Hooray For Spring Break!

 Last week was BRUTAL!   But I survived.   And only sent one kid to the office....  each day!  (Except Friday... And probably should have then as well. )   But I know the kids are antsy with all that Winter energy ready to explode.   Hopefully, a week at home with their parents will get that energy out of the bottle. 

As for me,  I finally finished entering grades for the Earth Science folks and finished scoring the papers for the Physical Science sets.   Tomorrow I will enter those grades and I'm sure I will get a flood of E-mails from people who did not get the grades they were looking for.  We only have one week left in this third quarter, and people will want to get their grades up so they can play sports for the Spring.  A wee bit of leverage on my part...   ( For the sports people, at least.) 

I still have to grade them though.   And I will probably spend a small portion of this week working on my next weeks classes.   Possibly even researching next year's book and brainstorming ideas.  We shall see how much I will dedicate to recharging my sanity meter. 

In the mean time...  Today was a Wonderfully Sunny Day!   With a high around 56 degrees,  I chose to go out for a run.   And not just any run... a 6 Miler!

Ever since the cold set in, I have not been able to get out and run in the mornings like I normally do.   It has been about 4 weeks since I last ran.   But I actually started back up on Monday.... Running three miles at 3:00 AM.   ( It is wonderfully dark and peaceful then...) I will give the credit to my stress levels.   You see, I normally have to have a fire lit under my butt to get me to do things or break a bad habit.  And nothing will cause me to desire to run off anxiety better than.... Running!  By the time I am finished with 3 miles in the cold and dark... I have forgotten what was bothering me so badly in the first place.  

But the sun was shining.  And it was pleasantly warm.    And I am getting fat and out of shape.    So...  Let's go for a run!   ( It will be fun!  My mind tells me.)  

Running without a purpose seems like an exercise in futility.   So... If you are not trying to run off anxiety;  or are being chased by Zombies.  ( The fast ones!)  Then it is a good idea to have a goal in mind before setting off on an increasingly difficult exercise.  

So what should my Goal be?.... 

How about the Wisconsin Marathon! (May 3rd!) 

Well,  a Marathon seems a little unrealistic at the moment.   But there is a half.   I volunteered for it a few years ago.  And was a spectator last year and  in 2016!  But I have yet to actually run the thing myself.   And since it is in my own back yard,  I might as well make this the year...  It will give me a reason to run in the morning, rather than an attempt to escape depression.  And it will keep me distracted from the crushing panic that I  will face as the end of the school year approaches.  Better to run Towards something rather than away... Right?  ( If that makes any sense, given the confusing logical pathways.) 

Technically,  you Should be able to run 13.1 miles if you can run a full 6 miles without stopping.   And I did that today.   

Well,  Mostly....   I don't want to count the dog encounters, because I figure those are just part of the experience.   I LOVE dogs!   I take every opportunity to try and pet them.   And many owners are cool enough to let me do it!  And since not many people walk cats in the park,  I mostly only have dogs on the pet list.    

And since I did not have any bathroom breaks during this run. I figure the dog visits cancel out.   I mean,  Bathroom stops are part of the running experience, after all.   And since relieving one's self in front of an audience is usually frowned upon by polite society,  I normally have to spend time searching for a private place to go...  Like a tree, or bush,  or playground equipment...  And every now and then, an actual bathroom or port-a-jon.  (But who wants to go in those?)  

So,  I pet the dogs,  listen to music.   And try to run the Parkside route without drawing too much attention.   (I guess I sometimes sing along with the headphones.   But no one seems to care.)  A few of the locals recognize me as "The Mushroom Guy"  so every now and then I stop for a conversation.  (Don't get me started on Mushrooms.) Overall,  it was a good run.   And I'm impressed I made the entire  route without walking.  ( Though, my Glutes and Quads ache now... along with my knees and hips.   Hooray for Old age!)  

I ended up scoring papers for the rest of the day,  taking a small break to head out and buy some dinner.   While I was there,   the girl scouts attacked me and forced  me to buy their cookies.   

Sure!   They look cute and harmless in those little green uniforms, but don't be deceived!   There is a weapon in that cuteness!   And they use it aggressively.     I ended up buying 4 boxes at $6 a pop!   Christina tried to stop me.    She told me it was a bad deal and that they were selling cheaper, better tasting cookies in Sam's Club.   But it was too late.   I was already under the "Girl Scout Charm" and could not save myself... or my money.   

 I do like the minty chocolate cookies, though.   I ended up buying the peanut butter ones because they looked like Reeses peanut butter cups.  But they are not as good as I thought.  In fact,  I don't even think they taste like peanut butter much as all!    They just taste "sweet"  not even much like chocolate.   

In hindsight,  I should have bought the nutter butter looking ones.   They look like little peanut butter sandwich cookies.  

This post is getting long!  And it is getting late.   I have to remind myself that One:  I have an entire week where I can blog "unfettered by Time!"   And two:   My students actually READ this blog.   Meaning:  I have to keep things "G-Rated" from now on.   Or maybe "PG"...   Since I'm sure there will be Parents that will want to find out what their kids are reading.   

Not that there was anything bad on this blog to begin with.   Nothing I would not read to my Grandmother, at least.  (She had an odd sense of humor.)  But now I have to be aware of some of the topics I choose to write about. ( They say my blog is full of .... Drama?  I must not know what drama is, because I usually go for humor.)  

Regardless,   I need to sleep.    And send out a prayer thanking God for this day and all of the things, moments, and adventures I was able to experience.  He has blessed me with a week of peace and rest for a reason.   I hope I can recharge and continue to do His will to the best of my ability for the remainder of this year.  ( And hopefully,   for years beyond!)   I can't possibly overstate just how grateful I am for this opportunity to be a called worker.   And though the fear of failure is always present,  I know God will be beside me all along the way until the end of time.  

And every second counts.

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.