Vacation Ends

My vacation is over.  Today, my plan was to see a movie "Dinner for Smucks" and visit my foster father.  However, doing the visiting first put the kibosh on the movie.  By the time I finished "visiting", it was time to return home.

On my way home, I decided to once and for all try the Shopping Center I see while I'm riding on the Metro-North train.  Since I don't have a car, I'm limited by my shopping choices.  Weill with A Target, Home Depot, and a BJ's within my travel route, I now have some more options.  Especially BJ's.  BJ's is a bulk food and supply store. 

Well, I better go.  Tomorrow is the first (unofficial) day of work.  Here in NYC, teachers are required to report back to schools on the day before the students do(this year it is September 7th.  Most teachers will probably returned two or three days before.  I like having the whole week to slowly adjust to work hours.  Also, I really need more time to get organized.  Each year I've failed with getting organized and spend the reminder of the school year stressing out.  I'm hoping the that this will be the end of my losing streak.    My goals for this year are actually the exact same goals as last year.  Since I failed so miserable with my goals, there is no need to change them. 

So, will this year be any different?  Only time will tell.  The first real test (I suppose) will come tomorrow.  Each year, I've always managed to find something to distract me from unpacking until this last minute.  Even though I'm usually the first teacher back, I'm usually the last one finished. 

This year (tomorrow), unpacking will be the first thing on my To Do List.  If this year is going to be different, I will have mostly finished my Day 1 Goals:

Day 1 "To Do" List*
1. Unpack all necessary boxes (about 18 of them)
2. Arrange classroom furniture
3. Set up classroom library
4. Set up (and fill up) the brand new shelving units
5. Set up classroom computers
6. Change bulletin board paper
*In the past, this has been my Day 5 To Do List.  I've been able to get most of it done in Day 5, so I should be able to get it done on Day 1.  I hope.

If I can get most (or all) of the above list completed, this would be a good indication that my year just might be different from all of the others. 

My next posting will let you know if I succeeded.

To Be Continued...

Back to School Shopping (Part 1)

Well, my vacation is just about over.   As usual, I didn't do anything I had planned to do during my time off.  A part of me is looking forward to returning to work....a part.  : )

Today I finally got around to cleaning my living room floor.   I finally swept, washed, and waxed the middle part of the floor.  Now, I just have to do the hallway floor.  I also have to put up the new shower curtains, then my apartment is as clean as it is going to get until next summer.  I am happy that I will be starting the school year with a (relatively) clean apartment. 

I was just transferring the photo of my back to school shopping trip purchases when I came across photos of my apartment taken July 5, 2010 (the start of this summer).  If I get around to it, I might do a before and after series for the different rooms of my apartment.  Now that it's clean, I don't mind.  Hopefully, I'll never let it get that bad again.  I hope.

Anyway, I went shopping for some back to school materials.  Usually, I go to a store in Brooklyn, but I discovered that a larger store is located near me.  It turns out the travel time to the teacher supply store near me is about an hour one-way on public transportation (not including waiting time).  The store in Brooklyn is about 2 hours one-way on the subway.

So, was I able to show some self-control with shopping?  A little.....very little.  I ended up spending $380.07 on teaching materials, classroom supplies, and bulletin board decorations. 

I settled on attaching a photo of the books I purchased at the teacher's store.  I'll save the "messy room" photos for another time.

Spring Break - Day 11

The end has arrived. And as usual, I'm annoyed with myself for not accomplishing anything productive. Now, I will be returning tomorrow stressed out about work, that should have, could have been done. Plus, I'll be stressed with the new work that will be added.
Today was my errand day. For the first time during my vacation, I was able to get up and out of my apartment at 9:30AM. I went to Macy's to buy the pair of pants and the white shirt for work. I also bought a lighter jacket for spring. I spent about $140. I didn't have my digital camera, so I took a couple of photos with my camera. I'll attach on for this blog entry. Macy's had a flower show display. From Macy's I had lunch at a pizza restaurant. Then, I went to my foster father's place to set up the TV I bought him. I felt a bit bad for being cheap. For about another hundred dollars, I could have gotten a larger TV than the 19 inch.

Next it was food shopping and laundry. Now, I better go because tomorrow will be a long day.

Oh, one last thing before I go. Did anyone see the new animation show on FOX called, "Sit Down and Shut Up!" The show was a cartoon about a group of teachers and a principal at a school. Wow, it was unbelievable. And not in a good way. Due to my need to get off line, I have to cut this short. Bye for now.

Post Date - Sunday, April 19, 2009 11:09PM

Saturday, April 26th.
Spring Recess is just about over. So, how is this recess different from the others? Well, by now you know there is no difference. Once again, I returned to my hermit/coma state of existence. After returning from Baltimore on Monday, (other than a trip to the bank on Tuesday to make a late payment for a credit card), I have not been out of my apartment since Tuesday.

Last night(Friday evening), I decided to make a plan to go to the teacher's store in Brooklyn. Next month my school will be doing our science themed activities, and having our science fair. I wanted to check out their science reproducible workbooks. I also wanted to get a cursive drill reproducible workbook. I also decided to see "Super Hero Movie". I wanted to see a pure escapist kind of movie, unfortunately, there was not much playing in the theaters in the way of action or adventure. I sent a text message to one of my epals(Macy's Walker) to see if he was interested.

I was supposed to have done something with another epal, but he was not feeling well. He lives in Brooklyn. He was willing to do something if he could stay closer to home. Unfortunately, I am a bit lazy. I wasn't in the mood to travel out to far Brooklyn which for me is about 90 minutes traveling time(one way).

Anyway, I texted my epal(Macy's Walker), and he texted back that if I was able to change the meeting time to a later time, then he would be able to meet me at the movie. With the arrangements made, we planned to meet at 1:30PM. I took a quick bath and was on the 12:30MN train. I arrived at the movie theater about 1:26PM. I purchased my ticket and just as I was leaving the lobby to wait outside --this time, the weather was much nicer. My epal was arriving as I was about to leave the lobby. The theater was on the 6th floor. Well, the ticket said "6th floor, but it felt like we went up 7 or 8 escalators.

We saw "SuperHero Movie". The movie was a spoof of the Super Hero movies like Spiderman, Batman, and the X-men. So how was it? It was okay. I did laugh at some parts. However, at other parts, it made me cringe a bit. A bit too much juvenile humor. There was actually a farting scene that must have lasted 5 minutes or more. The grandmotherly character laid on the couch and just kept farting as one sight-gag was done after another, and she just kept farting. The others made faces, and she continued farting. The young lady put tampons up her nose, and the lady continued farting. Objects rattled, and "sound effects" increased, and she continued to fart. I did laugh with the candle sight-gag, but I thought the other gags were just too much.

After the movie, I explain to my epal that since it was still early, I was going to the teacher's store in Brooklyn. I asked if he was interested in going, but he wasn't. Since I hadn't eaten lunch, I would have wanted to go eat, but if I didn't go to the teacher's store today, then I would have had to go tomorrow. But since I have not done anything in terms of laundry, lesson planning, or apartment cleaning, adding a trip to Brooklyn would only have stressed me out. We walked to the train station. My epal got off the train at 23rd street. He wanted to go to HomeDepot to buy some under cabinet lights. I continued on to Brooklyn.

In the teacher's store, once again, I over did it. I was only planning to get one or two books (max.) However, I ended up spending $111.07. After I finished digging my financial hole, I went to Wendy's because I hadn't eaten anything since my breakfast bowl of Cream of Wheat about 10AM. After eating my medium-sized meal, I was still hungry for dessert, so I went to Dunkin Donut. I bought two donuts at $1.10 each. The donuts tasted a bit old. I pigged-out because I told myself that I would return to the gym on Monday. I have not been to the gym since January-- and I only went 4 times then since buying the one year membership back in August 2007...what a waste of money.

After Brooklyn, I went to visit my foster father for a while. I caught the MN train and was home about 8PM.

Completion Date - Saturday, April 26, 2008 10:57PM
Post Date - Saturday, June 14, 2008 11:48PM

So here I am. It has been a few days since my last posting. If you are a relatively new reader to my blog, then you are probably thinking about where has he been for the last few days. If you are a regular to my blog, then you know the answer. Not much of anything. Another vacation that has resulted in the same condition, hibernation. For the past few days, I've basically stayed home repositioning piles. Since Tuesday, I've been out once (I think), and that was yesterday evening. I walked up the hill to the local bodega to play the Mega Lotto.


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In case you were wondering....

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I didn't win.

So not much to write about. Basically, I am in the same position as previous "vacations" (mentally drifting from "pile to pile" running out the clock). Yesterday, I did manage to do a bit of cleaning. I tackled the bathroom, and I tackled a couple of paper piles in the living room. By yesterday evening, I got tired of piles. I decided to watch my DVD boxed set of the BBC's Office series. The original series that the American series is based on. So my opinion? I watched about 3 episodes of the 6 hours set. I think that is about half of the first DVD in the box of 4 DVDs. It is okay...I guess. The original is a bit more adult (a bit more explicit then the American version).

Moving on. I was supposed to go to the Board of Ed HQ to drop off paperwork on Friday, but since it was snowing outside, I told myself that I would just mail the paperwork on Saturday.

Well, today (Saturday) my plan was to fill out the paperwork and run to the post office, then I would return to the teacher's store in Brooklyn to by the supplies for the next bulletin board project, but well....

This morning, after getting out of the bath, my foster brother called me to ask if I was still interested in renting an apartment from someone he knows in the Bronx. Problem? I don't know how to say no. I spend too much time worrying about other people's feelings. Anyway, having mentioned a few weeks ago (when we met for lunch), that I was not sure about moving and...that I had just recently signed a new lease, my foster brother called wondering if I made up my mind about moving. End result, my probably turned into "let me see the place". So tomorrow, instead of getting ready for my return to work, I will be looking at a 2 bedroom apartment. The selling point is that the rent would be $200 less than the rent I am paying now. Problem (for more than one reason), I really don't feel like moving.

New subject. My plan to go to the Tenement Museum was tentative already -- I was really debating with myself about going or not going, but this "apartment viewing" solidified my decision. I have no one but myself to be annoyed with (for more than one reason). And being annoyed, just put me in a bad mood. Any plans I might have done today, were pushed aside, that was about 9 hours ago. I've been in front of this computer for about 9 hours. For dinner, I just threw a couple of Weight Watchers in the microwave. Most of that time, I spent reading the individual episode synopses from the various Star Trek shows (TNG, Voyager, DS9, etc...) See pure escapism. Since I don't drink (alcohol), smoke, or take drugs, my vehicles of escapisms are limited.

Anyway, after reading the synopsises...I went shopping online. Another form of escapism. I settled on ordering:

1. Twist of Faith (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) 688pages (paperback)
2. Dream Girls DVD
3. Spiderman(animation) DVD


Also while surfing (and shopping), I found out that the third book in the Paonini Dragon books will be out this September(2008). Attached above is a photo of the covers of the first two books. Christopher Paonini is the author who at the age of 15 wrote the NY Times best seller Eragon (later made into a rather stupid looking movie[opinion based only on looking at the ads]). I visited a couple of web sites to see if the third book in the trilogy was available. I found out the kid decided that his third book was "too big for a trilogy", so he decided to split the third book into a two seperate books. Now, the trilogy is a series. I watched an online video of this kid (now 19), I don't know, but he sounded a bit full of himself explaining his decision to change the trilogy into a series.

I just did a search and the clip is available on YouTube:

Now you can judge for yourself. Yes, I will still buy the book. I'll probably have to reread one or both of the other two to remember the story details.



I also discovered that there will be a movie[Eldest] about the second book in the tri -- sorry, the series. Above is one of the movie trailers. The movie will be out Spring of 2009.

Oh, I will attach a picture of the third book. The title of the third book is
Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) Seen at the top of this blog entry. Brisingr according to the author means "fire".

Well, I think that it for now.


Post Date - Sunday, February 24, 12:27AM

Tomorrow is a busy day...I hope. I will have to keep this brief, I need to get ready for tomorrow. Well, after cronic procrastinating for two months, my vacation is just about over. A part of me is not looking forward to a return to the salt mines, but another part of me is eager to end this boredom. Okay last day of my vacation.

Today, my plan was to visit the big mall that is a bit north of me.

My microwave just went off. My spinach just finished. Since my dinner is now ready, I should eat now and blog later. But then, I should just get this over with so I can get offline and start getting ready for tomorrow.

So, my plan was to head north on the Metro-North. I arrived at the Metro-North station with about 2 or 3 minutes to spare. I purchased my ticket (roundtrip) for $6.50. I arrived in Tarrytown. The Tappan Zee express bus stop was right by the station, so I did not have to walk far. No sooner did I arrived a taxi driver drove up and offered to take me over the Tappan Zee Bridge for $18. The bus fare was $1.50. I said no thank you. He tried to convience me that there were no buses on Sundays going over the bridge. I didn't believe him, but it turned out he was correct. I'd just assumed that Saturday schedule included Sundays and Holidays. But, I was wrong. The taxi driver drove around the lot and returned offering me $14 (plus toll). I told the taxi driver that I was going home. I returned to the Metro-North platform with about an hour wait for the next train back home. After about a 30 rest of the platform thinking about the fee over the bridge, I started to doubt my hearing. I began to think that I had heard wrong. Maybe the guy said $8 or $4 fee. Finally, I walked back to the taxi area of the Metro-North station. I asked a couple of taxi drivers talking (one cleaning his car and the other smoking a cigarette). They told me that the trip over (one way) was $25. Amazing. Needless to say, I didn't go.

When the train finally arrived, I decided that I would go to the Target store in the Bronx to buy a memory card for my Playstation 2. I can't save without a memory card, and the powers that be decided that it was not necessary to include one in game or the Playstation itself. The ways the trains worked, I could take the southbound MN arrive in the Bronx, then have about 20 minutes there before the northbound (express)MN would take me back to Yonkers. Anyway, in Target, they did not have the memory card for Playstation 2. I went to the Radio Shack a block away, and they did not have it either. One of the customers in Radio Shack told me that I could get one at any game store, he also told me that I could get one used for about $4. So empty-handed, I returned to the MN. I caught the express to Yonkers. I went to a game store in Yonkers, they did have the memory card ($20new and $15used). The clerk seemed more interested in his conversation with his buddy who just seemed to be passing through, and the owner (I think) seemed more interested in his lunch. I decided to forget it. From there, I went to Shoprite to buy a gallon of skim milk. The skim milk expiration date was today, so I bought 1% milk instead. I also bought some cold cereal, Sunday Daily News and New York Times. I walked back home.

At home, I made a couple of sandwiches and a simple salad. I also decided to try again with the chicken. This time, the chicken came out nice...I think. I made barbecue chicken and instant macaroni & cheese. I had the chicken and the mac cooking while I was on the computer answering a couple of e-mails and trying to get my Norton software to work.

My Norton software was due to expire yesterday, so I renewed it yesterday. However today, the program said that my services were expired. It took me about 30 minutes, but no matter what I did, I could not get the program to correct itself. Their customer service page suggested I download a fixit program, but that did not work. Their customer page was anything but user friendly...in my opinion. After searching for their contact page (it was buried deep in the site), I finally found their contact us link at the bottom of a page with about a size 8 font. I was just looking for a phone number. When I clicked on the link, I was given three prompts:

1. Download a Norton Chat program, and chat with an operator.
2. A phone number would be given with the warning that there would be about a 30 minute wait. And finally, the last choice was the option of sending an e-mail with the warning that a reply would take about 48 hours. After wasting about a half an hour to get to this point, I decided on the e-mail option. I was too annoyed to talk to a rep or download another program that may or may not work.

Well, that's it. Dinner is waiting for me. Then I will relax in the tub, pack for tomorrow, and skim through the sunday papers. Before calling it a night.

Tomorrow's plan.

1. Return to school and start unpacking. Tomorrow only admin is suppose to return. Teachers are supose to return on Tuesday. But I really, really need to start getting organized. This school year has to be better than the last.

2. I want to go to the Board of Ed to change my ID BOE ID card. I want the label substitute teacher removed. Originally, I was told last year that the label did not need to be changed because the correct information is on the microchip embedded in the card, and since the place was packed, I didn't want to wait. But yesterday, the clerk at the teacher supply store told me that I would not get a teacher's discount at that store or any other store because the clerks will only look at the label, and substitute teachers don't qualify for discounts or tax free purchases. I was lucky yesterday, the clerk was a nice lady and she gave me the tax free status.

3. While at the BOE, I want to drop off my "D" rating appeal letter. The clock to submit a letter of appeal stopped during the summer, but resumes on Tuesday. If I was smart I would have had taken care of it during the two months I did almost nothing.

Anyway, That's it for now, my dinner is waiting.


Post Date - Sunday, August 26, 2007 7:45pm

Well, the three-day weekend has come to a close. I guess my day started at 4pm. Yes, I did write 4 in the afternoon. Basically, it was another day of sleeping and surfing. I chatted with someone from India. It is amazing. Computers make the world seem much smaller.

Today, at 4pm, I finally dragged myself out of bed for good. Actually, I was just napping. My day probably started about 10am. I got up, checked e-mail, chatted online, ate breakfast (cold cereal), showered, cleaned the bathtub and the toilet. For lunch, I had low-sodium Campbell's Chunky Soup, and a couple of slices of wheat toast. Then, it was back to sleep for me. About 4:30pm, I went to the laundromat (basically, a room with a few machines in one of the building in the housing complex I live in...easy commute). After doing my laundry, I did something I had not done in a very, very long time. I ironed my work clothes (4 white shirts and 2 black slacks) for the whole week. It may not sound like much, but for me, it is a big deal. I can sometimes manage to iron my clothes for the next day only...sometimes. However, it is rare for me to do it for the whole week. I'm one of those people who likes the very sharp-starchy look to my white shirts. Usually, I am rushing around in the morning doing the ironing. After ironing, I ate leftover chicken for dinner, with precooked brown rice in a microwavable cup. I then did my lesson plans for tomorrow, and I typed up my weekly homework sheet for my students.

I had to order more paper on Friday. Actually, I placed an order with Staples on Wednesday, the ink in my copier is low again (another $88). After the order arrived at school, I realized that I had forgotten to order paper. This time around, I only ordered a half a case of paper. That half case will have to last me. That copy machine is putting me into the poor house.

It is now about 10pm. after I post this blog entry, I'll pack my shopping cart and leave it by the door, shower and call it a night.

Post Date - Sunday, May 28, 2007 10:07pm