Is That A Comet Or Venus?

 I have never been one to follow the night sky very much.   But every now and then, Something will grab my attention and I will try to pretend I'm an expert.   (I'm not, but luckily, neither is anyone else,  so I rarely get busted!)   A good example would the the Total Solar Eclipse last year. I could not believe that hardly anyone seemed to care until the last week before the event.  But I was there!And made the opportunity happen by being in the path of totality.  

And it was TOTALLY worth it!

That being said, I have been proclaiming that there was a comet in the sky all last month and I figured it was still there.  I mean, I could clearly see the "Brightest thing in the sky" that looked like it had a tail.    That's the Comet... Right?  

Well,   Apparently not.   I guess all this time I have been looking at Venus ( Which is still very bright)   As the comet has since moved on.   And since I do not routinely check out all celestial bodies  each night, I had just assumed that the bright spot in the sky that was near the moon  was the Comet that I read about last month.     I was wrong!

Ah well,   Not the first time.  And probably will not be the last.   

We learn something new everyday.   And the life lesson that I can "Never be 100% about Anything!"  should not have been a surprise.   But learning that the bright spot is Venus and not the comet named Atlas (C/2024 G3)  allows me to rescind my remarks and make the correction. ( Hey! As long as you fix your mistakes...  You're Good!)

I kind of feel bad that I disturbed Yuan to take a picture for me with his shiny, brand new phone.  I thought that his new phone would take a better picture in the dimly lit sky, but it was only slightly better.   And in the end, it was not even a comet!   Just a boring planet with a toxic atmosphere.  

Just kidding.    Seeing a planet so easily in the night sky is still pretty cool.   

While doing my corrective research, I learned that there is supposed to be a total LUNAR eclipse this month. (March 13/14)  Apparently,  this is called a "Blood Moon" because the atmosphere of the earth could cause the moon to look orange or red.   But conditions may vary.  If you find yourself awake at 1 AM and want to see something cool ( I have watched several lunar eclipses in Iowa over the years)  It could be worth your while.   If you care about the happenings in the heavenly skies. 

This weekend was spent working on the fish... again.   I repainted it because I did not like the way the pattern was shaping up.   I finally downloaded a picture and blew it up so I could attempt to copy the pattern.  One of the reason I love fish is that they are so visually stunning if you really look at them. 

One of the reasons I HATE fish is because I simply can not paint them easily.  And I usually end up getting frustrated and calling it "Good Enough!"   which ends up looking bad for those who judge my artistic skills.   Ah well,  I have never been a perfectionist.   ( And it shows!)   I am usually happy with 80% efficiency. And that is better than many things in nature....  So,  I'll try to maintain that level of proficiency.  

And finally,  I enjoyed some Fish and Chips with some Zebra people.   They told me about the warehouse and all of the things that had happened since I last chatted with them.  It was fun catching up and talking with some good friends as the weekend began.  John had asked about them, so now,  if he is reading this blog...   He will learn that Matt from INBOUND was let go.   I guess Gary and him butted heads one too many times and they found a reason to show him the door.  Rather Sad news, as I liked Matt and his management style.   Marion says they have no plans on replacing him.   So there might have been "other reasons" behind the firing.  ( Redundancy, maybe? ) 

I wish Matt well and as cool  as he was, any workplace would be lucky to have him.  He got along well with the other employees,  was eager to learn new things, was not afraid to lend a hand or help out,  and was fair in his assessment of people.   In short,  My kind of Manager.  

Spring break is coming soon, and I'm sure the kids are counting the days.  I have not even looked that far into the future yet.  I'm focused on this upcoming week and that is all!   I find that if I look too far into the future, I build up crippling anxiety.   So I will take the advice of a Navy SEAL and take the future in small bites.   The larger the difficulty of the task before me.... The smaller the bite.  And there are days where I tell myself to just try to hang on until lunch.   Until after Chapel.  Until the end of this Set!  

And it never hurts to send up a quick prayer to God for a little help.  

But I'm looking forward to this week.  We will be continuing a LAB for Physical Science classes.   And we will be having a test about the oceans for the Earth Science sets and then moving on to Weather. (That is the plan so far...) And then Lent begins this week.  I always enjoy the midweek fellowship and service as we near Easter.    There is much to look forward to. 

And if you are any of my students who have found this blog and managed to read this far.   WHY?  This blog  is Mostly boring!  About a boring guy who teachers a boring class(s) Then again... I AM impressed that you read this far without the assistance of AI.   So maybe it's a good thing after all.   ( Because reading is a skill, you know.) 

Whatever your Motivation...   Just make sure every second counts.  

Donating Blood For The Shoreland Drive.

 That is correct!   I donated blood today.   This will be the second time I did such an uncomfortable thing! And although I know the second time you do anything it is supposed to get easier....  It is still not something I would want to do on a regular basis. 

Did you know people sell their blood for money?   I wonder just how desperate I would have to be to do such a thing.   Seriously!   I don't know if there is a price  high enough to consistently sell off parts of my body!

But there I was.. GIVING it away... for FREE!   No wonder I failed at my first five business endeavors.  I'm terrible at math and business.  (Which might explain a lot about how I got to where I am at the moment.) 

I am serious that the blood donating was terrible.   But!   There was a silver lining.  Free Treats! 

I ate two chocolate donuts, drank two cans of Sprite, and had  two small snack bags of Doritos!  ( Cool Ranch!)   I also grabbed a bag of Nutterbutters for the road.   Because giving blood makes you hungry.... or something.    I don't know, I wasn't really listening.   All I DO know is that there were treats and I felt like I had earned them.   

Apparently,   I just saved three lives.    The vampire ladies tried to "up-sell" me by getting me to donate just my platelets and jamming my plasma back into my veins.   

No thanks!   Once it leaves the body, you can keep it.   And that did not sound like a pleasant experience.  Already having a needle jammed into my arm  is painful enough.  But having the siphon switched over to reverse sounds even MORE painful.   And unhealthy...  Or unnatural.   

I figure I will be happy with saving three lives at the moment.    You can't save everyone off of the Titanic... But if you can save three people.....  At least that is better than none. 

Alright... enough of patting myself on the back for enduring that rather uncomfortable experience.  I'm trying to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. I just wanted to blog about it because I barely left the building and someone from the agency called and asked me to set up a time to donate.   Now I'm on a Call list!

I informed her that I just gave at the school blood drive and didn't think I could give another pint "right away"...  ( Not that I was in the mood to do such a thing.... No matter how many cookies they bribed me with. ) She was nice and thanked me for my donation.   We even made each other laugh.  

Tomorrow is Friday!   A Day 5!  ( Which is a rough day for me.)   Day five I have all of the afternoon sets back to back!  5, 6, 7, and 8!  That means I have to carry all my Earth science stuff along with my Physical Science stuff with me through the afternoon.  Kind of like  a Marathon of Teaching. 

And the weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow.  Meaning the kids are going to be squirrely!  I have a Lab scheduled and we shall see how things go.   I heard it will be a lab that is supposed to be done over several days so that might keep some of the kids who are more "hands on"  busy and occupied.  We will  see how it turns out when I get there.   And hopefully,  I will have something good to blog about.  

Besides the blood donating,  it was a busy day for me today.   I had a bunch of "moving parts" that I was very excited about, but ended up falling far from the mark I had envisioned.  My Tier 2 class was not as involved as I had hoped, and I fear that their test retakes are not going to be much better than their last ones.   But hopefully,   some of them will pick up their grades and actually retain some of the information I have presented them.   I'm sure  a better teacher would have them all in the A+ range with  science trophies for the family mantle. 

But all they have is me at the moment.   And although I try to get better,  I fear the year will end before I have any signs of improvement.  (By ME!)   But there has to be a reason I am here.   All of those zigs and zags that brought me to the place...  And I find myself praying more and actually looking forward to tomorrow with ideas on how I can improve in one area or another. ( even though they seem to fall short lately)  I am encouraged every so slightly by a few people who cheer me on and wish me luck.  May God give me more days like this. 

This blog post is a little longer than I had originally intended.  Sometimes entries take on a life of their own.  I should probably sign off and get some sleep because tomorrow is a new day.   And every second counts.

The Painting of the Fish

 Having caught up on my work on Friday,  I had all day today to rest up and I wanted to spend it on the fish that has been haunting me for the last 6 months.  I think this will be the third time I have painted it.  Each time, there is something about it that does not work for me.  

How I wanted to just paint the entire thing brown.   But upon looking at Walleye pictures from google,  I see that the actual color is made up of a number of yellow dots with black and brown tips around each scale.   Kind of a pain to paint.  

But!   I had all after noon and figured I might as well spend it trying to find my moment of zen.  

Several hours later,   I mostly have the dots and a second coat of a slightly darker shade of brown.   We shall see if I have time to play around with things tomorrow.  

Other than that,  it is late.  And I have some lesson plans to look over and prepare for.  Hopefully the weather will break here in the upcoming weeks so I can attempt to go outside for a little bit.   Maybe even a run sometime.  (When was the last time I went out for a run...) 

I also had plans for a more challenging Origami project,  but the fish painting took longer than I had anticipated.   I guess there is always tomorrow or next week if I have the energy after school ( Which I rarely do!}  I just wanted to post this short update and get these pictures on the blog for future reference.   I will have to look back to see when I even started this project.   

I hope the dance went well for the kids at Shoreland.   Being a chaperon did not sound like something I would  enjoy.   Let alone be any good at doing!   But there was a curiosity on how things like that look and turn out.   You see,  I have never been to a dance.   I never went to one  in college and there were Verboten!   at MLS.  So there is a part of me that would brave the social awkwardness of being unable to dance...  just to check it out and see what the appeal is.  But alas!  It will have to wait until next year.    ( Or whenever the next is on the schedule....)  In the mean time..   Time is precious.  And every second counts.

The Lighting Of The Lanterns...

 Last night,  I was able to finally fulfill a wish of mine.   To release paper lanterns into the night sky.  

I know... sounds so simple.   And really,  why have I never done this before?    I guess the short answer is... I just never seemed to have the right conditions for it.   I mean,  I certainly have my own child-like qualities that I have done in the past.   Making Giant Bubbles and flying extreme kites are just a couple of examples that come to mind.(Let's not forget the Chalk Art!)    But never have I had the opportunity to create a paper lantern and release it into the sky.   

Until now!  

 

The Winter dance is tomorrow... and the theme is Tangled...  The Disney Movie about Rapunzel.   And there is a part in the movie where the romantic love birds release paper lanterns into the air.   How lovely!  

But I just want to see the science behind warm air rising on an extremely cold day! (Or night!)   You see... the Air molecules are excited by the heat produced by the fire.   And as the molecules move faster and faster... they rise!   Science Baby!  

That is all well and good, but the cold did make the experience memorable.   And not necessarily in a "good" way.   After one lantern,  I was ready to head into the warmth of the building.   But the Kids were out there with no hats or gloves on... laughing and cheering as each lantern gained altitude.   It must be nice being young!   ( If only I could remember those days....)   Ah... Who am I kidding,  I remember those days very well.  And I kind of miss them.  

Abraham and I managed to get one lantern airborne.  And there were several groups who managed to launch several lanterns successfully.   I only witnessed one that could not get off the ground due to some damage. ( Good job, Aiden!)  

The only down side to the event was that it was after the Boys basketball game.   And that means it was late.   Normally I skip the Varsity game because it goes on after my bed time. But since we had no classes today,  I decided to spend the extra sleep points on the lifetime wish event...  I think it was a fair trade.  

As for the boys basketball.   It was a night of heart break.   JV2 team lost.   JV team won. (  I think...) But the real tragedy was the varsity.   A shot at the buzzer and sealed the fate.   I always hope for that moment where the game is tied up and a buzzer shot decides the game...  But it is not fun when your team is not the one that makes the shot! 

Other than that,  This week went by... And I managed to survive again. I celebrated with a visit to the Clubhouse for Friday Fish night.   At this point in my life,  few things are better than a tasty fish and chips platter with a beer and Origami.   Therapy at its best!   

Next week is a long week.   And The teachers are already mumbling about the "Dog Days" of winter.  Having never experienced the "Dog Days" of winter as a teacher, I can only imagine the horrors and challenges I will have to face in the coming months.    I made the analogy of crossing the Himalayas, and reaching 20,000 feet elevation where the air is already thin.   And as  you are gasping for breath,  the guide and other climbers are talking about the next barrier that you are going to have to climb before you are able to finish.  

Well,  I shall face that challenge when I get to it and I know God will continue to be by my side. With him,  all things are possible.   And he has already given me so much,  How can I ever doubt him?   Every day is a gift.    And every second counts!