never surprise me. Somehow, they caught me unaware with a gift of Apple TV. It leaves me feeling so undeserving.
Then my two smalls and I watch Field of Dreams. It’s probably one of my favorite movies. I know it’s the one movie that when I watch it, I cry. Especially at the end where Ray and his dad play catch. Takes me back to the days growing up and playing catch with my dad.

So to all those dads, especially mine, who spent the time “having a catch” with their children, Happy Father’s Day. You have no idea what memories those moments hold in your children’s hearts.

Canopy

Shakespeare

Until Next Time,
Peace!

Crispy Critter

sdazzle — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:18:32 +0000

What do you get when you combine two baseball games and two hours of basketball with my smalls? Me burned to a crisp. Actually, I’m not quite that bad, but I got some sun today. I had a great time with the boys but am absolutely gassed. Hopefully I can make it through the Blackhawk’s game. At this point, it’s highly questionable. That might be why the post is so short tonight.

Mickey D’s Coffee Grounds

Serious Chicago

Until Next Time,
Peace!

So This is What Exercise Feels Like…

sdazzle — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:00:09 +0000

…and it hurts. Not a bad hurt. More of a where-have-you-been-you-deserve-to-hurt hurt. Four and a half miles of intervals and inclines (to 15) on the treadmill. It really felt good in a hurtful sort of way. I’ve lost a little cardio, but more in my legs. The left knee ended up swelling a little near the end. That’s the bad knee.
Today was actually the first day of no plans, no places to go. We had Donuts with Dads at my kid’s/wife’s school and then the gym. Otherwise, nothing. We have all-star tryouts tonight, but I can get used to days like this.
In honor of Kim Deal leaving the Pixies, I’m posting a few videos. Luckily in the fall I get to see Kim leading her band The Breeders. However, if you don’t know the Pixies, they are only one of the most influential bands of the last 30 years. Hands down.

Hipster Mom

Cul-de-sac

Until Next Time,

Peace!

What to do with Extra Time

sdazzle — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:49:32 +0000

We’ve been so busy lately that I’m at a bit of a loss. Spare time. With school ending I am finding that I have more time to myself than normal. What am I supposed to do with it? I haven’t been gaming much in the last six or so months. That habit is gone. I don’t feel the need to game.
This week was a slow new music release week. So there really isn’t any music for me to check out. Surfer Blood released their new album this week. Kanye, Mac Miller and Zomby release their new albums next week but Kanye is the only one I plan on buying.
I didn’t do the gym today because I had enough things happening that were just a few hours apart that I really didn’t have enough time to go. But even with an hour to two hours at the gym I still have more than enough time for doing “stuff.”
Tomorrow I have a Father’s Day breakfast at my boy’s daycare/school. Then I’m hitting the gym. After that I have plenty of time until All-Star tryouts for one of my sons.
And strangely, with all this extra time, I find that ideas for writing are slim too. I don’t have much I want to write about right now. Reading is probably the thing I’ve done the most over the last few days. While the extra reading time is wonderful, I’m finding I don’t have enough to do, but I’m lacking time to do it all. Doesn’t make sense to me either.
Little Princess

Hello Kitty

Until Next Time,
Peace!

I Should Have Eaten the Fruit Cup

sdazzle — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:04:47 +0000

Today, I attended what has become a somewhat annual event marking the end of the school year. I had breakfast with three of my good friends who are teachers at my building. We’ve done this now for the past few years. We also start the school year with a breakfast. Normally, we do this a little closer to the end of the school year but had to postpone a week because a few of us were still working on curriculum for our district.
The breakfast is a good time to just hang and decompress with my fellow teachers. We might also give each other a bit of a hard time when we can. Actually, we’re jackals. We constantly abuse each other in a “brotherly” sort of way. Today was no different. One of my friends decided to order pretty much the entire menu and then balance out the protein and cholesterol with a fruit cup. I think he had an omelet, stack of pancakes and a fruit cup. A fruit cup. Really? He claims it is “delicious.” But it’s still a fruit cup in a dainty little dispenser. I think he may have also eaten it with his pinky turned up. We made him rip up what was left of his man card.
I on the other hand was trying to eat healthy. For the past month-plus of so, my wife and I have done a pretty decent job of eating “weekday vegetarian.” I was inspired to try this after seeing a Ted Talk about it. We’ve done pretty well with it minus a few days near the end of the school year.

So, I ordered from the “healthy” section of the menu. The omelets would have been a good option except all the vegetarian omelets had spinach. I can’t eat spinach. I’m REALLY allergic to Popeye’s favorite food.
As a result, I went healthy. I mean, the menu said “Healthy Choice.” I figured I couldn’t go wrong. So I order the crunch cakes. Basically, it’s two pancakes the size of my head topped with granola. The pancakes were also multi-grain. How could I possibly go wrong? Coffee and cakes. Caffeine and carbohydrates. The breakfast of champions.
Well, the bloody cakes took on the properties of a sponge as I consumed them. The more I ate, the more coffee they seemed to absorb. I got down to two bites left and then they started. The sweats. The sweats are never a good thing where food is involved. And then “the headache” followed the sweats. It was awful. I was so close to excusing myself from the table because I feared I was going to “expel” said sponge in a not so pleasant manner. But I persevered. And perspired so much that I believe “glistening” may have resulted.
The fruit cup would have been a better option. And I’m not a big fan of fruit. However, I managed to recover. It took close to three or four hours. I even made it to the gym and got in a solid workout too. But I promise you one thing, I’m not ordering the crunch cakes anytime soon.

Storm Front

Evening Sky

Until Next Time,
Peace!

I Can Relax Now

sdazzle — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 02:35:07 +0000

Yep, I am done. Summer break can begin. Even though school ended a week ago, this is the first day in which I feel I can take a deep breath and exhale. No curriculum meetings. No visual literacy presentation. Just sleep. Oh, and an early breakfast with some coworkers tomorrow to celebrate summer.
Today was an absolutely fantastic day. Our district had its first Ed Tech conference today. I was one of the presenters. There were a lot of sessions so the crowds in each presentation were relatively small. That’s ok by me. It helped me get a feel for what I was doing and showed me that I can possibly present this at IRC next year. I also want to do another presentation with one of my friends at IRC. We are dabbling with a couple of ideas. Every presentation I attended today was so useful. It’s also the last day that we get to work with our Technology Curriculum Coach who is leaving for another district. He is absolutely the best at what he does and just an all around good guy. Quality people are so rare. Jimmy will be missed.
Game Face

Window Caution

Until Next Time,
Peace!

Mushbrain Mania

sdazzle — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:58:36 +0000

If my brain were any gooier it would be goo. Yeah, weak. I know. We had an incredibly productive yet intense day of unit planning. But we really made a solid dent in our WWI unit. I’m pretty excited to give this a shot in the winter. If I were there least bit motivated, I’d be more than ready to jump into our other units and plan away. But if I do that, I won’t have anything come the start of next year.
I should probably give my presentation one more run through for tomorrow to make sure everything works from a technical point of view. Every time I practice it on my work PC, a video refuses to run the first time through. On my Mac, never a problem. So I will plan on presenting on the Mac and use the PC as a backup. Maybe.
So, time to go work then read for a while.
Lunchtime View

Work

Until Next Time,
Peace!

The Power of a Good Book

sdazzle — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:52:11 +0000

I haven’t been reading as much lately. Heck, I’ve now read two books in the last three weeks. That’s a lot. I’ve been lazy and busy. Necessarily in that order. But I recently finished Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried and was blown away. So I decided to dip into my reserve of nearly 300 books that I’ve meant to read (got to love iPads for their storage capacity).

I remember a former student ranting about how great John Green was as an author. She had read his book Looking for Alaska and then The Fault in Our Stars. I figured The Fault in Our Stars would be a good place to start. It would be a nice “light” read. Yeah right! I started it yesterday and just finished it. Let me start this way. Have you ever had a book that just penetrates your heart? You can’t shake it no matter what. That would be The Fault in Our Stars. The last book that did that to me was Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz.

This book made my heart hurt. Not the ache over losing a loved one. This is the pain of ever being loved. Of appreciating ever being loved. This book opened my eyes to how precious a gift we have received in humanity. For much of my life I always talked about how much I hated people. While some people drive me nuts, I appreciate every moment I have ever had on this earth. Every experience, every struggle that has shaped me. This book has made me such appreciative of all I have. Pretty freakin’ deep. And all these thoughts and emotions from one single book. Who said reading isn’t powerful?

So time to pick up another John Green book and read.

Church Lady

Puffy Clouds and Sky Lights

Until Next Time,
Peace!

Post School Blues

sdazzle — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 01:18:22 +0000

I am beginning to see a pattern at the end of every school year. Besides being very tired, emotionally I find myself down. Not despondent. Just a little flat. I like being in the classroom. I hate the end of the year. While the break is nice, three weeks and I’m ready to go back. That’s why year-round school would be so great.
But I’ve spent the day a little blah. I should have done more, but didn’t have it in me (I’m certainly not doing anything with the Blackhawks on). I’m tired and cranky. Thankfully, I’ve listened to a ton of music. Music is such a great healer.
My day has consisted of a morning baseball game in which I baked in the sun. I have two shades, pasty and crusty. So I might be feeling a bit of the sun too. But if the Blackhawks weren’t on, I’d probably be in bed. I did get a little work done for Monday and our social studies curriculum meeting. Tomorrow I’ll probably go through my PowerPoint and mark some talking points down on a note sheet. But I’m not too worried about that either. I have more than enough to discuss and have a couple websites I can go to if I need to also. Tomorrow is another day. Church, gym, PowerPoint and probably a nap. Yeah, even my writing is uninspired.

Young Love

Time to Make the Donuts

Until Next Time,
Peace!