Spring in Suisun...

I had the best time this weekend. I went to visit a friend in Northern California ,where they actually have 3 seasons: hot, not hot and rainy. Much better than LA's 2, unbearably hot and cool. We had a relaxing weekend of vegging out, going to the movies, eating delicious food, and watching British comedy. And contrary to popular opinion on the subject we did leave the house. I also got to try out a bit of interior decorating. And guess what, I'm a dab hand at it! I might go into business for myself if this math thing doesn't work out(clearly I'm joking).

After the past few months of craziness it was nice to just get a little peace and quiet and just stop for a bit. Sometimes we get so busy that when forget how to stop, how to relax, to just take it easy.

I miss it already. Now that I'm back I feel the pace beginning to quicken, pressures starting to move in, and then tension beginning to mount, but then I take a deep breath, close my eyes and think about the weekend and everything slows right back down.

Well that's it for now. As always have a good day and enjoy.

I got an A !!!

This week beat last week into a cocked hat for craziness. Just when I thought things should be setting down they rev back up :) About half-way through week I definitely thought I was close to losing my sanity. I had actually stared at a computer screen so long that I saw double. Never happened before. I mean I've exaggerated that it's happened before, but it never actually did.

I had another frustrating afternoon of dealing with people who can't respect other people's property to push me over the edge and then the most amazing thing happened. I was at work in the evening and one of my students who I've been working with for the past 2 1/2 years as part of the NCLB program came in with his homework (the second time in the past 2 1/2 years I've worked with him) and showed me a test he received in his Algebra class.

It was an A. I know you're probably thinking, no big deal so he got an A, but it was the first A he's received in Math probably since kindergarten. He said he doesn't even know if he got one then. You could tell he was "busting" with pride in himself that he had accomplished this. I was suffused with pride myself that I was there to witness it and he shared it with me. It was like I made an A for the first time. It was also encouraging to see his father, a single parent, so excited about his son's first A. He was so encouraging towards him that I was definitely getting weepy.

When I first met this kid he was working at about 3 1/2 years behind grade level and to have made an A in a subject that most kids in LA county are failing in is a huge deal. When I saw that look in his eyes, that sense of accomplishment and belief in his potential and abilities all the stress and trauma of the bureaucratic nonsense of the past few months paled into insignificance.

All the hoops didn't seem so bad if just one child's sense of failure was replaced with a since of confidence and belief in his/her own potential. It was very important to be reminded of that.

As always have a great day and enjoy.

Inspiration

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!

The sentiments of my week. I've been inspired by a good friend to start posting again. Last week a coworker who used to read my blog asked why I stopped writing. The truth is I've been busy, but I miss being able to express my quippy, quirkly and infrequently witty remarks without interruption. That's certainly why I started.

Sometimes it was just good to have a rant about the week, like in the first line. Or to shed some light on an observation I had made about human nature. Or maybe just frustration at an annoying math publication :)

It was like a trip to the therapist with myself. Unless I'm using someone as a sounding board it rarely helps to talk about things until I've started to untangle them in my mind first, but enough of that.

This week has been crazy to say the least. You know it's bad when you can't wait until Friday to come even though you work on the weekends. It's not the kids of course or the math. I love that always have always will. It's the hoops you have to jump through just to do that. The pursuit of knowledge apparently isn't enough anymore, but alas I am but a small gear in this huge machine of education, turning slowly with the inertia of the system hoping my crooked spoke throws things off track so they can change, hopefully for the better.

As always have a good day and enjoy.

Mystery Solved

About 3 years ago I posted a entry about a joke I heard at my job. It was one of those cheezy jokes on a math page where if you work out the problems you can decipher a hidden message. This morning someone actually sent me a message saying what the answer was. For those of you interested in figuring it out on your own I will have a link to the post containing the answers in the comment.

Here is the joke:
What is the difference between a cheap hamburger and a pulled tooth?

ANSWER

One person found something pretty close at one point, but this contains the actual answer. As a fan of silly jokes I found it tres amusant. Even after 3 years.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and as always enjoy.

Evans Family Christmas

I haven't posted anything for a while. Not that my life has been dull or exciting, but mostly because I just haven't felt like it. But something transpired this past week that is worthy of at least a few words. I know I've told people about how my family likes to celebrate holidays at random times of the year, but this year we really took it to the next level and I have pictures. Not only did we celebrate Christmas the first week of October, by listening to music, having decorations, and presents, but everyone who called the house knew of our psychosis and they said Merry Christmas as well. It's spreading.

I thoroughly enjoyed singing familiar Christmas carols while it was 95 degrees outside. I like being different and this is as different as it gets. At least as far as my family is concerned. The major question is will we be celebrating Christmas again. And the answer is a resounding yes. Of course we are. My mother said that the tree won't be coming down until June 2008. There's at least 5 more Christmas celebrations yet.

As always have a good day adn enjoy.

Sometimes I forget

I was thinking the other day about getting older since my birthday is in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about what point in your life do you stop improving with age and start going down hill. I know, I know depressing thought, but I was thinking that most of the time you don't really notice it until after it happens.

I've noticed that my recall isn't as good as it used to be the other day. I mean I have a really good memory. Especially if I see something. I can recreate a mental picture and see what it is I'm trying to remember. I've noticed recently that I struggle to think of the word I want to use. Instead in it's place I find a vague notion of what I want to talk about. Maybe nobody notices because I'm so absent-minded as it is.

Argh!! Anyway that's it for now. As always have a good day and enjoy.

Quotes...

Today has been a very crazy day. Whenever I'm about to go on vacation 1001 tiny things come up that seem "so" important. Luckily one that came up today required my signature. It's best that it came up today instead of Wednesday though. But anyway, I wanted to read something lighthearted and I found one of my favorite quotes from the movie "Orange County".

Firefighter: What's your name?
Lance: Uh, Joe... John... uh, Joe-John.
Firefighter: Your name's Joe-John?
Lance: John-ston, Johnston. Joe.
Firefighter: You wanna tell me what happened here?
Lance: Uh, there was a fire, I dunno, I came by and it's... checkin out the fire.
Firefighter: Well that lady uh, Mona? She said that you two were in the building together when the fire started.
Lance: Yeah, she's a liar, cuz I dunno her so whatever, whatever she says is a lie, so... Firefighter: K, so you're saying you weren't in the building with that woman?
Lance: No, not I! Aright, she started it, aright? Because she was like "I hate my job, I'm gonna burn this mother down!" And I said "You better not... you better not!"
Firefighter: She said it was an electrical fire.
Lance: It was. It was a total electrical fire, it was like uh, the switches had sparks comin out, and the sockets, and uh it was like the 4th of July, man!
Firefighter: Why aren't you wearing your pants, Joe?
Lance: I tripped, and uh then I had to take 'em off to run faster out of the flames... [coughing] Lance: I think I inhaled some smoke, will you excuse me one second, I'll be right back. [runs away in the background]
Firefighter: [into walkie talkie] We got a sprinter. Five foot five, no pants, unkempt... portly.


As always have a good day and enjoy.