Vote NO on the UFT Contract. Here is Why:
10 months ago
Thursday, December 27, 2007
MooBee for Mandy and Darren
A little movie I made recapping Mandy and Darren's relationship over the past 8 years. The first pic is from March 2001, the last from June 2007.
Monday, December 24, 2007
A Little Bling for the Holidays
Well, the event that we've been waiting for for several years has finally happened. Darren finally proposed to Mandy, after nearly 8 years of dating and 2 years of living together. Now, I'm not sure how Mandy is feeling, but I felt it was sort of anticlimactic. Not much is really going to change. It's just simply the piece of paper that states that they plan to do what they've already been doing. Oh well. I'm really happy for them and look forward to a typical NJ/Italian style wedding. It'll be fun.
The hardest thing for me is living 3000 miles away. :-(
The hardest thing for me is living 3000 miles away. :-(
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Holiday Craziness
So, mom woke me up at 7:30 this morning. This was a bit cruel to do on a weekend where we had no official plans, but we had to get to the post office beofre 9am to mail off Mandy and Darren's gifties. We got there about 8:50 and the line was already 20-30 people deep. Fortunately, these people are much more efficient than the post office I used to go to in New York (damn you, 10th st. post office!) so it didn't take too long to get through it all.
Went to Lowe's from there, trying to find LED lights for out tree. Turns out that even though every one is on an uber-green kick this year, the manufacturers or the suppliers did not account for this. All the LED lights were pretty much snapped up by Thanksgiving! Did our grocery shopping next and then, after a quick stop home to drop off the groceries and eat some donuts (oh, maple bar, how I love thee), we were off to Home Depot, where we bought, cut, and loaded our tree in under ten minutes. Whoo-hoo efficient! We also grabbed a nice poinsettia since I had a $2 off coupon.
Got home, realized that the tree stand was too wide for our smallish tree, and then went back to Target. This was not a good thing - I had no desire to go anywhere near Target today, especially not after 10am. It could have been worse however - got the stand, a few light bulbs, and a couple other needed items, and we were out in about twenty minutes.
The tree is up now and looks pretty good. We may not be able to decorate it tonight, though, because it's still a bit damp. We'll see. I'll post pics when I have them!
Went to Lowe's from there, trying to find LED lights for out tree. Turns out that even though every one is on an uber-green kick this year, the manufacturers or the suppliers did not account for this. All the LED lights were pretty much snapped up by Thanksgiving! Did our grocery shopping next and then, after a quick stop home to drop off the groceries and eat some donuts (oh, maple bar, how I love thee), we were off to Home Depot, where we bought, cut, and loaded our tree in under ten minutes. Whoo-hoo efficient! We also grabbed a nice poinsettia since I had a $2 off coupon.
Got home, realized that the tree stand was too wide for our smallish tree, and then went back to Target. This was not a good thing - I had no desire to go anywhere near Target today, especially not after 10am. It could have been worse however - got the stand, a few light bulbs, and a couple other needed items, and we were out in about twenty minutes.
The tree is up now and looks pretty good. We may not be able to decorate it tonight, though, because it's still a bit damp. We'll see. I'll post pics when I have them!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Leavenworth Christmas Lighting
We've been threatening to go to the Leavenworth Christmas lighting for years, but never made it. This year, now that I am a permanent resident of Washington State, I bought my mom and I tickets via the Victoria Clipper (yeah, those people who run the ferries to Canada!) to take a bus trip up there for the day and the lighting.
We left from Ash Way around 8am, smooth ride all the way. We got up there a bit early (no complaints here!) The opening ceremony was at noon, but we were there around 10:30. The first place we hit was the cheese shop. The lady inside offered us a sample of the butterkase - a really rich butter cheese. Mom promptly bought a half pound to bring home. Because the temperature outside was in the mid to upper 20s, we didn't have to worry about keeping it cold!
We found our way then to the taffy shop. I grabbed a bag and filled it with Taffy for Mandy, while mom filled a bag for us. I've never seen chocolate chip cookie taffy before! There was also apple pie, cinnamon bun, and numerous others.
The opening ceremonies went on and we took no notice. We were too busy getting some bratwurst from the Our Lady of the Snows Catholic church (isn't that the coolest name for a church?
After the opening ceremonies, there were several characters walking around. There was a reindeer, a snowman, Santa and Mrs. Claus, and two more traditional Father Christmas style guys. Their outfits were awesome, very ornate.
From there, we ended up in the fudge shop. I bought 1.5 lbs of fudge (buy one pound, get half a pound free!). I got a half pound each of Candy Cane, Chocolate, and Chocolate-Orange fudge. We also bought some coffee and sat on a bench to people watch.
We hung out for a bit by the gazebo and watched the Lake Stevens Freshman choir, band, and jazz band. The sounded like a freshman band and choir. It was enjoyable however, so we watched their whole set.
One big difference I've notice from the last time I was in Leavenworth is the number of wineries that have shown up , and this isn't just something that I noticed because I am now of legal drinking age. :-) In the last ten years, there has been a lot of growth in the Central Washington wine industry. We stopped in several of the wineries during the day, but they were so crowded that it wasn't worth trying to do a tasting.
Fortunately, after the Lake Stevens music, we walked over to a few tents and went in. Turns out that they were serving hot cider and hot spiced wine. I bought a glass of the spiced wine in a commemorative glass. Mom and I shared it and decided to buy a couple of bottles to share for New Year's Eve and when Mandy and Darren come to visit. Hot spiced wine is excellent for warming up the insides. :-)
We went back to the gazebo and watched a local group (bass, guitar, mandolin, and violin) play some Christmas and original songs. We started getting cold as the sun dropped behind the mountains, so we went for a walk and ended up at a great little bookstore that would be fun to explore. However, it was so crowded that it was hard to get through.
Continuing our lap of the upper area, we then headed back to the bus to drop off our bag of really heavy food and wine. We stayed there a bit to warm up, using the bus lavatory in the process. It seemed to be a popular thing to do - the bus was nearly a quarter full with people warming up before the final lighting.
At 4:30, we headed out to the square which was packed with people. I didn't even know there were that many people in town! Around 4:50, they finally did the countdown and lit up the town. It was extraordinary. Unfortunately, since I didn't have a tripod and the long exposure needed in the dark, the pictures were mediocre. The best is the one of the Italian gelato shop. We got back on the bus and headed back to the Ash Way park and ride around 8pm. It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend that anyone with the opportunity to head up there at some point to do so. It definitely got me into the holiday mood.
We left from Ash Way around 8am, smooth ride all the way. We got up there a bit early (no complaints here!) The opening ceremony was at noon, but we were there around 10:30. The first place we hit was the cheese shop. The lady inside offered us a sample of the butterkase - a really rich butter cheese. Mom promptly bought a half pound to bring home. Because the temperature outside was in the mid to upper 20s, we didn't have to worry about keeping it cold!
We found our way then to the taffy shop. I grabbed a bag and filled it with Taffy for Mandy, while mom filled a bag for us. I've never seen chocolate chip cookie taffy before! There was also apple pie, cinnamon bun, and numerous others.The opening ceremonies went on and we took no notice. We were too busy getting some bratwurst from the Our Lady of the Snows Catholic church (isn't that the coolest name for a church?
After the opening ceremonies, there were several characters walking around. There was a reindeer, a snowman, Santa and Mrs. Claus, and two more traditional Father Christmas style guys. Their outfits were awesome, very ornate.From there, we ended up in the fudge shop. I bought 1.5 lbs of fudge (buy one pound, get half a pound free!). I got a half pound each of Candy Cane, Chocolate, and Chocolate-Orange fudge. We also bought some coffee and sat on a bench to people watch.
We hung out for a bit by the gazebo and watched the Lake Stevens Freshman choir, band, and jazz band. The sounded like a freshman band and choir. It was enjoyable however, so we watched their whole set.One big difference I've notice from the last time I was in Leavenworth is the number of wineries that have shown up , and this isn't just something that I noticed because I am now of legal drinking age. :-) In the last ten years, there has been a lot of growth in the Central Washington wine industry. We stopped in several of the wineries during the day, but they were so crowded that it wasn't worth trying to do a tasting.
Fortunately, after the Lake Stevens music, we walked over to a few tents and went in. Turns out that they were serving hot cider and hot spiced wine. I bought a glass of the spiced wine in a commemorative glass. Mom and I shared it and decided to buy a couple of bottles to share for New Year's Eve and when Mandy and Darren come to visit. Hot spiced wine is excellent for warming up the insides. :-)
We went back to the gazebo and watched a local group (bass, guitar, mandolin, and violin) play some Christmas and original songs. We started getting cold as the sun dropped behind the mountains, so we went for a walk and ended up at a great little bookstore that would be fun to explore. However, it was so crowded that it was hard to get through.
Continuing our lap of the upper area, we then headed back to the bus to drop off our bag of really heavy food and wine. We stayed there a bit to warm up, using the bus lavatory in the process. It seemed to be a popular thing to do - the bus was nearly a quarter full with people warming up before the final lighting.At 4:30, we headed out to the square which was packed with people. I didn't even know there were that many people in town! Around 4:50, they finally did the countdown and lit up the town. It was extraordinary. Unfortunately, since I didn't have a tripod and the long exposure needed in the dark, the pictures were mediocre. The best is the one of the Italian gelato shop. We got back on the bus and headed back to the Ash Way park and ride around 8pm. It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend that anyone with the opportunity to head up there at some point to do so. It definitely got me into the holiday mood.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Sick Days and Guilt
I wake up this morning with my throat all th way up to my left ear swollen. I can barely swallow and even low level television noise hurt my ears. Why then do I feel so guilty for taking the day off of work to recover? I know that if I went into school, I'd be miserable and possibly contagious. However, as I let my school know this morning that I wouldn't be there, I felt this overwhelming sense of guilt.
It's partially for my students - no one learns as well from a sub because the sub doesn't know the class or what is going on. There are some fabulous subs out there (as well as some horrid ones), but no one can overcome in that in one day.
The second thing is that I feel it reflects on me poorly when I'm sick. In other jobs, people take sick days more frequently because they lack good vacation time. In the teaching profession, we have so many days off that I feel like we should be there everyday. There's only two more weeks until Holiday break, I should be able to hold out until then.
Alas, I stayed home today and slept for an additional four hours. When I woke up, the swelling in my throat had gone down and I felt much, much better. So, I know I made the right decision for me, and the guilt is just something I'm going to have to deal with.
It's partially for my students - no one learns as well from a sub because the sub doesn't know the class or what is going on. There are some fabulous subs out there (as well as some horrid ones), but no one can overcome in that in one day.
The second thing is that I feel it reflects on me poorly when I'm sick. In other jobs, people take sick days more frequently because they lack good vacation time. In the teaching profession, we have so many days off that I feel like we should be there everyday. There's only two more weeks until Holiday break, I should be able to hold out until then.
Alas, I stayed home today and slept for an additional four hours. When I woke up, the swelling in my throat had gone down and I felt much, much better. So, I know I made the right decision for me, and the guilt is just something I'm going to have to deal with.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Why start over?
I had another blog hosted on LiveJournal for over 6 years. They were a fine site and I had no real complaints about them. But recently, two things happened. First, I created a group blog for the family. Since I'm the admin for that blog, I'm on the Blogger site a lot more than before. It made more sense to have all my stuff in one place instead of hitting multiple sites for multiple blogs. The other thing is that the more I played with the Blogger site, the more fun stuff I figured out that they have. So, in order to play with said "fun stuff," I decided to start fresh with new fun applications and abilities. Woot!
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