Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
I’m sitting on the couch, a little after lunch, while N watches something the latest Star Wars: Clone Wars episodes. He’s got nasty sniffles, too. The dogs are outside, barking away at causes dogs to bark, while M is on the other computer and T and S are playing Wii paintball upstairs. Between birthday parties and football games today could be busy so I think we’re trying to catch a few moments of calm before S heads next door for party #1 and T heads off to pre-game warm-ups. I think N and I are staying home. Maybe we’ll rearrange furniture. I just whispered to N that we have a secret plan for when everyone leaves. He asked if the plan included licorice. Fair question.
This week was busier than expected by not bad. I caught on almost all of my grading and got out to a few more schools for observations. By the end of the week I was pretty tired…Thursdays continue to be way long. At least Friday wasn’t bad, just a class in the morning, some paperwork, and a phone conference.
So what else happened this week? On Wednesday night S, T and I hit the last Port football game of the year. The night was perfect autumn weather, the flood lights bright on the field and the red and orange trees silhouetted past the visiting team’s stands. S and I sat way near the top of the bleachers while T bounced around with his friends. Beautiful night, very small town.
I’ve also read the Ellroy every night but don’t feel as if I’m making much progress. I love his week, every page crackles with energy, but I’d like the next 400 pages to go fairly quickly so I can go on to another book.
I’ve been listening to the Cave/Ellis White Lunar just about every day.
Workouts have been fine…early in the week I felt like I had to grind out the workouts but by Thursday I was fine. Yesterday I played decent hoops, jump shot falling, and this morning I lifted despite a slightly sore back after T leaped on me from behind last night while N and I were messing around before bed.
I’m watching Rear Window off and on this afternoon. I didn’t know Grace Kelly was so beautiful.
I’m looking forward to driving south Friday morning. Later that evening a few friends from elementary school and I are getting together at a neighborhood bar. The gathering is getting a little bigger than I expected, as one of the guy’s little sister has invited all her friends, but no sweat, I don’t feel too worried. If the gathering sucks I can always cut out and drive around my old neighborhood. Either way I’m ok.
Ok, that’s it for now. More later.
This week was busier than expected by not bad. I caught on almost all of my grading and got out to a few more schools for observations. By the end of the week I was pretty tired…Thursdays continue to be way long. At least Friday wasn’t bad, just a class in the morning, some paperwork, and a phone conference.
So what else happened this week? On Wednesday night S, T and I hit the last Port football game of the year. The night was perfect autumn weather, the flood lights bright on the field and the red and orange trees silhouetted past the visiting team’s stands. S and I sat way near the top of the bleachers while T bounced around with his friends. Beautiful night, very small town.
I’ve also read the Ellroy every night but don’t feel as if I’m making much progress. I love his week, every page crackles with energy, but I’d like the next 400 pages to go fairly quickly so I can go on to another book.
I’ve been listening to the Cave/Ellis White Lunar just about every day.
Workouts have been fine…early in the week I felt like I had to grind out the workouts but by Thursday I was fine. Yesterday I played decent hoops, jump shot falling, and this morning I lifted despite a slightly sore back after T leaped on me from behind last night while N and I were messing around before bed.
I’m watching Rear Window off and on this afternoon. I didn’t know Grace Kelly was so beautiful.
I’m looking forward to driving south Friday morning. Later that evening a few friends from elementary school and I are getting together at a neighborhood bar. The gathering is getting a little bigger than I expected, as one of the guy’s little sister has invited all her friends, but no sweat, I don’t feel too worried. If the gathering sucks I can always cut out and drive around my old neighborhood. Either way I’m ok.
Ok, that’s it for now. More later.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Five pics from the walk...
1. and 2. A couple views of St. Mary's on the hill.
3. Should have worn a hat.
4. One of the Sauk Creek paths. You probably can't see it, but someone wrote "duck!" on the log over the path. We try to be helpful here in Wisconsin.
5. The graveyard maybe 100 yards from where I'm presently sitting.
1. and 2. A couple views of St. Mary's on the hill.
3. Should have worn a hat.
4. One of the Sauk Creek paths. You probably can't see it, but someone wrote "duck!" on the log over the path. We try to be helpful here in Wisconsin.
5. The graveyard maybe 100 yards from where I'm presently sitting.
I was just sitting here thinking about the significance of today’s date. I knew October 18th meant something, wasn’t sure what, until I remembered one of my first “real” concerts took place today, I’m pretty sure, my sophomore year of high school. Glenn and I saw The Psychedelic Furs and Ministry at the Aragon on the Mirror Moves tour. Good show.
So this past week was the busiest this academic year. I can’t attribute the hellish schedule to anything but what felt like a million chance meetings scheduled at the same time. Oh, I guess the first wave of student observations played a role, too, but not a huge role. Friday afternoon’s commute home felt hard-won. What did I do Friday night? Oh, T and I went out. We filled up the car with gas at Costco, pulled cash from the ATM, and snagged coffee from Starbucks. Well, I snagged coffee. He smelled it and decided he didn’t want any. Then we drove down to Bayshore and cruised Barnes and Noble. I’ll post a pic later. We had fun, anyway, and T’s always willing to talk in the car. Later I picked S up from a laser tag party and watched baseball until close to midnight.
Saturday morning I woke near seven, lifted, and cleaned most of the morning. Near 10:30 T and I hit the coffee shop and I ordered espresso while he snagged a bluberry Italian soda. Espresso is good. I cleaned a little more while T and M left for the game and S and N played upstairs. S, N and I arrived in Mequon just as the game started. We walked way down to the end of the field, set up our lawn chairs, and watched. Well, N huddled under the covers are played Nintendo DS. I read the latest Diary of A Wimpy Kid. T’s team lost. This game seemed more intense from the coaching/parenting perspective. The coaches screamed often (ours were embarrassing) and the parents seemed sullen. I couldn’t figure out what was up, and I’m still not sure, but I wonder if some class issues factored into the conflict. Mequon is the most affluent community in the county and we were playing at their opulent facility. I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading the situation inaccurately. I don’t care much, but the experience was a little weird.
N and I left in the fourth quarter. We hit the Cedarburg candy store. They were remodeling, with some shelves empty, and N told the women working the counter that they needed more candy. The women were gracious about his suggestion. Later I took a bath with the new Ellroy, drank tea, and collapsed into bed a little after eight.
This morning N, T, and I hit the donut shop early then waited at the crossing as train pulling empty coal cars passed heading north. I spent most of the morning burning CDs and answering email. The skies were bright and the temps near fifty. My legs hurt from a long week of additional treadmill time so I decided to walk today rather than do another full-on gym cardio stretch. I did, oh, maybe 5 miles in eighty minutes, through the woods, east on Webster, through Upper Lake Park, past downtown, and home. Now I’m on the couch wondering if S is going to wear pants today. This week looks decent. Have a lovely Sunday.
So this past week was the busiest this academic year. I can’t attribute the hellish schedule to anything but what felt like a million chance meetings scheduled at the same time. Oh, I guess the first wave of student observations played a role, too, but not a huge role. Friday afternoon’s commute home felt hard-won. What did I do Friday night? Oh, T and I went out. We filled up the car with gas at Costco, pulled cash from the ATM, and snagged coffee from Starbucks. Well, I snagged coffee. He smelled it and decided he didn’t want any. Then we drove down to Bayshore and cruised Barnes and Noble. I’ll post a pic later. We had fun, anyway, and T’s always willing to talk in the car. Later I picked S up from a laser tag party and watched baseball until close to midnight.
Saturday morning I woke near seven, lifted, and cleaned most of the morning. Near 10:30 T and I hit the coffee shop and I ordered espresso while he snagged a bluberry Italian soda. Espresso is good. I cleaned a little more while T and M left for the game and S and N played upstairs. S, N and I arrived in Mequon just as the game started. We walked way down to the end of the field, set up our lawn chairs, and watched. Well, N huddled under the covers are played Nintendo DS. I read the latest Diary of A Wimpy Kid. T’s team lost. This game seemed more intense from the coaching/parenting perspective. The coaches screamed often (ours were embarrassing) and the parents seemed sullen. I couldn’t figure out what was up, and I’m still not sure, but I wonder if some class issues factored into the conflict. Mequon is the most affluent community in the county and we were playing at their opulent facility. I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading the situation inaccurately. I don’t care much, but the experience was a little weird.
N and I left in the fourth quarter. We hit the Cedarburg candy store. They were remodeling, with some shelves empty, and N told the women working the counter that they needed more candy. The women were gracious about his suggestion. Later I took a bath with the new Ellroy, drank tea, and collapsed into bed a little after eight.
This morning N, T, and I hit the donut shop early then waited at the crossing as train pulling empty coal cars passed heading north. I spent most of the morning burning CDs and answering email. The skies were bright and the temps near fifty. My legs hurt from a long week of additional treadmill time so I decided to walk today rather than do another full-on gym cardio stretch. I did, oh, maybe 5 miles in eighty minutes, through the woods, east on Webster, through Upper Lake Park, past downtown, and home. Now I’m on the couch wondering if S is going to wear pants today. This week looks decent. Have a lovely Sunday.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
I apologize for the delay in journal entries. It’s not that I haven’t been writing, but I’ve been writing letters, messages, etc. instead of in the journal. I hope that’s ok with you.
The last few weeks have been decent but busy. At the moment S is at the table with me eating Kix cereal and reading the newspaper’s sports section. N is playing Stars Wars on the computer. M is dropping T off at football. Snow is falling. I’m not kidding. Now, we’re strictly at the flurry stage, nothing is sticking, but snow is falling nonetheless.
Shall we go to bullet points? We shall:
• I’m almost finished with Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Monroe. If I read tonight I should have the review up by Monday morning. Once I’m done with this book back to Ellroy, but I wanted to read the Cave once it arrived from the library wait list because I saw the list getting longer and I knew I could knock out the title pretty quickly.
• To what have I been listening? Yesterday I put the new Vic Chesnutt on in the car on the way back from work in the rain. Sounds good, sparse orchestration/strings, esp. compared to Ghetto Bells.
• Work is going well. My sophomores drive me a little nuts sometimes, but then I remember what I was like a college sophomore, and I remember my vocation includes helping these kids/adults work through some of their issues, the same way great teachers helped me work through mine, and my energy returns.
• My health is back. I’ve been pushing the “20 minutes elliptical/20 minute stairmaster/2 miles in 16.5 minute” workout since my return. I’ve also added Friday basketball. My jump shot is as bad as ever.
• The boys are doing well in school. N in particular is progressing nicely in first grade. He’s been happier, too.
• T’s football team sucks and the games are boring. He plays defensive end pretty well but he doesn’t have that killer aggressiveness associated with football. That’s ok. I don’t either. S, on the other hand, dominates flag football. He’s scored four touchdowns in four games and reads blocks and formations like a pro.
• Mack and Pete are beautiful terrorists. They chew whatever they get their paws on. But they’re a lot of fun and genuinely try, I think, to do the right thing. Both are sleeping on the couch as I write.
Ok, that’s it for now. More later. Feels good to post.
The last few weeks have been decent but busy. At the moment S is at the table with me eating Kix cereal and reading the newspaper’s sports section. N is playing Stars Wars on the computer. M is dropping T off at football. Snow is falling. I’m not kidding. Now, we’re strictly at the flurry stage, nothing is sticking, but snow is falling nonetheless.
Shall we go to bullet points? We shall:
• I’m almost finished with Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Monroe. If I read tonight I should have the review up by Monday morning. Once I’m done with this book back to Ellroy, but I wanted to read the Cave once it arrived from the library wait list because I saw the list getting longer and I knew I could knock out the title pretty quickly.
• To what have I been listening? Yesterday I put the new Vic Chesnutt on in the car on the way back from work in the rain. Sounds good, sparse orchestration/strings, esp. compared to Ghetto Bells.
• Work is going well. My sophomores drive me a little nuts sometimes, but then I remember what I was like a college sophomore, and I remember my vocation includes helping these kids/adults work through some of their issues, the same way great teachers helped me work through mine, and my energy returns.
• My health is back. I’ve been pushing the “20 minutes elliptical/20 minute stairmaster/2 miles in 16.5 minute” workout since my return. I’ve also added Friday basketball. My jump shot is as bad as ever.
• The boys are doing well in school. N in particular is progressing nicely in first grade. He’s been happier, too.
• T’s football team sucks and the games are boring. He plays defensive end pretty well but he doesn’t have that killer aggressiveness associated with football. That’s ok. I don’t either. S, on the other hand, dominates flag football. He’s scored four touchdowns in four games and reads blocks and formations like a pro.
• Mack and Pete are beautiful terrorists. They chew whatever they get their paws on. But they’re a lot of fun and genuinely try, I think, to do the right thing. Both are sleeping on the couch as I write.
Ok, that’s it for now. More later. Feels good to post.
Monday, October 05, 2009
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