The Last Day of School - Part 2

The last day of school...(Part 2)
Thursday, started off slow, but I was happy because today is the last day of school.

I always wear a white dress shirt and black slacks everyday -- except trip days when I wear black jeans and sneakers. On the last day, I usually wear something casual. My plan was to wear the school T-shirt, however, I gained weight and I bought an XXL size even though I'm a L size. Since T-shirts shrink too much, I bought a XXL size so that I could wear it even after it shrinks. However, when I tried it on, it didn't look right. A baggy T-shirt on a flabby body, so at the very last minute, I changed. I wore a white shirt without a tie.

I made my "late train". At the Bronx station, the taxi cab that I usually take was at the station. I'm not sure what the taxi driver's schedule is like, but he likes to wait for me because I am a big tipper. I really liked the convenience of having the taxi driver waiting at the station. Today was the last day, so I tipped the guy a bit more. I gave the guy $25 for a $10 or $12 trip. I arrived at school with 10 minutes before I had to pick up my class.

When it was time to pick up my class, Princess Beady was the first in line. At that moment, I knew my half day would be a long one. Then later, Sneak strolled in late, followed by Giggles, and then Cackler. Each of them in their regular hyper mode. Except Cackler who was a bit less hyper (but not by much). Cackler will have to go to summer school because she failed one of the NYS tests.


Anyway, my goal of having an easy packing day went right out the window. I bought in a couple of DVDs to show on the Smartboard. The choices were:

The Incredibles
Wallace & Gromit
Spirited Away

Well, Princess and Giggles did not like the DVD that was voted on, so they became disruptive, complaining loudly (and incessantly) about the "baby movie". The movie was Wallace & Gromet. Although I agreed with them that Spirited Away was a better choice:
1. Majority voted for W&G.
2. Giggles came in late.
3. Most import was that the majority were good kids, so shouldn't they get their choice.

Princess went into her princess mode. I called her mother to explain princess' behavior, but mom seemed to care very little. I told the mother that Princess was behaving like she was entitled to have whatever she wanted. I also told the mother that if Princess continued with the spoiled behavior (I didn't use those words), then I would give her the refund for the trips she did not attend. Mom's response, it's okay, just give her the money order.

It got so bad, that I finally went ballistic. Last day, half day and they were giving me a headache. It was a half day and they were ruining it. Finally, I just exploded. I basically told them to shut up and sit down. No, again, I didn't used those words -- although, I would have liked to have used them. Giggles' (loud) argument was that W&G was a baby movie, and she didn't want to see a baby movie. So since she wanted something more mature. Also Cackler, Princess, and Sneak who all joined in the loud, disruptive argument about not wanting to see the "baby movie". They also added how they were going to fourth grade and should be doing something higher level. I told the class to separate the desks -- about 11 students came for the last day. I gave the students math workbooks and told them to do the work I'd planned to cover this week anyway. They were quiet, and they were now doing higher level work.

By the time my class was dismissed, I was exhausted. I just wanted to sleep. However, I had to tackle my teacher's area. Even though I had not even started packing my teaching materials and resources, I was suppose to pick up the U-Haul van. I tried to call and reschedule my rental time again, however, this time, the guy told me that there was nothing available Friday or Monday, so I left to pick up my rental van.

Remember, my driving experience is very limited. I was a bit nervous, but I really believed that I was ready. The U-Haul company turned out to be a small lot with permission (I can only assume) to lease U-Haul trucks and vehicles. The lot was small. It was one of those small unpaved areas with a very small trailer parked just inside the main (and only) gate entrance. The trailer was the office of the company. Long story short, the van I was assigned was located behind the stairs of the trailer. To get out of parking space and off the lot, a driver had to maneuver around the stairs of the trailer. With about one foot space between the vehicles, I should have asked the attendant the get the van from the lot. However, being excited, I really didn't think. The result? Trying to maneuver around the stairs of the trailer caused me to damage the owner's car (1ft. next to the van). Once I took my foot off the break, and the van began to roll, I started turning the steering wheel to avoid the stairs. The lot attendant told me that I should have let the van roll out more from before I started turning the steering wheel. Duh! The van somehow with barely a scratch on it managed to dent the front side of the car, damaging the front side with deep scratches, broken headlight, and dented front frame. It was like the car was made of cheap aluminum; the front body of the car cracked like an eggshell. Needless to say, my nerves were shot. The manager of the lot just walked away and the lot attendant told me "to just go". I really didn't know what to do, so I drove the van off the lot. I managed to drive the van to school, but my nerves were so shot, that I could barely park it.

After moments of stressing and complaining to Ms. ATH, she was nice enough to offer to drive me home and back to the lot. That was very nice!!! I felt better knowing that I wouldn't have to drive. I packed my heavy objects into the van. My classroom packing philosophy is to pack as if I'm not coming back.
1. If I don't come back to school, I won't have any problems getting my stuff during the summer where the school building might be closed.
2. Packing like I'm leaving means that my classroom won't get too cluttered too quickly. The temptation of some teachers is to shove stuff into closets and cabinets at the end of the school year. A lot of teachers are so used to shoving things in this corner or closet that they tend to forget what they have or where they put it. A clean packing job means that if you return in September, then you have a pretty good inventory of what you have and where it is. Nowadays, some teachers tend to leave in such a rush that their packing can be considered incomplete. Teachers can (and do) leave posters still on the walls and computers left as is (no covered or not disconnected). A few teachers have left their bulletin boards up with the students' work still on. Since I pack my classroom as if I am not coming back (even though I most likely will), my classroom is (or will be)clean and ready if another teacher takes over. I also labeled all of my boxes so that it should not take long to unpack.

Anyway, since I had the van, and my nerves were shot, I wanted to finish as quickly as possible, so I grabbed whatever, I could quickly find and pack. I hadn't cleaned out my desk, nor my classroom supply closet, so I knew I would have to do more packing and cleaning. I brought about 6 boxes worth of stuff home.

Ms. ATH drove me to my home, and she waited while I brought my stuff upstairs. Luckily she didn't come upstairs, my place was a mess. I also didn't have any bottled water for her. I settled on orange juice.

Then on the way back, Ms. ATH asked if I wanted to drive back. A part of me wanted to say no, but a part of me recognized the "falling off the horse(or bicycle)" saying. The ride back was actually nice. I wanted to show my appreciation, since I didn't have cash in my wallet, and no ATM around, I gave Ms. ATM all of the money that was in my desk. Over the months when my class goes on a trip, I collect the money, but I don't like taking lots of bills and coins to the places, so I will either take bigger bills from my bank account, or I put the expense on my credit card. I usually use the small bills for simple shopping and spending money. So how much did I give her, to be honest, I really don't know. However, the way I was feeling after the accident, it was money well spent. Besides, after a long day, to volunteer to spend another couple of hours to drive in the opposite directions, and then be faced with the 2 hour commute home was very nice.

After making it safely back, I walked Ms. ATH to her sister's home. And I took the MN train home from 125th street.

Friday. I arrived at school about 9:15AM and stayed until about 5:40PM packing. I will also have to return to school on Monday to finish my packing. On Friday, I spent most of the time cleaning out the classroom supply closet and going through mounds and mounds of papers stacked around my desk, and squirrelled away in various places. Next, I will try to not let the paperwork overwhelm me like it did this year.

Post Date - Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:06PM

End of the School Year 2007~2008

End of the school year 2008.
For the last few days I've been stressed and eager for the ending of another school year. This school year that is now at an end, was better than the previous, but it was rough in the sense that I spent most of the school year playing catch up...and I never did. I was too tired to even get online to post a few lines to my draft folder for later editing. So my summary of the last few days will be short.

Monday through Wednesday, I gave my students worksheet packets to work independently while I tried to do packing during the school day. The results were fairly nice. Not great, but nice. On one hand, the students did work (relatively) independently. However, there was too many distractions for me to really concentrate on packing. Therefore, I really didn't do any real packing until the students left for the day. I did stick to my plan of 30 minutes "don't bother me, work independently", and 15 minutes review of the materials. I thought the 15 minute review was important in letting the students know that the work was important. It was also nice to have some breathing room. From September until this week, my class found a hundred and one reasons for needing my attention. I spent too much time this school year (and others) running from table to table at the whim of the students. My goal of staying alert and on call at a moments notice was to keep the kettle from boiling over. I've always watched with envy as a couple of teachers who had very good classroom management where they could teach from a chair without the students going wild. Or even being able to work with individual students or small groups, without the others being disruptive in a "I want your attention teacher...NOW!!!" I can keep my class from going wild because I do it the hard way. I spend most of the class time on my feet moving from table to table. I work hard but not smart. I burn too much energy physically doing what can be done with just a look or the tone of the voice. Something I will definitely be working on next school year. I was able to get a sample of "it" these last few days. Since I was so eager to not repeat my mistake of last year (not waiting until the very last day to start packing up, and having to do all the packing and moving of furniture myself), I was quick to cut off the nonsense I usually entertained. I was in no mood to argue or explain to 8 year olds too eager to waste time. The end results were that my class was still loud and hyper, but less so.

Anyway, by Wednesday (the last full day of school), my class was packed and the furniture was moved (thanks to the students). Everything was done except my teacher's area. Wednesday started off just like any other day, the kids were hyper. Yesterday, I had told them that if they behaved (and moved the furniture)for the last day, I would buy pizza for a pizza party. Within about an hour, I came to my senses. I refused to buy pizza for them. Well, when lunchtime came around, I softened a bit. I decided to buy a large pizza pie as a reward for the approx. 8 students who were consistently good. As hyper and disrespectful that some of my students can be, not all of them are badly behaved. And it isn't fair to the good kids to be punished for the behavior of a few. So the good kids got the pizza. Everyone else received chips and soda. About an hour before 3PM (dismissal time), admin makes an all call for teachers to send down a messenger to bring up the students NYS tests results which had to be given out with the report cards. I also included my progress report, and the school's reading report. Last night, I went to Target to make copies of the class photo taken early in the school year. I included the photo as a souvenir for each student. Only about 2 kids paid for the photo. I put the report card, NYS test reports, my progress report, reading reports, and a class photo into plastic Ziploc bags. After the snack party, I told my students they would not get anything until they cleaned up and packed up (including moving the desk and chairs). In the end, I was pleased with myself. Where other teachers still had about a days worth of packing to do, I was just about finished...or so I thought. Since I hadn't touch my teaching materials and supplies, I wasn't ready to rent a U-Haul van to move my things. I was able to call to have my reservations changed for tomorrow.


Completion Date - Saturday, June 28, 2008 2:02AM
Post Date - Friday, July 11, 2008 11:32PM

Another interesting link. Since I had an accident in a parking lot with a parked car, I can't really laugh...too louldy.

And I'm sure, there are men who drive just as bad. See the statement above.

Top 10 Funny Drivers



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Thanks Max!

Post Date - Tuesday, July 22, 2008 2:13PM

While surfing the net, I came a across a couple of interesting videos from YouTube. I thought the videos were interesting.











This last one's creative, but it's a bit creepy.




Post Date - Saturday, July 19, 2008 1:52PM

A very interesting (and unfortunate) sign of the times we live in.
There are more recent editions, but 2006 seemed more interesting.

The Stella Awards are named after the woman who sued MacDonalds when she spilt her hot coffee and won.

The 2006 True Stella Awards

Issued 31 January 2007

(Click here to
confirm these are legitimate.)

#5: Marcy Meckler. While shopping at
a mall, Meckler stepped outside and was "attacked" by a squirrel that
lived among the trees and bushes. And "while frantically attempting
to escape from the squirrel and detach it from her leg, [Meckler]
fell and suffered severe injuries," her resulting lawsuit says.
That's the mall's fault, the lawsuit claims, demanding in excess of
$50,000, based on the mall's "failure to warn" her that squirrels
live outside.

#4: Ron and Kristie Simmons. The
couple's 4-year-old son, Justin, was killed in a tragic lawnmower
accident in a licensed daycare facility, and the death was clearly
the result of negligence by the daycare providers. The providers were
clearly deserving of being sued, yet when the Simmons's discovered
the daycare only had $100,000 in insurance, they dropped the case
against them and instead sued the manufacturer of the 16-year-old
lawn mower because the mower didn't have a safety device that 1) had
not been invented at the time of the mower's manufacture, and 2) no
safety agency had even suggested needed to be invented. A sympathetic
jury still awarded the family $2 million.

#3: Robert Clymer. An FBI agent
working a high-profile case in Las Vegas, Clymer allegedly created a
disturbance, lost the magazine from his pistol, then crashed his
pickup truck in a drunken stupor -- his blood-alcohol level was 0.306
percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving in Nevada.
He pled guilty to drunk driving because, his lawyer explained, "With
public officials, we expect them to own up to their mistakes and
correct them." Yet Clymer had the gall to sue the manufacturer of his
pickup truck, and the dealer he bought it from, because he "somehow
lost consciousness" and the truck "somehow produced a heavy smoke
that filled the passenger cab." Yep: the drunk-driving accident
wasn't his fault, but the truck's fault. Just the kind of guy you
want carrying a gun in the name of the law.

#2: KinderStart.com. The specialty
search engine says Google should be forced to include the KinderStart
site in its listings, reveal how its "Page Rank" system works, and
pay them lots of money because they're a competitor. They claim by
not being ranked higher in Google, Google is somehow infringing
KinderStart's Constitutional right to free speech. Even if by some
stretch they were a competitor of Google, why in the world would they
think it's Google's responsibility to help them succeed? And if
Google's "review" of their site is negative, wouldn't a government
court order forcing them to change it infringe on Google's
Constitutional right to free speech?

And the winner of the 2006 True Stella
Award: Allen Ray Heckard. Even though Heckard is 3 inches
shorter, 25 pounds lighter, and 8 years older than former basketball
star Michael Jordan, the Portland, Oregon, man says he looks a lot
like Jordan, and is often confused for him -- and thus he deserves
$52 million "for defamation and permanent injury" -- plus $364
million in "punitive damage for emotional pain and suffering", plus
the SAME amount from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, for a grand total
of $832 million. He dropped the suit after Nike's lawyers chatted
with him, where they presumably explained how they'd counter-sue if
he pressed on.

©2007 by Randy Cassingham,
target="new">StellaAwards.com. Reprinted with permission.


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Thanks Max!


Post Date - Tuesday, July 22, 2008 1:40PM

Below is a slide show with some of the photos I took in Baltimore, Maryland. I will work on finishing a blog entry about the second half of my adventure in Baltimore. I will also upload more of my Baltimore photos.





Post Date - Saturday, July 12, 2008 4:17PM

I thought this was funny.




Post Date - Monday, July 14, 2008 1:23AM

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia   Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The South
The Midland
The Northeast
The Inland North
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Post Date - Thursday, July 10, 2008

Today was an okay day. This morning, I woke up at 6am with the plan of catching the early train. But I quickly realized that I wouldn't make it. This I told myself why rush, I can just take the next train. However, before I realized it, I had misread my new watch readings, and I missed my train. So, I took a taxi to school day.

Today was "show solidarity for the sixth graders" day. Everyone was asked to wear th the school's T-shirt. I wore mine over my white shirt and tie.

While the students worked on the workpacks that I put together over the weekend, I started packing up things. Luckily I saved all of my boxes from last year, so I don't have to worry about boxes.

After the kids left at 3pm, I continued to pack up my materials. About 6:30pm, I started to put my classroom in order. The things that were packed were placed in a corner of the room. I wanted my students to see that the classroom was cleaned, organized, and still ready for work. I told my students that if they came, they should be prepared to work. Too often, teachers tend to loosen up around this time, and that sends the wrong message to an already hyper group. One of the 4th grade teachers told me (last month) that the school year was already over.

Completion Date - Thursday, July 10, 2008
Post Date - Thursday, July 10, 2008 3:49PM

I'm almost finished...with school for this school year. The past work week was basically more of the same situations already described ad nausea here. Oh on Friday, my plan was to finally try out the Smartboard.

One of the neat things that can be done with it is that is allows you to show DVDs on the screen. Unfortunately, a lot depends on the computer it is hooked up to. For some reason my laptop won't work with the Smartboard. And the laptop the tech guy loaned to me had a broken DVD drive. Where there is a will... I was determined to try it at least once. I came up with the idea of downloading a movie onto my flash drive and trying it that way. Well, Thursday night (Friday morning actually), I found a website that would allow you to download movies. Since the file was too big for one, I used to flash drives. I thought everything was okay. Since it was about 3AM, I did not check the movie, I just wanted a couple of hours of sleep. Well, when the moment came, the movie played nicely...in Russian. On Friday, I also stayed to do my lesson planning for next week. I wanted to chose lessons that were independent, but also not meaningless busy-work. I came up with lesson workpacks (a collection of 3 or 4 worksheets) for 3 of the seven periods. My plan is 30 minutes of independent work, and 15 minutes of review. That would (I hope give me the time I need to start packing up. Last year, I followed the admins. request to not start packing until the last day of school. And I paid for it!! While other teachers ignored that that directive, they were out of the building on the last day of school. Me? I had to come back the two extra admin days that the building was still opened to finish my packing. I also did the packing correctly, according to the packing checklist. Other teachers just threw things in closets and corners, and left their students work up on the walls. This year, I will pack up correctly, but I will try to not be in school those last two days.

My orginal goal for ending the school year was to begin packing during the last two weeks, but you know me and my plans. There is about 3 and a half days left. Now, my goal is to use the last 3 days to pack while my students are (hopefully) being independently productive. This year I also wanted to do a change in my storage routines. In previous years, I've taken home things that I were mine. I don't remember where or when, but I remember the saying, "Always pack like you're not coming back". Don't leave anything that you want to keep, or will have difficulty getting if you move on and won't be allowed to get your things during the summer, or the following year. Anyway, in previous years, I've taken home items a little bit at a time. Last year, I reserved a taxi to take my big items (my personal copier mainly). I still had a lot to carry through the transit system. This year, I decided that since I have a driving license, I should just rent a U-Haul van, and take everything (only my things of course) at one time. Problem? I haven't driven in years. I didn't know if I was ready to drive on NYC streets. So, I decided to return to the driving school in the Bronx where I took a couple of lessons from that retiree instructor (see previous blog entry about the old car). However, I did not want the old car. My main reason for returning to this company was was that they did individual lessons whereas other places I've searched (on the internet) only offered packaged deals. Mostly, I wanted one or two lessons to see if I would be able to drive by myself. My lesson was for Saturday.

Slow morning start. No time to shower. I just did a quick sponge off. I caught the 11:30AM MN train. From the Bronx, I took the bus to my old neighborhood in the Bronx (Fordam Road and the Grand Concourse). Since I arrived early, I made my copies for my "independent lessons". I tried to use the faculty copier but it wasn't working. And I wasn't going to burnout my personal copier. At the Staples the cost of copying class sets of work packs came to $42. Even though the faculty copier will probably be working on Monday, I did not want to risk being unprepared. It was nice making my copies in Staples, the self-service machines were very easy to use, and everything worked. I was able to use the duplex function (printing on both sides of the page) which does not work on the faculty copier.

Oh, in Staples a guy in a wheel chair came up to me. He'd mentioned that he was a dancer in the movie Grease. He said that he was 24 at the time and now he was 50 something. He was passing out his autograph and describe the book he is trying to write. He had all of the cast members of Grease sign a T-shirt. His book is about that T-shirt. After he gave me his autograph, he then asked for a donation. I gave him the $2 I had in my wallet. I felt bad for the guy. Actually, I kept the photocopied page that he autographed, but I didn't do a Google search. While I'm thinking about it, I might as well do it now...

\/
\/
\/
Here is the link - The Shirt
That's all I could find. Sorry.

On to my driving lesson(s)
I was assigned an early 20's young lady. She was okay. No complaints(other than being a bit too eager with the instructor's brake. Every time I am about to apply the brake, her foot is already on the instructor's brake. But at the same time, she kept telling me that she wants me to do it on my own (when I asked if this was right). The lesson lasted about 30 minutes and the cost was $20. After the lesson, I felt I wasn't really ready to rent a van and drive on my own. I left annoyed with myself, and when I am annoyed (bored, or angry), I eat. So, I went to MacDonald's. After eating the Big Mac Value meal (with two apple pies), I decided that since I was still in the neighborhood, I should go back and try for another lesson. I tend to have a bad habit of running (or shutting down) when things get difficult. So, I forced myself to go back to see if I could get another lesson. The guy offered me a lesson if I could wait 10 minutes. The instructor turned out to be the same young lady. Actually, there were two cars "around the corner". The way the young lady seemed to hesitate, I probably was suppose to go with the older guy. But the older guy spoke to the YL and told me that it was okay to go with her. I think he wanted the other woman who was getting her lesson at the same time.

This next lesson was 45 minutes. It was better than the first. My instructor's biggest problem was that I wasn't going fast enough. According to her, the speed limit is 20 or 30mph in the residential area we were in, but I was going 10~15mph. On the way back, she decided the model how I should drive. Mainly at the correct faster speed. And within minutes, she had to slam on her breaks because some guy drove through the residential intersection without stopping at the stop sign. I felt vindicated. Now, I left feeling that I could rent the van. While I was still in that mood, I went back to see if I could get a highway lesson before Wednesday (the day I was planning to rent the van). I got lucky again. I was able to have a highway lesson on the same day.

This time the instructor was the old guy who I mentioned above. In the back seat was an instructor in-training. Another young lady. This one was not dress for teaching driving lessons. Too much makeup, a blouse that was way too tight buttoned down low enough to leave nothing to a blind man's imagination. The old guy kept talking to her in Spanish, which threw me off a bit. However, I think it was good that she was there. The old guys attention was on the young lady more than me, that helped me to feel a bit more relaxed. So, on the highway, what was the instructor's main complaint (other than more speed)? I knew how to drive, but I lacked the confidence. He said it several times throughout the 90 minute lesson. I left with a very positive experience and extremely glad that I didn't quit. The instructor left smiling and happy that "we made it back it one piece", that put me in a good mood also. So now, I think I will be able to rent a van.

After the driving lessons, I returned to Staples to finish collating the work packs. I bought a ice cream Sunday from a Mr. Softee truck and returned to the MN station. Since I had about a 30 minute wait for the MN train, I went to the Target store to buy a watch. My digital casio watch I might have had for more that 9 or 10 years, was becoming increasingly unreliable. I couldn't decide on a big Armitron watch or a similar (to my current Casio) watch, I finally settled on the Armitron watch. However, once I returned home, the Armitron watch was just too complicated. It had the ability for two different time settings and a birthday alarm, and other bells and whistles. I just decided that it was too much, and since the MN train was about to arrived, I decided to take it back that night.

I had about a 40 minute wait for the return MN train home, so I went to a local Chinese restaurant. I ordered a beef with broccoli. I was going to do a blog entry about my driving adventures, but I fell asleep on the computer.

Oh, I almost forgot. My $600 federal economic stimulus check arrived yesterday. It would be nice to spent it on something frivolous, but unfortunately, I have bills to pay.


Completion Date - Sunday, June 22, 2008 12:53PM
Post Date - Wednesday, July 9, 2008 11:21PM

Monday, June 16th Boy's Day Today turned out to be a very nice day. Once the morning confusion ended, it was an enjoyable day. Quick weekend wrap-up.

Since I'd spent all day at the Bronx Zoo, I didn't do any lesson planning or errands. Sunday was Father's Day. Since I did not have Saturday as my recovery/sleep day, I was tired Sunday morning. I just couldn't seem to do anything. I was planning to do. I finally, got out of bed, showered and wrapped my foster father's Father's Day gift by 4:30PM. I took the MN train into NYC. I arrived at my foster father's place about 5:15PM; his lady friend's adult kids were there wishing him Happy Father's Day. It was nice, then his daughter showed up.

She has worked in the day care center nearby for several years, often needing to walk past her father's building to get to work, and she rarely stopped by. Now, lately, she seems to be making a concerted effort to build bridges with her father. Once the argument started, I was getting a headache and left. I said that I needed to catch my train.

Before heading home, I decided to stop off at Barnes & Nobles to buy a juicing book. I bought a blender a couple of days ago. I thought it would be a waste of money for me to buy a juicing machine. I know I would hate cleaning the different parts after each time (especially the grater inside). I also have not had fresh vegetables in months, if not years. I'm hoping that with the blender, I can throw in a handful of this green vegetable, or that green vegetable to get the vitamins I need. Maybe if I have a glass of fresh vegetable juice each day, it will help me with my weight, my skin and my tired feeling. I went to the B&N on 14th street because they stayed opened late on Sundays. After perusing the diet and healthy cooking sections, I settled on:

The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies by Natalie Savona

I like the layout of this book. I also like the simple recipes (just 2 or 3 fruits and/or vegetables). After B&N, I rode the subway down to 42nd street where I could take the MN train. Since I was early for the 8:20PM train, I went to see if I could buy something to drink. I stop in one of the nation chained drug/convenience store. I was planning to buy a small orange juice. This was the first time I noticed that the 16oz Tropicana that I used to buy has been replaced with a 14oz, but the price is still the same...well at least uptown the price is the same (about $1.50), but in the midtown drug/convenient store, they wanted $2.19 for the 14oz. I put the orange juice back.

I arrived home about 9PM. I then had to start working on my PowerPoint Presentation. My school is doing a Boy's day event. Since they did a girl's empowerment day, some of the male teachers thought it was only fair to do a boy's event as well. Microsoft Office has made making a PowerPoint presentation super easy. The computer teacher/tech guy said that since he forgot to set up my Smartboard, he would do it if I came to school early between 7:15AM and 7:30AM. I was in bed by 2AM and up by 6AM, however, I managed to make the early train. And I arrived at school at 7:15AM.

And...

The tech guy was not there. At the last minute, I had to scramble around to find a way to show my PP presentation. Luckily Ms. Down the Hall lent me her older model where the projector is separate from the screen. It still didn't work. I called the tech guy(he arrived late), and he agreed to come. He came just as Ms. DTH got the screen on. Tech guy immediately said that everything was alright. I'd wanted him to stay until my PP came on, but he insisted that everything was okay and "everything would work". As soon as he left, the message flashed that my PP was using a newer version and it could not play. Tech guy was now too busy to return, but suggested that I send my flash drive to him and he would work on it. I copied my PP onto Ms. DTH's laptop (thinking I wouldn't see my flash drive anytime soon). About 30 minutes later, the student I sent my flash drive with returned. He said that Tech Guy put the flash drive down and told him to wait. After 30 minutes, the kid got tired of waiting. He returned empty-handed. My presentation consisted of the kids who decided to come to my Boy's Day presentation gathering around my laptop as I did my presentation. My presentation was on Boy's Day in Japan. I ended with teaching the boys how to make a origami samurai hat. After the two presentations, there was a raffle contest in the auditorium. I volunteered to read the numbers. I wanted to be useful, or the teachers who had my girls might try sending them back. Presenters had to split up their girls into available classes. Ms. Across the Hall was absent today. Did I mention that she was assigned to team-teach the mixed population class (a mixture of special ed and mainstream students). She would also have to move back upstairs to the third floor, and share a classroom. She was not happy. Since she did not reply to my email, I think she just took a mental health day.

Let me wrap this up, I've been blogging long enough. The day was nice. I was out of the building about 4:30PM. I made my homework copies for the whole week. I went to the grocery store to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables. I haven't bought fresh vegetables in months. I'm just about finished this blog. After I save it into my draft folder, I am going to try making one of the juices in my juicing book. I didn't buy the book for exact recipes, I just wanted to have a ballpark idea of what to do. If it taste nasty, then I will just pretend it's medicine. First up, kale juice. Well, time to go play with my blender.

Completion Date - Monday, June 16, 2008 8:46PM
Post Date - Tuesday, July 8, 2008 10:52AM

Saturday, June 14th
A long day. Today I was supposed to explore the Bronx Zoo with my epal (Macy's Walker). Last night, I wanted to send an email confirmation about our walking event, but I arrived home about 9:00pm and I was asleep about 5 minutes later. I also forgot to recharge my cell phone. You'll see how those missteps led to mistakes today.

I was up about 7:30am. I was still tired from the work week. Normally, I would still be sleeping. Our meeting time for the Bronx Zoo was 10am in front of Gate A. To make sure I was on time, I left my apartment at 8:30am. I arrived at the meeting spot about 9:20am. About 15 or 20 minutes later, I decided that I would send a text message, it was then that I noticed that my epal(MW) had sent me a text message Friday about 5:15pm changing the meeting time to 11:00am. Somehow I missed that message this morning when I plugged in my phone to be charged 30 minutes before I had to catch my train. Normally, when I have a message, a blue message logo lights up on the cover of my cell phone letting me know I have a message. Maybe since my battery was low, it did not show. Anyway, I now had an hour to kill. I texted back that 11am was okay. When the zoo opened about another 15 or 20 minutes later, I sent another text message about where I would be inside the Gate A entrance. About 5 minutes later, I sent another text message mentioning the P.O.P. (Pay One Price) zoo offer. Instead of paying for each special zoo attraction, patrons can pay one price and have access to the whole zoo. To kill time, I rode the shuttle around the perimeter of the zoo. I arrived back at Gate A at 11am. Still no message from MW. I didn't call or text because I was trying to save my battery which was flashing low. I waited about 45 minutes for MW, still no message. Finally, I gave up and started exploring the zoo by myself.

First stop was the Wild Asia Monorail ride(an extra attraction). I've been on it 2 or 3 times already, so there was nothing new. Next up, I ordered fried chicken stripes and fries($7.25). After lunch, I continued my exploration. I walked the north western path up to the Congo Gorilla(another extra). Gorillas behind glass eating, and sleeping. Not much else. Next, I walked the northern path to the far eastern end of the zoo stopping at the various animal exhibits along the way. I also had a vanilla/chocolate twist ice cream cone. A few minutes later, I went back for the French Vanilla milkshake. Next, from the north eastern corner of the zoo, I walked diagonally to the Skyfari located in the south western corner of the park (near Gate A). Along the way, I stopped off at the mouse house, the butterfly Garden (another not really impressive extra), Somba Village, etc... I avoided the tiger mountain and the World of Darkness. Each class trip to the Bronx Zoo, the kids always want the see the tigers and the World of Darkness. On the Skyfari waiting line, I received a text message from MW stating that I hadn't read his email from last night and he also apologized for leaving me in the lurch. I was annoyed mainly with myself for forgetting to check my email this morning for a confirmation from MW. Since I was annoyed (and my battery was low), I did not reply to the text message. After the Skyfari, I went to the Children's Zoo (another extra). I've been there numerous times as well. However, since I paid for the complete package price, I wanted to get my money's worth, so I went. Lots of climbing stuff, nothing interesting for an adult. As soon as I finished visiting the Children's Zoo, the sky started to darken, and thunder began. It was time for me to go.

On my way home, I stopped at the Target Store to see if I could find a father's day gift for my foster father and brother. I already bought the cards, but I wanted to buy a gift. I finally settled on a telephone set (one corded phone and cordless phone) for my foster father. I bought my foster brother an electronic dictionary. while I was there, I bought myself a new memory stick for my camera, and a USB flash drive that fits on a keyring. I've stopped wearing my school keys around my neck and I wanted to do the same for my flash drive. Now, I can keep my school files on my flash drive with my school keys. After Target, I walked to the MN train. I caught the express. When it arrived in Yonkers, the rainstorm started.

I wanted to go to ShopRite grocery store to buy my foster father a ShopRite gift card. I usually buy gift cards, but I also buy some small gift just so the person has something to open. Since it was raining so hard, I stayed in the train station waiting for the local train. I took the local train home. Picked up my large umbrella and rain jacket. I took the local back to Yonkers. First stop was at the imitation 5 and Dime store. I wanted to buy a blender. My new epal suggested that I should try juicing as a way of losing weight. I looking in Target to price a juicer. They had two juicers (cheap and expensive & cheap and very expensive). I also looked at the components of the juicer and knew that I was too lazy to use a juicer. Besides, my main reason for not wanting a juicer is I remember reading (or watching on TV) a couple of times people mentioning the negative to juicing was that most of the vitamins were in the pulp the part the juicer throws away. I also bought a heavy duty shopping cart. I want to try giving my granny cart a break. With my old granny cart, I really got my money's worth out of it. I went shopping, hauled trash, and filled in with text books etc.... Next stop was grocery shopping. Of course the rain started again. And again, it was heavy rain. I arrived home about 8:15pm soaking wet. And one of my carton of milks was punctured by the shopping cart, so on top of getting my wet products put away, I also had to deal with the spilt milk. After eating a microwaved dinner and putting the food away, and cleaning up the water and the milk, I started my blog entry about today.



Completion Date - Saturday, June 14, 2008 11:39PM
Post Date - Monday, July 7, 2008 11:44PM

Friday, June 13th
God was definitely watching out for me today. I woke up tired and in a bit of a bad mood. Today was a trip day, but since only 6 kids out of 18 paid, I was not even going to try finding places for 12 (mostly hyper)kids when half the building was also going on the trip. The trip was to see the movie Kung Fu Panda.

This morning I got up about 6:25am (usually enough time to make my regular train). However, I was moving too slow and before I knew it, it was time to leave. I didn't feel like running out the door, so I decided to catch the later train, knowing that would involve taking a taxi.

I arrived at school with about 5 minutes to spare. During attendance, I noticed that many of my kids were absent, that was when I thought that I might be able to go. Now, I only had to place 6 kids instead of 12. I managed to place the 6 kids. So I was happy. I only had 6 kids to worry about. Unfortunately, I got caught by the second grade teacher across the hall (not ATH), who found out that I only had 6 kids compared to her 14 kids (several that I recognize [clearly] should not have been going), so she asked if I could join her.

The second grade teacher is nice, but a bit too laid back for me. However, it turned out okay. I suggested that we stop off in a nearby park because we were very early. However, it turned out that the movie theater was packed, which was the reason why we were told to get our tickets in advance. But since I thought that I was not going, I didn't have my tickets. The lobby was packed, and here was where it was lucky that I had been with the second grade teacher who is a bit on the aggressive side(lax classroom management, but aggressive nonetheless). While all of the early arrivers (who also did not get their tickets in advance) were waiting in the lobby, SGT (second grade teacher) jumped the line asked the clerk if she had to wait on the line (even thought the lobby was packed with other classes already), and she was told to pay upstairs. Being the rule follower, I would have waited patiently on the lobby line.

Once our tickets were paid for, we then had to find our seats. It turned out that all of the other classes from our school had already left including Ms. Down the Hall. Even Ms. Across the Hall was already in the theater. Even though I told them that I was able to go, I was left behind. I felt a bit like the party nerd that no one really wanted to go. Anyway, due to the concession line, my small group missed about 3 or 4 minutes of the movie (not including the coming attractions (or is it trailers). So, how was the movie?

I enjoyed the movie. I thought the movie was funny, cute, and very entertaining. The computer animation was very nice. I think I would have enjoyed the movie more if I had not been in a room full of kids (in teacher mode). So, any negatives? My small group was nicely behaved. Unfortunately, I think several teachers should have left more kids at school.

Oh, there was an annoying lady about three rows down. She was a young mother with one or two young kids, and a baby...and a baby stroller. I told Ms. SGT that we should get our seats first before waiting on the snack line. The aisle lady had the stroller on the steps blocking the way. I had to ask her (I did it politely) to move the stroller. Me standing on the steps with a group of kids behind me did not seem to be a big enough incentive for her to move the stroller. She moves the stroller...then puts it back after my group walks past. Once my group has their seats, we were ready to go to the concession stand. The stroller was back blocking the aisle. I physically move the stroller into the row behind the aisle lady (the movie theater was not packed -- most of the mob(in the lobby) was probably in the lobby to see the Hulk). Out of the theater, I realized that I left the tickets on my clipboard. Not wanting to be refused reentrance, I went back for the ticket subs. The stroller was back on the steps. Common sense and decency seems to be fading concepts.

After the movie, I suggested to Ms. SGT that we return to the park so the kids could have lunch there. Neither one of us were eager to return to the school. It turned out to be a nice, very nice trip. The park idea gave us more time out of the building. While in the park, I called Ms. Down the Hall (we exchanged phone numbers in Maryland) to find where she had lunch. She and other teachers told their kids to bring (and eat their lunch in the theater), so once the movie was over, she returned to school. I told my kids under no condition were they to eat their lunch in the theater. See, rule follower. Unfortunately, I called just as she was walking into the school. She wanted to know why I did not call sooner. Unfortunately, I'm a bit slow. I should have mentioned that she and the other teachers left me in the building when they left for the movie this morning, but I didn't think about it at the time.

Ms. SGT and I would have stayed about 15 minutes more, but a mother was in school looking for her son (one of my students). Strange, the mother signed the permission slip saying that we would return at 2pm but she was looking for her son at 1:30pm. Anyway, we had to head back. We were back at school at 1:45PM.

I arrived in time to order a school lunch. Friday is pizza day. The movie goers in my class were tired, and the stay behinds were fairly quiet, so I was able to sit and eat my pizza. I let the kids finish their lunch. After, we went over last night's homework, and I previewed tonight's homework it was time to leave. Here, homework is mandatory each night trip day or not. Luckily, I made my copies the night before. And my homework sheet was completed this week. One of my few successes this school year is that I managed to provide a typed homework sheet for each week this school year. Reading, Writing, and Math are expected to be assigned each night (M~F). The other 3rd grade teachers did not have their homework sheets this week. For tonight's homework, they had their students write a movie review. Ms. ATH said she also gave a math worksheet as well. I'm going to miss having her right across the hall. Next school year, the kindergarten teacher who will be forced to move up to second grade will have her room. K2 seems like a nice (but cranky lady) in the hallways. I wonder how she is going to handle the 1st graders coming in. They're supposed to be a rough group (a lot of hypers in the bunch).

After the students were dismissed for Friday's early dismissal, I went to the computer teacher/tech guy to see if he would have the Smartboard ready for my Boy's Day presentation. Each male teacher has to do something for a Boy's Day presentation for the boys in the school. The computer teacher/tech guy said that he'd forgotten. He told me that if I arrive in school early on Monday (7:15AM or 7:30AM), he would do it then.

I tried to do my lesson plans in class, but after a bit of cleaning, and getting the literacy program materials ready for collecting, it was already about 6:30PM, so I tried to do a rough overview of what I wanted to teach. I made notes on post-its, and copy pages out of teacher's manuals, and workbooks. I should be able to fill-in my lesson plans and do my homework sheet over this weekend.

I left the building about 7:40PM, I arrived in the Bronx about 8:00PM. Since I had about a 30 minute wait for my MN train, I went to a nearby Subway restaurant. I ordered a 6in. pastrami sandwich. I was home about 8:50PM. Once my work clothes were off, my plan was to send a confirmation email to my epal(Macy's walker) about our walking activity tomorrow (Bronx Zoo), I also wanted to call my new epal (NJ) to say hello. However, I was out like a light within about 5 minutes of me "just laying down for a minute". I woke up about 12midnight.

Completion Date - Saturday, June 14, 2008 2:04AM
Post Date - Sunday, July 6, 2008 10:17AM

Thursday, June 12th
Today was much rougher than it should have been. The kids were in one of their extremely hyper moods. Today was a half day, but it felt like a very long full day.

This morning I managed to catch my regular train, so no taxi today. My hypers came in late, and started pushing buttons. Since only about 6 kids paid for the movie trip tomorrow, I'm not going. In order for me to go, I would have to find teachers willing to take my students (mostly hypers) who can't go for one reason or another. That would mean trying to find places for about 12 students. Since most of the younger grades will be going to the movie, my options were even more limited. That put me in a bad mood. I was suppose to have had a parent meeting during my prep period, but the prep teacher was assigned to teach a class, so no prep today. I also stressed over meeting the parent, but the parent was a no-show. My kids were so hyper that I ended up sending out 4 students to sit in different teacher's rooms. Once those 4 were out, the class calmed down. Unfortunately, the softy in me called them back after the period was over. When I send out kids, I try to not leave the "headaches" out of the room for too long. When they came back, there was basically more of the same hyper behavior.

Today was a half day for students. Teachers did our new class formation. We also got a chance to see the tentative faculty placement for the 2008~2009 school year.
Changes:
* The kindergarten teacher who was moved to 6th grade "mixed abilities" class was reassigned back to kindergarten.
* A kindergarten teacher who talks of retiring from time to time was assigned a 2nd grade classroom(no, not the extreme talker).
* Ms. Across the Hall was assigned to move up to what will be a 4th grade "mixed abilities" class. She is understandably upset. Last year she had to move her things down to the second floor, now she has to move her things back to the third floor. She will once again be sharing a classroom with another teacher.
* One of the strong 2nd grade teachers was assigned the 3rd grade that would have been Ms. ATH's class. In terms of classroom management, I used to be in the middle between Ms. Down the Hall and Ms. Across the Hall. Now with the strong 2nd grade teacher as a third grade teacher, I become the weaker teacher of the three in terms of classroom management. Luckily, I have organization and some creativity in my corner. However, I will have to take it up a notch next year. I don't want to be seen to being left behind(or seem to be the lowest). Sorry, I have a bit of a competitive streak in me.

From 1PM to 3PM, teachers were in the student's cafeteria making the new classes, and doing administrative work on student cumulative records. My plan was to be out of the building by 3:30PM. However, today was one of those days. Each time I tried to leave, I noticed that I wouldn't make my MN train, so I waited for the next (approx.)train time. I finally left about 6:02PM, and miss my MN train by about 2 minutes. I arrived home about 7:14PM.


Completion Date - Friday, June 13, 2008 1:04AM
Post Date - Saturday, July 5, 2008 11:29AM

Tuesday, June 10th
A very hot day in terms of the weather. The kids were okay (relatively speaking). AP1 called to offer me a couple of make-up preps. She forgot that she had given me my make-up preps. Since I was honest with her about already getting my make-up preparation periods, she gave me an extra prep period. Right before the prep period, the tech/computer teacher came in to tell me "bad news". He told me that I was getting a Smartboard for my classroom. I don't know why he thought I would not be excited about it. Just see the hyperlink I created to Wikipedia. It might have to do with most people in my school (myself included) having very limited understanding about hightech gadgets. Last year, about 4 or 5 teachers had the opportunity to go to a two-day training workshop out of state, and they received a whiteboard for their classrooms. Results? only a couple of the teachers have used their Smartboards on occasions. One teacher has not touched hers ...at all. I thought that was such a waste. Anyway, when I found out I was getting a Smartboard, I was excited. I had the area cleaned off and ready in about 5 minutes. Lucky for me, I was ready so quickly. There were two new versions of the Smartboards that appear to be better than the other Smartboards currently in the building. At first Ms. Across the Hall and I were to get the new Smartboards, but (I think) once the tech/computer teacher realized that the new boards were newer versions -- the projector is now attached to the screen. The tech guy had one installed in his room, and he gave Ms. ATH his (about a year old) model. Ms. ATH complained that her board will probably be rolled out for others to use on our floor. She is very nice, but she is even less tech savvy than I am -- she still has a bit of difficulty adding attachments to her emails. When I got the board, I was eager to set it up. Unfortunately, the tech/computer teacher told me to not touch it until he had time to introduce me to it. Ms. Down the Hall (received hers last year) says that she is still waiting for the tech guy to properly set hers up. She was one of the teachers that received the two-day training. The Smartboard can do some amazing things. I did a Google search to see if I could figure out how to use it -- I don't have a clue. I was surprised to find that there are free online lessons, free instructional manuals, free programs, and free tutorials. Can you guess the key word there?

The Smartboard was installed during my extra prep period and my regular prep period (the kids were not in the room at those times). When my prep period was finished, I asked Ms. ATH if I could bring my kids into her room. I did not want my kids getting in the way of the installers. She agreed. She is a very nice, easy-going person. Very easy to work with. I told myself that I would not touch the Smartboard, but I ended up trying to figure out the Smartboard. I installed the software on my laptop -- the laptop I purchased to keep in the classroom. Unfortunately, being a bit slow, I was not able to make much progress.

Wednesday, June 11th
Today was the 3rd grade make-up trip day. I'm surprised that no one else thought to ask about a make up date for the trip to Central Park Zoo. Originally, on the day 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes were suppose to go, it rained. When I asked AP2 about a make-up day, she said that we could go if we took the subway because it was too late in the school year to get a school bus.

The day started with me dragging myself out of bed. I missed my regular train, so it made me take a taxi from the Bronx in order to arrive on time. Since I've been taking a taxi a bit too much, one of the taxis has started waiting at the MN station. If I could afford it, I think I would do it everyday. Anyway, I had to go to the ATM for cash. On trip days, I don't like taking the small change and bills that my students bring in to pay for trips. I will either withdraw big bills out of my bank account, or just use my credit card.

I arrived at school on time, but I had to take my kids as soon as I walked in the building. The first order of business was finding placements for the students I wasn't taking with me. Two were absent. I had to find places for 6 kids. I took 10 of my students with me. Ms. Down the Hall took 12. Ms. Across the Hall took 14, she had the roughest time. Throughout the trip she spent most of the time keeping her kids in line. Ms. DTH is very strict with very good classroom management, so she had no difficulties. Ms. DTH is a bit sloppy with paperwork and sometimes forgetful, but her classroom management style is excellent.

Our school is on the west side of NYC, and the zoo is on the east side. Going, we took 3 trains to get to the zoo. On the way back, we took one train and walked the rest of the way. The travel times ended up being the same.

It was a nice trip. Central Park Zoo is a very small zoo, we finished in about an hour. We arrived back at school about 2:50PM. With only 10 minutes to go, my headaches caused problems. With only 10 minutes until dismissal, some still found ways to aggrevate. My plan was to be out of the building at about 3:30PM. Tomorrow is a half day. Tomorrow teachers make the new classes for the next school year. Also, teachers get to see the tentative faculty schedule(maybe). Last year, one of the kindergarten teachers (the union rep) was moved to the 6th grade mixed-grouped class (a mix of special ed and mainstream students). Next year, our school will be getting another special ed class.

On my way out, AP1 stopped to ask about what I was going to do for Boy's Day next week. A couple of months ago, girls had a special day of empowerment. A couple of male teachers thought that boys should have a day as well. Some people just don't think beyond the moment. Now male teachers have to come up with lessons and activities for "Boy Empowerment".

I was out of the building about 3:40PM. In the Bronx, I stopped off to pay some bills. I was home about 5:05PM. After eating a Healthy Choice microwave meal, I briefly chatted online. Then, I did an internet search for Smartboards. After the Smartboard search, I did a search for Boy's Day Activities. From my search, I came up with the idea of doing a cultural lesson about Boy's Day in Japan. Having lived in Japan for about 6 years, you would think I would have thought about Japan's Boy's Day without needing the internet.

Well, that is about it for now. I attached a photo I took of the new Smartboard in my classroom.

Completion Date - Wednesday, June 11, 2008 8:28PM
Post Date - Friday, July 4, 2008 4:38PM

Sunday, June 8th (Weekend Summary)

Friday
Friday was an okay day. Since the computer/tech guy also knows how to play the piano, he is in charge of graduation rehearsals. The music teacher must be busy doing something else.

Since the computer/tech guy was doing graduation rehearsal, I had a prep period change. My prep period was changed to the same time as my computer lab. Since I just wanted a prep, I didn't complain. Since Friday is an early dismissal day, I didn't mind. Friday, there was also a special assembly for a "Salsa" show. At one point in the show, I was dragged up on stage to do a dance number. I hate drawing attention to myself, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Friday ended with me once again being able to do my lesson plans for next week.

Saturday
I had arrangements to meet NJ epal in midtown NYC. We were going to a comic convention at 34th street and 7th avenue. I had never been to one before. My Saturday plan was to run some errands before meeting my epal. I started off the day with a late wake up time and a bath. I was out the door about 12:30PM. I missed the MN train, but it did not matter because I gave myself an earlier personal meeting time. I took the bus to downtown Yonkers stop to take the express train to NYC. I stopped off at a check cashing place to pay my telephone bill. I was planning to also pay my bank and Target bill, but I realized that I should not push my luck with the trains. Having been late once, I did not want to repeat it again. I arrived at the meeting spot at 2:10PM -- 20 minutes early.

My epal arrived a couple of minutes late. The comic convention was at the Penn Station Pavilion (convention space in a hotel). The cost of the tickets were $15 each, I paid for the tickets through PayPal. Pictures? Since I think you had to pay (or get permission) to take photos, I did not take any photos. I didn't really recognize the "celebrities" there. The vendors were packed in like sardines. And the layout was like a maze. Without windows, and without any distinguishing objects, the place was just a giant maze. After walking around the celebrity section, we moved onto the comic/video/DVD section. There were several animation videos I was thinking about buying, but with bills due, I really needed to show some self control. I ended up buying a couple of graphic novels at $5 each (the regular price was about $15 each). I bought:

The Fantastic Four: The New Fantastic Four
Marvel Team-Up Freedom Ring

My epal bought an action figure. He collects those. We only stayed a little over an hour. Since my epal paid for lunch at the diner last time, I offered to pay this time. We went to the T.G.I.F. (Thank Good It's Friday) restaurant at 33rd street and 8th avenue. I ordered a grilled Salmon meal. My epal ordered a chicken salad with a side of french fries. The meal was okay. My salmon had a strange sweet sauce with nuts, and the broccoli florets were dry. After the meal, we walked downtown with the idea of getting some ice cream. Once we got to the ice cream place(14th street and 6th avenue), it turned out that each of us was only going because we thought the other person wanted ice cream. Once we realized that neither of us wanted ice cream, we decided to call it a day. Besides, my epal was going to a birthday party for his cousin, so he had to leave. I decided to walk back to 34th street to see the Iron Man movie. On the way back, I took a picture of the Empire State Building. I will attach the photo to this blog.

The movie showing was 7:20PM. The theater was a little more than half full. I thought the movie was nice (not great but nice). A lot of time was spent in character developement. The movie finished about 9:30PM. I was back home about 11:00PM. I stopped off at the local bodega to buy a pint of ice cream(mint chocolate chip) and Hostess apple-filled cake. It was a nice day.


Completion Date - Sunday, June 8, 2008 1:19PM
Post Date - Thursday, July 3, 2008 1:29PM

Thursday, June 5th (Staff Development Day)
It was very nice to have the kids at home. The workshops were a bit of a waste of time. Hints were dropped about changes that will be made for the next school year. Ms. ATH and I walked to get lunch. We had Popeye's Chicken. The afternoon workshops were basically more of the same. I was hoping to have some time to set my classroom up for tomorrow, but the day's schedule was full. I like my room in order that includes having an assignment for the kids as soon as they come in. I don't trust myself to arrive early in the morning, so I like to have my room set up before I leave the day before.

Since admin filled the schedule for the entire day, my plan to leave at 3PM had to be scrapped. I settled for 3:30PM. I ended up leaving the building at 3:45PM. Since I would not be able to make the 4:08 MN train, I had to wait for the 4:39 MN train. Again, I got off the train one stop early to walk the rest of the way home (about a 25 minute walk). Dinner was leftovers. Again, I was out like a light soon after eating. I woke up about midnight. I wrote a reply email to NJ epal's reply.(something on my mind will just have to be left to my imagination).


Completion Date - Friday, June 6, 2008 12:31AM
Post Date - Thursday, July 3, 2008 12:29AM

Wednesday, June 4th
I'm going to try to keep this short. Just a few quick summaries:

* In the daily bulletin the principal made directive about (faculty) not eating in classrooms and offices, due to an increase in mice running rampant throughout the building. However, the pilot program of kids eating in the classroom will continue. So apparently, stopping adults from eating in any other room but the teacher's lounge will stop the sudden increase of mice activity, but kids eating in classrooms won't have any effect.
* My class was a bit hyper. I think I've written that enough times.
* I received 3 make-up periods, which should have made my day an easy day. However, one of the periods was a coverage with the "Spanish" teacher. What happened? His lesson was a crossword puzzle (English) for the 45 minute period. Midway through, the Spanish teacher -- Yes, not a typo. The Spanish teacher and DQ(Drama Queen) were teasing Giggles about her name. The teasing made Giggles upset. So whose feelings got hurt when I yelled to stop the nonsense...

No, not the "Spanish" teacher. But, good guess.

It was DQ. Her feelings were hurt. She was teasing Giggles, but her feelings were hurt. She turned on the waterworks screaming and crying how unfair I was because I told her to stop teasing Giggles. Again, she digs up old incidents from months ago, and even years ago about what Giggles has done to her (both real and imagined). I'm now annoyed that I'm being the babysitter during the time I'm not supposed to be supervising. The class was supposed to be learning Spanish. The purpose of the prep coverage is that another adult is suppose to be dealing with the kids. However, I'm being the one who had to deal with the utter nonsense. While DQ was doing her thing, Mr. S was saying over and over how he had no idea DQ was like that. I'm not sure if he was talking to me or the kids. Anyway, DQ wanted to leave the room to see the guidance counselor...or the nurse depending on who will let her call home. One call, and someone will come pick her up because "her head hurts, her stomach hurts, she can't be in the room with so and so, etc.... Having been privy to this song and dance more times than I care to count, I told her no. So she goes to the back of the room to pout. Since no one is giving her the center stage treatment that she is used to, she called Mr. S to come hear her side of the story. When he doesn't come, she actually goes over to grab him by the hand and leads him to the back of the room. I just watched partly annoyed and partly shocked that her manipulation skills extends to adults. I'm not sure if it was because I was watching or not, but Mr. S just pulls away telling DQ that he can't talk to her at that time. The waterworks start again. She comes back to me wanting to go to the guidance counselor. This time I tell her she can go, but first I told her to tell me her side of the story. Her story involved what Giggles did weeks and months ago, and the threats to attack her family, etc... Once DQ finishes her side, she turns off the waterworks and ask if she can go to the guidance counselor. As soon as she is out the door, Mr. S starts going on about how serious she is, and how she doesn't know when to stop. And recalls the time -- now I know he is talking the the kids. He recalls the time DQ did something similar last year. So my prep period was more of a babysitting period.

* I was out of building about 3:30PM. I got off the MN train one stop early and walked the rest of the way home. I told myself that would be the only exercise I'll get. I know that by the time I get home, I will be too tired to do any exercising. When I got home, I made dinner. While my turkey meat and green beans were being zapped in the microwave, I made some stove top stuffing on the stove. I fell asleep soon after eating dinner. NJ Epal called about 10PM, we talked for about 2 hours.


Post Date - Thursday, July 3, 2008 12:22AM

Sunday, June 1st.
A very nice day. The plan was to meet with my epal at 2:30PM to see an independent movie. Having not wanting to be late, I left home and caught the 12:45PM bus to the Bronx, then transferred to the NYC subway. I arrived about 2:20PM in front of the movie theater. It turns out the online time was wrong. The movie start time was 2:25PM, not 3:10PM. We saw "A Jihad for Love". How was the movie? It was okay. We both agreed that it was a documentary that could have just as easily been shown on TV. There was nothing exciting or unique that needed to be put on the big screen. Also, there wasn't really anything new that was said in the film that wasn't already known.

After the movie, my epal took me to a local diner in the area. After I sat down, I realized that it was the same diner that another epal(from Brooklyn) took me to. I had the deluxe hamburger with onion rings and a couple of glasses of (freshly squeezed) orange juice. My epal had a chicken club sandwich with a glass of cranberry juice. My epal offered to pay for the meal. Actually, my other epal(Brooklyn) took me to the same diner and also paid for the meal. I still owe him. He hasn't been too willing to venture out of Brooklyn for about the last year. I will have to repay the lunch I received from Brooklyn epal. Now, back to NJ epal.After the meal, we (NJ epal and I) walked to midtown to a comic shop. I ended up buying three graphic novels:

Civil War (Marvel)
Civil War (Marvel Universe)
Civil War: Black Panther (Marvel)

After the comic shop, we walked back downtown. We both had a taste for ice cream. We found a Taste D Lite (I think that is the name). The service was crappy; the ice cream was okay. The plastic spoons were too sharp. Both my epal and I ended up cutting our mouths on our plastic spoons. We had our ice cream to go. We walked further downtown. My epal needed to catch the Path train (he lives in New Jersey). On the way, my epal meet a soap opera actress. My epal seemed very excited to meet her. The actress also seemed to be very happy to have met a fan. I had no idea what they were talking about, but it was nice seeing my epal expressing his admiration for the actress. It was a very nice scene.

After walking my epal to the Path train. I walked a few blocks to my train. I arrived in the Bronx about 8PM. Since I had about a 40 minute wait, I went to the Target store for some milk, dental and shaving products. I caught the MN train and was home about 9PM. I tried to write this entry but I fell asleep.

Next weekend, it will be my turn. We are going to the Big Apple Comic Convention near Madison Square Garden with lunch (or dinner) on me. This just means that I will have to repeat my Friday amazing feat; I will have to do my lesson planning before the weekend. And hopefully, I will have my homework sheet done next time as well.

Completion Date - Monday, June 2, 2008 4:01AM
Post Date - Sunday, June 29, 2008 2:17AM