Merry Christmas

Christmas is upon us and Santa can now relax for another year. Happy Holidays everyone. Maine is fantastic and it is great getting to see everyone.

Whatsup

It's a week later and I'm still sick. I struggled through the week and if anything I'm worse off now. I am very close to losing my voice and the chest cold thing as old. I am so ready to be over this. Hopefully some rest this weekend at Beth's folks will revive me.
On a good note, I got a call yesterday that My locomotive was ready. We went out last night and picked it up. It was fixed at no charge and is running well. It is set up in the basement with our small tree. Denali hates it but we don't care. CHOOO CHOOO!
All the presents are bought (except for Denali who were picking up for tonight) and in process of being wrapped. So on that note, I have to get my signs ready for class so that I don't have to speak. I'll try to get a picture up of the train and tree soon.

yeeach

Not feeling well today so I took a sick day. Of course when I decided to unpack my train, the engine wouldn't work and a little plastic gear fell out. Not the best of days. I think I'm just going to drink some nyquel and crash. Hopefully Beth still has the receipt and I can get the engine fixed/replaced. Oh well.
Tomorrow i get to supervise the school's Xmas Ball. It seems I always get sick when this comes around. Might be a psychological thing.

After coming home last night from the hockey game, I was a bit surprised to see a dark shape up in the apple tree about 5 feet from me. As my eyes adjusted to the "lack of?' light. I saw that it was a large Barred Owl. As I moved towards the porch it took off. Pretty cool, and it can have all the mice it can catch. I haven't heard it calling at all, but it must be living around back. (Maybe in that tree that blew down and its looking for a new home now.)

Anyways, today was a day filled with shopping. It started at 9:00 at the Colchester craft fair then we hit the scuba store to get my tanks inspected, followed by lots of x-mas shopping. Got some done, but there is still a bit to go. Hopefully this next week.

Speaking of this next week, I was asked to give a speech for the National Honor Society Induction Ceremony on Wednesday. I'm honored, but still not sure what I'm going to say. Tomorrow will be dedicated to writing a speech, getting the small tree up downstairs, and getting the train up and running.

We had a great thanksgiving this year with Beth's family. it was wonderful getting to see everyone and the food was awesome. On saturday I had the opportunity to head to Oriskany NY (just utside of Rome) and visit the Oriskany Museum. !/3 of which is dedicated to the Air Craft Carrier. It was awesome getting to see all of the artifacts donated to the museum over he years including the anchor and an aircraft which were procured by the brother of dad's captain when he was serving. (the only brothers in navel history to be captain of the same carrier, according to the curator). She was wonderful and even found the picture above for me. I have a few other pics that I'll share with family at Xmas.

School Vacation

Beth and I are looking forward to vacation. It always seems as though a shortened vacation week feels , as long, if not longer than, a regular week. I wasn't going to mention it and possibly jinx it, but felt I would go ahead and let everyone know, I was nominated (along with 2 others) for teacher of the year at Colchester High School. Honestly I don't think I'll get it, as the other two candidates are very good teachers who have taken on leadership roles in the school (I typically veer away from them), however it does make me feel good that other faculty members see and appreciate what I bring to the school. At this point the vote goes back to the faculty and then the students. I'm not sure when the decision will be made, but I am happy regardless.

I have finished another course towards my masters degree. So far so good. I'm almost 1/3 of the way through (1 year in a 3 1/2 year program). It's amazing how quickly it is going and makes me wish I had joined this program years ago.

In school we are working on our 10 year NEASC high school evaluation. I am a subchair of the leadeship committee and it seems to be going well. We still have some work to do, but we are on track. We are also looking at the possibility of restructuring what we do in science at the school to see if we can better meet the needs of students especially as the Statewide standards tests become more important. This could be a lot of work, or very little. It's hard to tell right now but my hope is that it won't be a lot of work for little to no pay off.

It's someones birthday

Denali is now 1 year old. We had a little party after I got out of class tonight. Cake and ice cream for mom and dad, new toys, chew bones, a safety harness for the car and a new jacket (too large so we need to return it). Fun day. I think even Denali knew something special was happening.

Champs

Well it was a wet and stormy game, but the Lakers pulled out the 22-14 win over CVU to come away with the state championship. Congrats to the guys. I'm sure they'll be celebrating through next week.

Denali on the other hand is very sad and missing mommy.

Great weekend in Vermont. Friday we won the D-II semifinal football game. Looks like bad news for CVU next Sat. in the Championship. (hopefully). We went to see the movie "Where the Wild Things Are" Sat. evening. Can't say too much for it. It was allright but not terrific. It was pretty depressing throughout and difficult to get connected to the characters. Sunday we took a walk down to Niquette Bay and let Denali frolic in the lake. She goes into the water until her belly gets wet, but no further. Good days all around. we could use a few more like this.

Happy Halloween

Well, we got the arbor up and running. Our little girl doesn't appreciate her costume much but she is a cute moo cow.

Lottery Ticket

So Beth and I decided thatI need to get a lottery ticket today. We have been under a high wind warning since 8:00 last night. Today after doing a lot of yardwork, getting ready for winter I decided to cook some hot dogs on the grill. As I was out there I heard a crack. I bolted and narrowly missed getting clobbered by this tree. In the picks we have cleaned out a few of the branches to get in get the "now ruined" hot dogs off the grill. Needless to say my heart is racing right now. The good news is that it missed the shed, and the arbor is flexible enough that I think it came through undamaged. Our neighbor Joe will be out later today with his chainsaw to help clean it up. He was out in his backyard working on his deck when it went down.

Hey Everyone,

Sorry it's been a while since the last post. Between school, and my grad class I just haven't had much time. Today Beth and I took the boat out for a last hurrah. We decided to go to one of my favorite all time lakes: Tupper : "Upper Tupper" for all you camp folks out there. It was a nice, albeit very cold day. 33 degrees air temp and pretty close water temp. Little tupper ski area had a dusting of snow and we drove through some getting there. The scenery was beautiful though and we had a great time. In the pics (if they all load) you'll see some great shots including the Bog river. Should be familiar to some of you. Interesting info... The lean-to on the I.P. land near the bluffs has been removed. I thought it might have been as it was in terrible condition the last we saw it a few years ago. We also had fun watching a group of three guys loading a canoe up to go camping there. We missed the actual dumping but needless to say about 20 yards off the bot ramp they were swimming and fishing all their untied gear out. We offered blankets but they declined and were still planning on going so don't be surprised to hear of an upcoming Darwin Award soon. Yeesh. Thats all for now. Take care.

Goodbye Old Friend

We knew it was coming. We didn't look forward to it. But it was time to say goodbye to the swamp monster. She was a great truck and probably my favorite vehicle I've ever owned. After 10 years though it was time to let her go. She has been replaced by a brand spankin new 2010 F-150. I hope she give me as much joy in the next 10 years.

Flu Shot

Go figure, now that I'm starting to feel like myself again, our school offers up the flu shot. So here I sit with the last remnants of the sniffles and a sore arm. School is going well. The students are in the middle of mandatory Statewide testing in English and Math so there is a strong focus on motivating them and not stressing them with too much work. I'll be happy when it's over.

We aren't sure of plans for the weekend yet but it is heading towards leaf change peak here, so if the weather is nice it might be time for a drive to the apple orchards.

I'll end this post by expressing my happiness that Hockey is finally back. Yeah!!! News came out today that the bruins just signed Milan Lucic to a multi year contract. Great signing. If youv'e never heard of him go to you tube and search his name. There's a great video of him literally putting a guy through the glass. Luc is a beast and a scorer. Rare in professional hockey these days.

baby

Well if the weather report is on it looks like this weekend will be 180 different than last Sat. Cold, overcast and rainy. There was a light dusting of snow throughout the mountains last night. I've come down with a nasty cold bug (h1n1?). sore throat, fever,sneezing, aches etc. had it for 2 days now and no sign of it getting better. No stomach issues though so it's probaby just a cold. They are predicting heavy peak of the swine flu for Oct 15-21 here. No diagnosed cases in our school yet, but a lot of people are getting this same thing I have. Beth is holding out like a trooper but the sneezes are starting. Oh well. Our school's ski and skate sale is this weekend so we'll stop in tonight, but the rest of the weekend we should be able to rest and hopefully recover. Thats all or now.

What to do?

So we got up this morning and tried to figure out what to do. We needed to stop by Walmart for some supplies, however with the weather looking nice we decided to head west across the lake. After a beautiful walk into Marcy Dam, we headed back out and into Lake Placid for dinner. All in all a pretty nice day. I guess Walmart will have to wait for tomorrow.

Welker, Oh Welker Wherefore art thou? Hopefully Kicking Galloway's but in practice this week.

We had a great weekend with Beth's folks this weekend. There is a fairly new nature trail called the Lamoiolle River walk that is right down the hill from our house. It's about 2 miles long. It was our first time on it. We started at one end which is down RT 7 from us, but the path comes up near the water plant by our house and it appears there is a trail we can connect with.

Well the Bruins did it. They traded away Spencer Pratt aka Phil Kessel. He will be missed. After surviving a bout with Cancer and stepping up for some timely goals the Bruins are a temporarily weaker team. However getting two 1st round and a 2nd round pick for him should insure the B's stay strong well into the future. I'm looking forward to seeing them play preseason today against the Rangers on the NHL network.

Comical Video

Thought You'd get a kick out of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-QNAwUdHUQ

If it doesn't work try searching for "the front fell off"

Okay, First things first, the match up showed they should win, but boy did they do it in classic Patriots style. Look like your out of it then come back for the nail bite win. I have to say I'm pretty concerned about their D this year.

Finished with Weekend 1 of my Leadership Class. Now maybe I'll get a bit of time to practice on the strings. Speaking of which here's some picks. I have the Indiana Mandolin, my Pick 'n ' stick, My Blue Indian Scout BLS (my camping guitar), My Ibanez AES 10 EAM 1202 (my baby), and Beth's Yamaha FG-180 that she got for Christmas a couple years ago from Aunt Judy that she got a few years ago (I'm sure there's a story with it). The Yamaha from Aunt Judy has a rich, very deep tone, but I have had trouble with holding the strings down. You have to really crank down on them and I never play consitantly enough to get the hard calluses needed. Oh well, practice practice practice. At some point in the future I'll try to record a lil something and get it up. I do have initial plans to try and play with a coworker or two for the Dec. Coffeehouse.

Space shuttle and space station

Last night Beth and I got out around 8:07 PM and watched the space shuttle followed closely by the international space station pass overhead. It was pretty cool. Both were extremely bright. We didn't take binocs or a telescope so we didn't see details, but it was nice anyways. Tonight the space station should be passing overhead around 8:30. Not sure of the exact time and I'll be in class so I'd miss it anyways.
On that note I am starting my Leadership and Organization Class tonight. Yeah!!!

Labor Day was great. We had fantastic weather and enjoyed the camping. No bears, but we had fun swimming, hiking Panther mt. and visiting with Beth's family. Here's a pic from the top o the mt.

We're back

School has begun. So far so good. I have some really good classes. It looks like the students are focused and ready to go. I'm looking forward to some new thing to try in the AP Chem class. Almost all the students were in my experimental chem last year.
On a different note here is a video of Denali playing a little soccer. I'm beginning to rethink taking her to the high school games. I'm afraid she would go after the ball.
Beth and I will be going camping at Piseco soon and hope to have some pics up from the lake.

ready for the students?

It's been a nice weekend. Although it feels like it's going by too fast. We've worked out, done some shopping, and I just took in my guitar for its free tune up and string change. I'm still having fun with it. I am playing a couple of 2 and 3 chord songs, although my transitions are really slow. Especially the C, G, and D back and forth. Oh well, practice practice practice. I took my Indiana guitar in to school so I have something to do with my free time. (ha ha).

Thats all for now.

Beth is having some play time with Denali. I think Phelps is in trouble.

Summer wanes and the new school year begins. I went in today to begin getting the classroom ready. It's looking pretty good, and it looks like I'm going to have a great AP Chem class this year. This year brings a few more Grad classes, a NEASC committee, and my relicensing. Needless to say it's going to be busy.

I think Denali knows that change is on it's way, and she's been more cuddly than usual. It makes it hard to go in and leave her for the day. Here is a current pic.. Hopefully I'll get to take her to Niquette Bay with her tomorrow and let her go for a swim.

Moving On

After 8 years or so, Beth has taken the opportunity to move on from Head Start. She has been offered a position about 15 minutes North of where she worked. She will be working for Franklin County Early Childhood Program as an EEE teacher. It is a similiar job, however she will be part of the Franklin Northwest School district and there is more room for advancement. It will also mean less home visits. We are excited and nervous about this change and a little saddened as head start has been very good to Beth over the years.

On a different note, we will be school shopping today as it is Tax-Free day in vermont. Yeah. We get this twice a year and although they don't normally tax clothes anyways, there are some wicked sales. We can also get some cheap classroom supplies. This is I believe the second or third year they have done this, with no taxes on items up to 2000 bucks.

How to post

So I guess there were some problems with trying to post responses so here are some directions.

1. Click on the title of the post you want to respond to.

2. Write your response.

3. Under the comment as: choose name/url. Then put in your name. (don't woryy about the url you can leave it blank.)

4. Hit post. It will then probably ask for a word verification which you retype.

5. Hit post again and voila it should be set.

Sorry this is such a pain. I'm sure thre is an easier way, as well as a way so you don't have to go through this every time, but I haven't played with it enough to find out. So as I mentioned in my emails, don't feel like you have to post. It won't hurt my feelings.

Finally I just wanted to give some props to my brother in law for his fun this past thanksgiving.

Favre Back?

I can't believe it. The CBS Sportswire is reporting that the Vikings have signed Favre and he is already there practicing. Not that I nescessarily blame him for continuing if he wants to play the game, but if Brady left the Pats to play for the colts or if Manning left the colts to play for the Pats, I just couldn't see remaining a fan. Good luck Brett, hope you keep your fans. As one person I talked to mentioned. I wonder if it's possible to actually play your way out of the Hall of Fame?

Lets get this puppy rolling

Okay lets start this blog out. I'm starting to mentally prepare myself for school again. It's hard to think about it after the weak summer we've had. Between sore ribs, camping in the rain, an exploding water heater, and an abnormally cool and wet summer, we have finally had a stretch of warm weather. It's nice to finally get out and enjoy myself and now we have to go back. The good things this summer included getting to visit with family, Beth's folks, my folks and seeing friends such as Karl Farbs. I had time to work on my guitar skills (weak but starting to get better), and playing golf a few times with my coworkers. We have also enjoyed the time we have had to spend with our puppy denali. Well that's all for now.

Still Sore

I'm still sore in the ribs. Ouch Ready for it to go away.