Shopping at the Mall

Another weekend that is about over and not much to write about. This weekend, I wanted to do something other than my usual "comatose" weekend recovery. I knew I wasn't in the mood for socializing, but I didn't want to do the "sleep away the weekend" thing. I started on Friday by starting my lesson plans. I only started but it was enough for me to feel comfortable with taking a day off to go shopping as oppose to spending the weekend with the cloud of "disorganization and I'm gonnas" only to have accomplished nothing.

With my lesson plans started, I felt comfortable about leaving the apartment to head to the nearby mall. The plan was to just see a movie, hit Barnes and Nobles, and eat a meal at Panda Express.

First stop was the movie theater (Loews or IMAX), however, there was nothing playing at the time frame I had. Since I have to travel by public transportation, I have to pay attention to schedules. The bus to the mall does not operate on Sundays, and only about once per hour with a couple of two hour gaps in the afternoon and evening. So, no movie. I had lunch at Panda Express, then I headed to B & N.

B & N was one of the reasons for me going shopping today. I finished reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Gookind. I enjoyed the book so much that I read the last 1/3 last weekend, however, that left me without reading material for my workday commuting. The plan was to buy the third book in the Eragon series from the Target store on my way home, but I turned cheapskate at the last minute. I didn't want to buy the hardcover book. I also wanted to by the second book in the Goodkind "Sword of Truth" series. I ended up buying the boxed-set of the Rick Riordan series "Percy Jackson & the Olympians". It started off okay, but my first impression was that it was really written for kids. Halfway through the first book in the series, I started liking it a bit more. I like the "Olympians Gods are still around" theme. I will finish the first book in the series, and then save the other two books in the box-set as backups for when I need a replacement book between the other books on my reading list.

Anyway, In B&N, I ended up spending way more than I was planning. I also finally broke down and brought a membeship to B&N. When I left B&N, I was $98.24 poorer.

I brought:
Civil War: Fantastic Four
Green Lantern Corps: Ring Quest
Teen Titans: Beast Boys & Girls
E.E.Knight Dragon Strike (Book 4 of the Age of Fire series)
Star Trek TNG: Resistance
Stone of Tears (Book 2 of the Sword of Truth series)
B&N membership fee ($25)

Next, having already spent more than I was planning, I was going to call it a day, but decided to take a quick stop in JCPenny for another sheet set. A few months ago, I got tired of shopping at the imitation 5 & Dime store. I wanted better quality in the sheets. In the past, I would buy bed sheets for $3 or $4 only (tissue paper thin) that would start unraveling with the first wash. Anyway, When I finished at JCPenny, I was about $274.05 poorer.

I brought:
2 jeans
2 white dress shirts
1 pair of black Dockers
1 pack of socks
2 pair of pajamas
1 flannel sheet set
1 coin-counting bank
1 catalog

Final stop was Staples. I only needed a couple of packs of markers (one for home and one for school). And $106.79 poorer, I brought:
2 packs of markers
1 16 ft. printer cable
1 box of chalk
1 heavy duty stapler

The Staples stop was for work related items. The printer cable was so that I could hook up my copier to the classroom computer. Now, I won't need to set up my laptop when I just need to print one thing. The heavy duty stapler is for the holiday homework packs and multi-page packs that can't be handled by a regular stapler.

Well, much more than I was planning to write (and more than I was planning to spend).


Post Date - Sunday, January 25, 2009 3:18PM

The Cloisters Museum

Today started about 9:00a.m. After breakfast of a bowl of cold cereal, and a relaxed soak in the tub, I was out for a day at the Cloisters Museum with one of my epals.

The meeting time was 12noon at the 190th street "A" train station. I arrived about 11:40a.m., my epal arrived about 12:30p.m. We walked through Fort Tryon Park to the museum. The suggested entrance fee was $20. I paid $15, and my epal paid $5. Later, I spent $2.75 for a bottle of water that would have cost $1 outside the museum. We spent about 4 hours walking through the museum. We left about 4:30p.m. The museum was nice, but there were a lot of people in the museum, which made taking pictures more difficult than taking pictures outdoors. At times, I had to wait 5 to 10 minutes just to get what I call a "clear" picture (meaning a picture without anyone in it). Some people were just oblivious to a guy holding up a camera to take a picture. Picture taking was allow, but flash was not. We could only take pictures without flash. I took about 116 pictures in and around the Cloisters. I will post a few of them in a slideshow at another time.

After the museum, we went to a local restaurant. I had a vegetable lasagna, my epal had a turkey burger with fries. For dessert, I had a piece of a triple layer carrot cake, my epal had a a piece of a chocolate mousse cake. After the restaurant, my epal said that she had to go, so we each headed home.

When I arrived home, at first, I wanted to try to do some exercising, but I was too tired. I only was able to do a few of the basic warm ups.


Post Date - Monday, September 22, 2008 12:10AM
Completion Date - Sunday, August 17, 2008 12:06AM

Supper Club

Saturday, July 19th
Today I went to see one of my colleagues sing at a supper club. Dr. D (our school's data analyzer -- hired to coallate the data that now is coming due to almost monthly assessments in Reading, Math, and Science. Anyway, she put up flyers in a couple of places around the school. The others I ignored because the shows were during the school year. Since I knew I would have no other plans, I agreed to go. I paid my $10 for an advance ticket.

I told myself that I would try to do something productive today since I didn't have to be at the show until 8p.m. Unfortunately, by now you know me, I wasted time, until it was time for me to go. About 4:30p.m., I took a bath and got ready for the show. Since the show was in a supper club, I wore my only suit -- remember the suit I bought for my trip to Maryland. It was too hot for the jacket, so I just carried it. On my way to the show, there was a schedule change due to track construction or maintainance. The subway train went one stop, then the passengers had to get off and take a shuttle bus to rest of the way.

I arrived about 7:45p.m., There seemed to be a bit of confusion with what to do with me. One of the wait staff told be to go in, to see Dr. D, but she (Dr. D) didn't know where I was supposed to sit. I was standing at the doorway for about 6 or 7 minutes.

I got the impression the "show" wasn't so much her show as the restaurant only wanting to hire live musicians. There was the Asian pianist, European-American Bassist, and an African-American drummist. The instrument players started about 10 or 15 minutes late. Dr. Data didn't start singing until 8:30p.m. The live music finished at 9p.m. The next show was at 10p.m. Her singing was nice, and the food was also nice. The supper club was located uptown. Although the club tried to really be high class, every so often, I would get a little bit of street with my service. Although overall, the waitstaff did try to be professional, a couple of times my food was dropped with a "here's your food" attitude. I was by myself, and Dr. D was too busy being hostess to the people she knew. Of the 30 people in the room, about half were family members or friends she knew.

I left about 9:30p.m. I was back home about 11:00p.m.

Oh, Dr. D. announced that she retired from the Board of Education. She said that she gave 30 years and enough was enough -- then she sang "I Will Survive". If she were to return to school, she would have been the new literacy coach in charge of the new literacy program. Yep, the program most of us hate. The literacy coach hated the program(so I was told), and resigned from being a literacy coach. Next (school) year, the former lit. coach will be returning to the classroom; she will be a Pre-K teacher.

Post Date - Tuesday, August 12, 2008 11:39PM
Completion Date - Sunday, July 20, 2008 12:48AM

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...

\/
\/
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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

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

Saturday, May 24th

A week in review. I started off the week in a very good mood. Within 2 hours, I was in a bad mood. And by Tuesday, I was feeling angry and burned out. E-CLAS(a early elementary assessment) was due, but then another deadline was added. I started the week eager to get out of the building about 4PM, but by the end of the week, I was repeating previous patterns(left late, crashed at home, morning rush, and the cycle continued).

Wednesday was a wasted evening of calling parents who only seemed interested in money. I called Squeak's parents. Squeak is a relatively quiet (but an excessive) talker. He also does annoying things in a quick quiet way, then argues about anything and everything. He'll argue if I yell, he'll argue if I ask politely. Anyway, my phone call to his mother about his behavior, and lack of focus, and lack of pencils was quickly conferenced to his father(3way calling). The conversation was about the dollar I took from Squeak. Nice parents. Both seem to have that "we know our kids can be a handful/no nonsense" attitude. They also seem to understand why I took the dollar from Squeak(it was out and he was using it to disrupt my lesson), but the conversation kept going back to the dollar.

The phone to Princess Beady's mother was basically the same. Her kicking, crawling, cursing, and calling out took a backseat to mother's concern for the refund I told the kids that I would give to anyone who did not go on a trip...even if it meant that I would have to take the money out of my own pocket. The money was all...all the mother wanted to talk about. Even though I was disgusted, tired and fighting a cold, I stayed to change my bulletin board. See attached photo.

Thursday was "Family Night". To avoid insulting anyone, I will pass on a couple of observations. Summary:

During Family Night, the school is opened for the families of the students that attend. Faculty is asked but not required (which is nice) to set up a table to inform or entertain the visitors. Since I'm usually in the building late, I volunteered for the set up committee. My plan was to finish up my E-CLAS reports. However, knowing that the building was opened late had the opposite effect...I fell asleep at my desk, so I didn't get the reports done. About 6:15PM, I was awaken to the sounds of kids running through the hall -- no one was suppose to be on the second floor. Since I was up, I did my usual Wall Flower Routine at the party in the gymnasium (alternating between holding up the wall and wandering aimlessly). One the teacher's church had a food table, so I bought an order of lasagna, a brownie topped with cake frosting, and BQ chicken wings. The lasagna was cold, but good. The brownie was good also. I saved the wings (Actually, I am about to heat them in the microwave after I finish this blog entry). The food was good but expensive, or I'm just being a cheapskate.

Back to the party. One incident. One 5 or 6 year old went thugging through the hall. Quick summary(according to an eyewitness):

Baby Thug jumps a smaller boy with glasses. a couple of girls stop him, so Baby Thug attacks them. One against two, the kid was not too bright. Since they beat the snot out of him, he spent about 15 minutes (this is where I came in)seeking out revenge, with mommy trailing behind like a broken record, "Baby what's wrong. Why are you so angry?" Obviously, someone has been cutting anger management classes, or skipping his meds.

About 7:30PM, I see AP2 packing up her table, so I offered to help. I ended up moving boxes to the closets, and helping the custodial staff move the tables and chairs, and helping to sweep the floor. My plan was to just show my face and leave, but I got carried away with being Mr. Helpful. I was a bit annoyed that people (visitors and staff) didn't feel the need to move while I was moving tables and chairs. Mrs. K (the nice, but extremely talkative kindergarten teacher) got in my way ...twice. First, she was trying to take off the students' artwork that she must have offered to decorate the walls. Me trying to lay the folded tables against the wall was not an incentive to move...she had to have her students artwork. Later, me holding a box saying "excuse me, heavy box" also wasn't an incentive to move. Once she starts talking, it is difficult for her to stop. She is a very nice person, but just way too talkative. Oh, the box wasn't really very heavy, but it was the principle of the situation.

Friday, was a relatively okay day. I was worried that the computer teacher/tech guy would be closing shop early. Last year, the computer lab was closed sometime in May. He already sent out a letter requesting the return of all borrowed laptops because he has to start getting the computers and the computer lab ready for summer storage. Since he is the main/only tech-savvy person in a low tech environment, his position is cushy. Second only to the music teacher. The tech guy is the go to guy for a piano player for assemblies and graduations. Recently, I think AP2 (who is in charge of scheduling, but a bit lower on the admin hierarchy) must have been flexing her admin muscle. Lately, she has been scheduling out of classroom teachers to do more classroom coverage. Good for her!

Friday was also the due date for the E-ClAS reports and completed bubbled grids. I had been carrying around the E-CLAS materials for the last couple of weeks, telling myself that I would do it when I got home, only to not even touch my granny cart when I got home. I did end up finishing about 7PM. I was in the Bronx waiting for my train north about 8:30PM. I had an order of beef lo mein (very greasy) for dinner. When I got home, I had a pint of Haagen Daz ice cream (telling myself that I will start exercising next week).

Today (Saturday), I slept most of the day away. Well, that is about it. I wasted another Saturday. Tomorrow, I will be joining a group movie/dinner event, we will be seeing the new Indiana Jones movie "The Crystal Skull". I think about 25 people will be attending. I signed up about a month ago. A part of me does not want to go, because I am still a bit drained from the cold I have. Also, I need to get organized and clean my apartment.

Completion Date - Saturday, May 24, 2008 8:12PM
Post Date - Friday, June 20, 2008, 12:51AM

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

Sunday, March 23rd.
Last week was a very stressful week. I seemed to have dug a hole that only got deeper. Each day of the 4-day workweek, was basically the same. I left the building later and later, crashed when I got home, woke up about 2AM, took a taxi to school only to repeat the process over. By Thursday, my 4-day work week felt like a 5-day work week.

Friday (Good Friday), was my required recuperation day. I slept most of the day away. I did finish watching the Spiderman DVD, but most of the day was sleep (and mental recovery). My plan was to stay in for the weekend, and get organized, but I received an invitation to go see the movie "10,00BC". I wasn't really in the mood for a movie, but since I kept putting off going, I thought I should go. I told my epal that I was not available during the work week. Only those of you who have read my blog for a while, would understand why I wouldn't go out for dinner during the work week, or why my weekends are usually busy (Saturday sleep day and Sunday being errand day).

After putting off doing another event since our last event, I told my epal that a three-day weekend would be the best time for me, not realizing that I would be too tired to really do anything. But, since I made the arrangement, I decided to not break it.

The plan was to meet downtown Manhattan to see the movie "10,000 BC at 10:45AM (Saturday). To get there on time, I had to leave 9:30AM. To make sure I was there on time, I decided to take the MN train all the way to 42nd street, then it was only a matter of one subway ride to 34th street. I ended up arriving about 10:40AM. I wasn't sure if I could wait in the lobby, I did not know if someone would think I was loitering, so I waited outside reading the newspaper. My epal arrived about 11:10AM. Waiting in the cold for about 30 minutes put me in a bit of a bad mood. We then went to the wrong theater (that did not help). Having stood in the cold for about 30 minutes left me chilled to the bone. I spent the entire movie with my jacket and hat on.

So how was the movie? It was okay. The makeup was nice. I think the movie producers were trying to have a bit of both worlds (they were trying to have a sci-fi story, but I also think they were trying for a realistic edge as if this story could have really happened. So on the one hand you got sci-fi mumbo jumbo about prophecies on top of prophecies, all-seeing visions, and all-powerful gods. Then, you had the "Natural Geographic" story-telling. If you take the movie for its sci-fi mumbo jumbo, then I think you will be satisfied. The movie wasn't great, it was nice. And since I saw the $6 matinee showing, I was satisfied.

After the movie, we went to Wendy's for lunch. The conversation was interesting -- more drama with my epal's neighbor. I think he calls her "pookie". She called a few times during our walk after the movie. To be honest, I felt a bit like a third-wheel. I'll leave out the rest of my observations since it doesn't relate to me (and my blog really isn't suppose to be about others).

After lunch, my epal asked if I was interested in going to Macy's. I hadn't been there in decades, so I said yes. My epal was interested in buying another messenger bag. Although Macy's would not have been my first choice (or any choice) to go walking around, I did enjoy going in. It was nice for a personal reason. For too many years, I've made most (if not all) of my purchases in imitation 5 and dime stores. It was nice to look around at the merchandise in a non-bargain basement store.

After Macy's, we went to HomeDepot. My epal wanted to do some comparison shopping for items he wanted for his apartment. Although I did not have any plans to buy anything, I ended up buying a hand-held shower head. Some seeds, and mini pots. I thought it would be nice to see if I could get my students to grow some flowers for their parents.

Next stop was Barnes & Nobles, my epal wanted to see if the last Harry Potter book was out in paperback. Again, I wasn't planning on buying anything but I ended up buying:
a graphic novel (The Dark Wraith of Shannara by Terry Brooks)
3 Quamut "how to do it" cheat sheets (for lack of a better descriptive word)
Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Access 2007, and Microsoft Excel 2007
The "cheat sheets are a tri-fold (laminated)page of short summaries of key functions of the programs. I bought a tutorial program around the time I purchased my new desktop computer, but I have yet to do any of the lessons.

After B&N, my epal said that he was going to walk further downtown to a liquor store then would head home. Since, I had no plans, I said I would walk that way also. Those of you who have read previous entries of this blog know that walking is my thing. Walking three or four hours doesn't mean much to me. Well, at least it used to mean nothing. Anyway, my epal then changed his mind, and mentioned that he would walk about the farmer's market in Union Square. I don't know why, but I got the feeling my epal wanted to get rid of me, but did not know how. After walking around in circles, I decided to help him out. I told him that I would head over to Forbidden Planet (a comic shop) while he would continue on his way. While we were walking around Union Square Park, we came across a pillow fight in the park. I later found out it was International Pillow Fight Day. There were feathers falling like snow everywhere. I would hate to be the person who would have to clean up that mess.

In front of FP, we said our goodbyes, and I went in to look around. Again, I wasn't planning to buy anything, but after about 45 minutes, I left the shop about $50 poorer. It has been many years since I've been in a comic shop. I bought a few titles that did not have a major "to be continued..." ending:
Shadowpact with Blue Devil (DC)
Batman and the Outsiders (DC)
Green Lantern Super-sized Finale!
Fantastic Five - The Final Doom (reprinted - Marvel)
Thunderbolts - Civil War (Marvel)

After I finished in FP, I walked passed a movie theater. For the heck of it, I went in to see what was playing. Horton Hears a Who was playing in 10 minutes. Even though there was a bit of a line, I decided to go see the movie.

The theater was much more crowded than with the BC movie...and noisier.

After the movie, I headed for home. Since I had about 40 minutes to wait for the MN train, I went to Target to by some milk and orange juice. I then went to the local Chinese takeout restaurant. I ordered some beef lo mein.

I returned home about 9PM. I watched a couple of the PBS Britcoms, "Are You Being Served".

Completion Date - Sunday, March 23, 2008 1:47PM
Post Date - Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:48AM

Saturday, March 15th

My rough work week is at an end. I really need to get my act together. This past week, somehow, I managed to make it through the week on 3 to 4 hours of sleep for most of the 5 days. On Monday, an announcement was made that report cards were due the next day. Even though the announcement was the first and only one about report cards, I knew report cards would be due eventually, so I should have had my act together and had them done already. But since I didn't, I was up late getting them done. Result. From my professional side, I am Mr. Has it together and organized. however, those of you reading this blog, know the real story. My report cards were handed in on time, while other teachers handed theirs in late (or not at all).

Next up was the progress report that I had said that I would be doing on a regular basis. I always put it off until the load was too daunting. On Tuesday night, I spent going through the mounds of papers, doing a bit of last minute corrections for the sets that were not completed. Those (papers) not even started, I did not touch.

Finally, Wednesday night, I was up typing in the grades in a grading program. Since I've learned about grading programs, I've been reluctant to have a P/T conference with only a report card to talk about. Having something to show how the grades were decided, (I think) makes a big difference. So by 6AM (I woke up from my return home crash about 1:50AM), I completed my progress report. Since Thursday is a half day, my plan was to use the morning to do some last minute up dating to the students portfolios. Unfortunately, Admin had other plans. About 8:15AM, an announcement was made that upper grade teachers (that included me) would be in the library meeting and planning a pacing calendar for the month of March. Yes, this month that is just about over. So, each upper grade class was assigned an out of classroom teacher to cover our classes. I was assigned the school librarian, a very, nice grandmotherly lady. I spent the next 45 minutes getting my class, my students, and my materials for 3 lessons that I was not planning to do. Then, I spent the next 2 hours in the library with the other upper grade teachers. 11PM the meeting was finished and the students were in the cafeteria eating lunch for an early dismissal. To be honest, I was a bit annoyed that I spent about 45 minutes setting up, and the librarian didn't do anything I left for her. But......she complained to me that there were problems with their behavior. Having done the substituting thing for a while, I respect and understand the need for flexibility on the classroom teacher's part, and the understanding that the lesson plans and materials left usually aren't left with the sub in mind. I always tell any sub (or coverage) coming in to feel free to adapt, change, or do what fits your teaching style. As a sub, I hated when the classroom teacher left lessons scribbled on scratch paper, school paper towel etc.... Students as a rule aren't going to stay on task for sub with an assignment like "students can update their portfolio for a 45 minute period". Or, "students should edit their writing assignment for the 45 minute writing period. Etc... So, I can understand if the librarian had something that she was comfortable doing. Problem? She had nothing. She keep them reading independently and responding for the 2 hours. Then complained about their behavior. When I subbed, I had my granny cart full of assignments and activities for any grade K-6. I knew the key to my survival was to keep them busy. Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Anyway, since my P/T conference morning was a meeting, I had no time to get the things done that I wanted. No one's fault but my own. So, during lunch, I had to do some last minute preparation.

The P/T conferences went very nicely. However, it was an almost total waste of time. I got a lot of "things will be different" speeches, but the very next day, the same behavior, and the same "I don't care attitude". One of the nicest kids (I've never written about him here, so he doesn't even have a nickname), was doing the same disgusting "look and me" attention-getting actions. At the beginning of the school year, this boy would end every sentence with "yes or no sir". I pulled him aside and asked him if his mother spoke to him about the conversation I had with her about him probably being held over in the 3rd grade if he did not improve. He told me yes. I asked him if he was sure. He said yes. I said than either he wasn't listening or he did not care, which was it. He said he didn't care. It wasn't the nasty shout of "I DON'T CARE", but the more pensive(after a moment of thought) low "I don't care. Wow. Sorry, sidetracked again. P/T conferences were suppose to be finished by 8:00PM, but 7:55 (while other teachers were locking up and leaving, two of my parents came, so I stayed to talk to those parents. I ended up getting home about 9:30PM.

Friday was the day after P/T conference. I think about 6 to 8 teachers were absent. I was worried that I would be receiving students, but luckily, subs were available for each of the absentees. One of my students' aunt has a small part-time business making dinners, so I bought the BBQ spareribs dinner ($13). The dinner came with red rice, collared greens, candy yams, corn bread, and potato salad. Since I had paid for my school lunch in advance, I put my dinner in the refrigerator until later. Friday is my easy day, and I was fortunately, it turned out to be a (relatively) easy day. Unfortunately, having spent most of the work week on 3 or 4 hours of sleep took its toll. I was too tired to leave, and too tired to do anything productive. I finally left the building with Ms. Across the Hall a little bit after 7PM. Normally, I walk her to the train station even though, I normally go in the opposite direction. Today Ms. ATH decided to visit her sister, she was going to take the bus. I was planning to walk her to the bus stop, but when she told me her sister only lived about "5 city blocks away on the east side". I told her she could walk in the time she would spend waiting for the bus. I misunderstood the distance. East side meant wayyyy on the east side. The distance I thought would take me 15 minutes, actually took us about 40 or 45 minutes. Usually, I don't walk at a strolling pace. I've been told that I am a fast walker. Anyway, when we walked past the MN train station, I realized that I could just take the MN from there instead of taking the bus back to the west side, and when I realized that the train was about arrived in about 5 minutes, I am sorry to say I politely backed out of walking Ms. ATH to her sister's place(3/4 of the way). Unfortunately, chivalry is dead. I was more interested in not missing the train instead of walking a lady home. The next train was about a 40 minute wait. Sorry about that.

I arrived home about 8:45PM. After reheating my dinner, I was going to go online for a while, but the Internet was moving at a snail's pace. From the music I could hear through the floor, walls, and ceiling, I think a lot of people were home Friday night. Besides, I fell asleep in a matter of minutes. I woke up about 11PM and decided to call it a night. I was in bed about 11:20PM.

Completion Date - Saturday, March 15, 2006 11:09AM
Post Date - Wednesday, March 26, 2008 8:05PM

Saturday, March 1st.
Up about 7:30am. That was a rare feat for me, getting up early on the weekend. My plan was to go to the post office (1 hour) nearby to pick up my Amazon order. Then, I would head to Yonkers, to go to make copies of some papers and the mail those papers off. Now, it seems to be harder and harder to find a place that has a copy machine. Anyway, I decided at the last minute to make a change. Instead of going to the post office in Yonkers, I decided to go to the mall near Tarrytown. That mall has a Staples store and a post office as well.

First stop would be to pick up my Amazon order. MN train one stop north. 20 minute walk uphill to post office. 20 minute wait in the post office. I'm sorry, no disrespect, but they move slower than molasses. 20 minute return walk back to the MN train station. I finally took a photo of one of the steep mountain side streets that I walk around my home. I will attach a photo. I made it back to the station with a few minutes to spare. So, what was my Amazon order?

Star Trek (book)- Deep Space Nine "Twist of Faith"
Dream Girls (DVD)
Spiderman (DVD)- Animation


I took the MN train to Tarrytown and had to wait about 30 minutes for the bus to the mall. I went to McDonald's (hamburger & strawberry milkshake) to kill the time. It has been a very long time since I've had a MacDonald hamburger. Usually, I order the Big Mac Meal. What a waste of buying just a hamburger. All you get is a small patty with a squirt of ketchup and a sprinkling of onion bits.

On the bus ride to the mall, I started reading the DS9 book. I liked the timeline at the beginning of the book. I also like that it is the "official" continuation of the TV series. At the mall, my first stop was to see what was playing at the movie theater. Nothing interesting to me. Next stop, Panda Express. Next stop was Barnes & Noble ($40). Originally, my plan was to just visit the Sci-Fi section to see what was there. After a few(3) trips to the cashier, I ended up with the following:

* Kingdom Come (Graphic Novel)- The story of DC characters about 50 years in the future.
* Infinity Crisis (Graphic Novel) - A kind of sequel to the reshaping/reorganization of the DC universe.
* The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Having brought young adult fantasy books for the past several years (and being recently reminded of that), I looked through the Classics section to see about buying a classic (one that would not involve me covering up the cover for reading on the train). My plan was to buy Moby Dick, but it looked a bit too big and a bit too dry. I finally settled on the Kafka book, which I read in college. One of the stories was about a character who turns into a human size roach and the family having to cope with the change (if I remembered correctly). If I can get through this book, then my plan will be to alternate my reading between young adult fantasy and classic literature.

Last stop was a Target store ($203.11). I have a bad habit of shopping out of boredom. I ended up buying a few items that I did not really need to have at that moment (except the shower spray):

* Shower spray - Great invention for a lazy person. "Just spray and walk away". It was on sale, so I bought two.
* Plastic forks - again, for the lazy person who lately has not been in the mood for washing dishes.
* Wet Ones towelettes. I like the towelettes better than just the hand-sanitizer because the towelettes can also be used to wipe down the dirty fast food table surfaces.
* Electronic Dictionary - Even those "young adult" fantasy books can be a bit over my head. Ever since I bought my foster father's lady friend one, I've wanted one.
* Digital Voice Recorder (and a cell phone case I hope will fit) - I'm tired of trying to jot down the craziness with pen a paper. Now, with just a push of a button (with automatic day and time stamp), I can keep track of the craziness.
* TRACPONE (Prepaid)Cell Phone (also with a case I hope fits)- My current cell phone is a bit old with the monochrome screen. My students laugh when I pull out my cell phone with the plastic protective case (think granny's plastic covered couch). This new one is a bit sleeker with the flip-top design. This new one also has limited Internet access. I bought the prepaid type of phone because I rarely use my cell phone. I also did not like the idea of committing to a full year with a contract that seems like you are signing over your first born child. Now, I am just hoping I will be able to keep my same phone number. It would be nice if it is as easy as moving my SIMS card from my old phone to the new one.

After Target, instead of risking missing the bus by visiting another store, I decided to read my graphic novel inside the mall by the exit nearest to the bus stop. I rode the 7PM bus back to Tarrytown, and then transferred to the express train to Yonkers. From Yonkers, I walked home from Yonkers. I saved 6 minutes instead of waiting for the local train. I had a Weight Watcher's meal for dinner.


Post Date - Saturday, March 8, 2008 6:24PM

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

Okay. I have completed my blogging catch up. I am now back in the here and now. Not much to post. Oh,....

MY VACATION HAS BEGUN!!!!

Friday, February 15, 2008
I was feeling a bit excited, but relaxed knowing that I would have a week to regain my sanity. Since the New Year vacation, instead of getting better, I was getting worse. For the last couple of weeks, I was unable to even put together a complete lesson plan for a whole week. I have not been to the gym since the last session with my trainer. Well, now I have another chance to get back on track.

Quick summary of Friday. Friday was my easy day. I had an easy schedule (computer twice). We finally got an outdoor recess. And...The literacy coach in charge of the new program assigned me and one other teacher to view a video about the program. Strange. There are other teachers who are better at the program. And there are other teachers who are new to the program. And, there are other teachers who received negative reviews when the program reps. came for an implementation visit. Strange. So why was I chosen to see the video? Ms. Across the Hall received a very "negative" letter from the literacy coach (CC to almost everyone in Admin) about her messy room, disorganization, and lack of implementation of the program, but I was the one (of two), to be assigned a sub during the literacy block time to come down and watch the video. Now, don't get me wrong, I got a 90 minute break out of the classroom, so I am not complaining. Even if the reason was a negative...somehow my instincts tell me it wasn't.

Anyway, while I was assigned to watch the video, my literacy block class was assigned to the "Spanish" teacher. Although, he is required to do the program as well, it was like I was introducing the program to him. I was a bit nervous, the kids tend to run wild with him. His "teaching" style seems to be a bit too familar (laughing with the kids, stroking the girls' hair, chatting while I'm teaching[in the past], etc...). After the video, the other guy, the literacy coach and myself had a nice conversation about "flaws" in this and that. Again, since this blog isn't about the politics of education or other people in general, I will skip a summary of the conversation.

About 90 minutes later, I returned to my class, and to my (honest) surprise, everything seemed to be in order. I think I got lucky. I think if he had my previous group, then there may have been problems. Or, my imagination could be over acting.

Anyway, the morning went along relatively nicely. After lunch, no drama. None. I was happy. It looked like I would have a pleasant start to the midwinter recess. By the end of the day, it was only Cackler who acted up. However, compared to any other time, I would have to say that her "acting up" was minor.

My plan was to be out of the building by 6pm. However, K6 approached me wondering if I was going for another 7:30 ending. I don't know, but I sort of got the feeling that she was looking for another packmule escort home. Again, it could have been my overactive imagination. Anyway, when I told her that Ms. Across the Hall would also be leaving at the same time, Ms. K6 told us to go; she said that she would be okay. she wanted to stay awhile longer. She also asked if I was interested in doing something this coming week. I thought that was a nice idea.

After walking Ms. ATH to the trainstation. I headed home. I was home about 8:15pm.

So now, it is Saturday evening. I wasted one day. At the moment, I am not upset. Today is the same as all of my other Saturdays, it was my recovery day. I slept most of the day away.

So, what are my plans for the midwinter recess. My original plan was to go somewhere for one or two days. Once again Niagra Falls came to mind. However, NF became a part of someone else's plan. At first I thought it would be cool to do a group trip, but being a bit slow, it took me a while to realize that I would probably be a third wheel. A kind of "Two's Company" thing. I quickly nixed going by myself. It would look too much like a "copy cat" thing. So, my new plan became to get organized. Yes, that ol' standby. I really need to get organized. I know that so much of my stress comes from not being organized the way I need to (and want to) be. This go 'round, I want to get organized, but also to get out. Below is a list (in [approximate] order of importance to me) of what I want to accomplish:

First, my goal is to at least do my lesson plans for the week I return to school.
Second, I want to clean my apartment and relocate my computer.
Third, I want to get on my rowing machine each day of my recess vacation.
Fourth, I want to complete the "paperwork" that I've held for months (if not years).
Fifth, I want to spend one day doing "paperwork"(correcting, grading, posting).
Sixth, I want to do my students report cards.
Seventh, I want to do a couple of shopping trips (mall and teacher's supply store).
Eighth, I want to complete lesson plans for the month of March(in pencil).
Ninth, I want to do at least 3 touristy/vacation things(including one bus trip).
Tenth, I want to make a couple of worksheets (including a weekly behavior check-off list).

There is something I am forgetting, but at the moment, I can't remember. Anyway, the list above is what I think I would need to accomplish in order to start being recharged and in control. So why isn't the gym on my list? In order for me to be consistant with going to the gym, I need to go during the work-week. In the past, I've started workout routines during vacation and dropped the routine (for one reason or another) when work resumed).

Well, I think that is about it. I have a few ideas already in play. But, I think I've been on the computer long enough.


Post Date - Saturday, February 16, 2008 7:21PM

Another day fairly wasted. I started off my Saturday by doing online grocery shopping. Most of my day was spent shuffling papers, creating one pile after another. For the last few days, I've been trying to clean up my living room, but it still looks just as bad as the first day. Today, I went through my papers (creating 3 lawn-size bags of trash), but my living room still has paper piles all over the place. I did throw out a lot of papers. I also found papers (and other items), like my high school transcript, one of the certificates from the summer course that up until now, I thought I'd never received it. I also found about $95 in gift certificates from 1996(the GAP). When I did my interning (and later I stayed as an assistant teacher), the school was located in midtown were the parents had a bit of spending money. Since I was a male teacher, the parents didn't know what to buy for me, so I got gifts certificates (Barnes & Nobles, The GAP, etc....).

My groceries arrived about 2:30PM. At that time, the post person delivered my order from Amazon.com. I ordered the complete series of the BBC series "The Office". Wow, that was fast. Since I was tackling paper piles, I did not open the Office DVD.

Finally, I got around to ordering my emergency backpack from the Red Cross. They say that everyone should have an emergency pack by the door just in case. Cleaning up, I found the newspaper article that I'd cut from the Daily News Wednesday, June 21, 2006. I bought 2 (one for home and one for work). If a disaster strikes, I will be in one of those two places. Once the packs arrive, I'll need to put photocopies of my important documents, then I leave the pack by the front door, and hopefully, I'll never have to use one. I attached a photo of the backpack and the items included. Below is the website address (sorry the hyperlink isn't working). You'll have to copy and paste into the address bar). The only thing I don't like about the backpack the the redcross logo. In an emergency, people would mistake me for a redcross worker. Knowing me, I'll probably end up giving away all of my supplies before I get a chance to use them. I think I might change the backpack or cover up the logo.

www.nyredcross.org/store

Well, I better go, it is getting late.


Post Date - Sunday, December 30, 2007 12:32AM

My vacation/mental recuperation time has begun. I have a little over a week to finally get a hand on the chaos and confusion I've been feeling this school year. So how did I start it off. I got out of bed an hour ago. Breakfast is hot green tea and oatmeal cooling in the kitchen.

Quick Friday recap. Friday was the last day of school before the vacation. There was a lot of the usually nonsense, but I have to be honest, I seemed to be in a kind of daze -- that can happen with about 3 hours of sleep. I was just mentally counting down til 2:20pm. Through the temper tantrums, bickering, usual volume control issues, and bad behavior, I just felt happy for the coming break. After a $30 food frenzy/party, and hint of something more to come, I still had room reeking of ingratitude. The other 3rd teachers went on the field trip, with me left with their "no goes"(three in total). Five of my good kids (the only ones who paid), went with the other 3rd grade teachers on the trip to the community college performance of "The Nutcracker".

Also, a first grade teacher called to ask if she could leave two of her "button pushers" with me while her class did a Christmas show. Try not burning your bridges because you never know when you will need to cross one. I've needed to leave "button pushers" with her from time to time, so I did not hesitate for an instant to say yes. Since the upper grades were using the 90 minute literacy block for test prep, my time was not that bad. For me, I use the first part of the time for a practice test with testing conditions, then I use the second half for reviewing the practice test given. After that, we do a note-taking listening practice exercise. Day 2 of the ELA Test is a listening test. The kids are good at hearing but not listening. I also had my "Hypers" typing the character sketches of the absentees. I wanted my bulletin board finish before the start of the vacation, but I wasn't organized enough. I don't like having my students handwritten work up on the bulletin board. Besides, if they can spend hours online with the personal web pages and emailing, then they can type up a short assignment.

After lunch, my class had computer lab. Since my class is the last one on the schedule for Friday, the computer teacher lets us stay past the 45 minute time. Since I wanted my students to clean out their desks, I only gave them an extra 10 minutes. After cleaning out their desks, I quickly reviewed the math homework that I did not get to go over yesterday. To ensure that I had full 100% attention,I decided to use a bag of candy to "motivate" my students. One piece of candy for a correct answer. I purposely focused on the "button pushers", the old softy in me resurfaced. They got no party, and no present, I wanted them to at least feel like they got something. Dismissal went smoothly. Then Sticky Fingers almost ruined my post-day's end/vacation start" high. About 10 minutes after the class was dismissed, SF knocks on my classroom door saying "pencil case, pencil case, I'm here to get my pencil case". I had told her that she would not get it (nor the other junk) until her mother came to get it. Well, sure enough, mom was in tow. I explained to the mother the things SF was doing during my lessons and how she (SF) was playing not working, and the low scores were a warning that SF might fail because she doesn't take her school work serious. All I got from the mother was a gum chew um hmmm. Then they start talking in some African language Yoruba or Swahili (I'm not sure). This is the same woman who (in September)spoke fluent English and told her daughter to speak English in my presence. Also the same woman who told me to throw away anything not related to school work. As I handed her each item(make up, toys, kid's celebrity magazine, rubber bands, etc...) that I'd taken during my lessons over the months, the mother still with the extremely annoying gum chewing um hmms, just handed them to Sticky Fingers. What about the father? Remember the one who struck fear in SF. The last time I saw him was last month in the hallway (on his way to see about his other daughter). The standard unconscious question blurted out, "how's she(SF) doing?". My response of "Well, if you wanted to know...". His response, a nervous laughing "Oh, come on help me out". Don't you just love that support. This Christmas (according to SF), she will be getting her father's old computer for herself.

I have to say, that support at home really makes my job what it is. :(

After a 30 minute chat with ATH (with me devouring about 2lbs of leftover cake), and paycheck pick-up. Flittered away the time until about 4:30pm, then I got moving. I had to manual attach my flash drive to five different computers so that I could save a copy of my students' character sketches. Over the vacation, I will (I hope) correct them. Since the computers are old and frequently freeze, I had to pull out the computer tables and attach my flash drive as oppose to just emailing the documents to myself. Also the floppy drives don't work either. Also, I finally put up the manual pencil sharpener. The electric pencil sharpener on top of burning out too quickly, is too much of a toy for my students. I like the manual sharpener better. Since I am not very mechanically inclined it took me about 10 to 15 minutes to measure and drill the holes into the cabinet. Before that, I spent about 15 minutes removing the broken pencil that a student from last year had jammed in (eraser side first). With about an hour before the building would be likely closed. I changed tactics from end of the year cleaning to "next day" prep. In other words, pretending that it was just another weekend, and I would be back in a couple of days. I changed the (classroom) calendar(lots of pieces and bits of sticky tack). I washed the board and put up the Wednesday schedule (the day we return), put up a morning Do Now on the board. I was out of the building about 7:30pm. Since I had about 30 minutes in the Bronx for the next MN train, I went to the Chinese restaurant. Yes, I remember what I wrote in a previous blog entry. :) I ate a small greasy order of beef lo mein telling myself that I will start at the gym this coming week.

Home about 8:45pm. After a cup of prune juice (beginning a daily routine of drinking cup of prune juice in the evening and orange juice in the morning), I was out like a light. My goal this weekend is to continue my previous weekend routines acting as if school will be opened on Monday. With only 3 days to plan for the week school resumes, I should be able to plan for 3 days. If I accomplish nothing else this vacation, my one main goal is to have lesson plans, homework sheet done for the first week back to school, and laundry done. I know that if I don't do any of the above mentioned things these first couple of days, then those things won't get done until the last day of the vacation, then the stress resumes until the next vacation. I'm hoping that this is the time that I will finally get back to sanity. I like the idea that the "New Year" is coming. the best time to start new routines. For someone like myself who likes things orderly and neat (even when they are not), having a new year to begin new routines is very appealing. Considering I just spent a couple of hours at this computer with my breakfast still "cooling in the kitchen", I am not off to a good start. However, I did tell myself that I should treat this weekend like the previous weekend. Saturday for recuperation, and Sunday for recovery. If my lesson plans and laundry are done by Sunday evening, then I will be very, very happy. And I know, that 2008 will be my Phoenix Year. :)


Post Date - Saturday, December 22, 2007 3:47PM

Old (bad) habits just won't die. Saturday (my recovery day) was a fairly slow day. After finally getting up, I needed to go to the post office. My Doctor Strange DVD arrived.

Up here is car country. Without a car, you are very limited with your travel options. Walking, taxis, or buses, are the options available. With mountainous winding roads that can be 45 degrees or more, a bike isn't that useful in this area.

Originally, I did not feel like walking, so my plan was to take my boring 3 or 4lbs trilogy Storm of Swords book, and wait for the bus. Luckily, once I got out and started walking (about 12 to 15 minutes at a fairly consistent 45 degree winding road up), I felt comfortable about walking to the post office. It turns out that not a single bus passed me as I walked.

After about a 2 hour walk (there and back), I decided to continue walking to central Yonkers to go grocery shopping. I needed a few items that the online grocery shopping doesn't have (mini 4oz. microwavable rice, Dole single serve jello and fruit cups). I don't even know why I buy the single serve fruit cups when I usually eat the whole four-pack. Before the grocery store, I made a stop at the 99 cent store. I bought some 16oz foam cups. I make my morning oatmeal and hot green tea in those cups. Anyway, after walking to the grocery store, I took the MN train back to my local station.

For dinner, I ate a Healthy Choice grilled chicken steamer meal. I was still hungry after the meal, and I wanted to try the new organic strawberry preserves. Unfortunately, I got a bit carrying away. I ended up eating three jelly sandwiches, so any benefits I earned from the almost 3 hour walk and the healthy meal, was lost.

After dinner, I decided to just relax. I did not want to even think about school. I read the newspaper and watched a bit of the PBS "Do Wop - 1960's My Music" program. Then about 8:30PM, I watched my Doctor Strange DVD; I bought it used from Amazon.com. It was okay, not great, or very good, but it was a nice bit of escapism from the boring day to day existence that is my life. My plan was to watch the 10PM news, shower then call it an evening. Unfortunately, I fell asleep within minutes of the DVD finishing.

Now I am up again. I'll finish this blog and then call it a night. Tomorrow (today actually), the weather is supposed to be wet and messy. I would like to do my lesson planning for the week for the first part of the day. If I could be finished before 2PM, that would be great. I need to do my laundry also. If I can finish by 2PM, then I would like to go to Target in the Bronx to buy some new slacks for work. My 36waist pants are showing signs of wear and tear (literally). Eventually, it is only a matter of time before I hear, " I see London, I see France..." It is time to go clothes shopping.

Unfortunately at the time I bought my comfortable 36in waist, I only bought one pair. At the time I bought the 36 waist, I was a 38 waist, and the 36in were my "one day I'll fit into these" impulse buys. I have 2 pair of 34 waist which are starting to prep for a coming flood. When you can start seeing your socks while you're walking, then it is time to get new pants. Besides, sucking in the gut to zip up is another signal it is time to change pants. I also have a couple of 38 waist slacks, but with those, I get called "Urkel" by students. Strange, I have the waist of a swimmer, but the belly of a beer guzzling couch potato...without the beer.

Well, I think that's it. Hopefully, I can do something productive tomorrow.


Post Date - Sunday, December 2, 2007 4:18AM

Jannx Journal (New York)

Well, I made it to another weekend. This past week seemed to have went by very quickly. Not much to blog about. Yesterday, having told myself that I would not bring anymore books home over the week, I did exactly that. This past week, I was supposed to do some or all of my lesson planning in my classroom, so that I would not have to do any planning at home. Well, it was one "priority" or another that took my attention from my goal. One day it was a giant banner for the conflict resolution component of the literacy program we now use. All class are required to have one due by Thursday. Another day was a test grading. Well, Friday it was bulletin board. My literacy group did an okay job with the writing component. When I saw the results (not great, but interesting), I thought I could use their writing responses for my hall bulletin board. I thought it would be nice to take down my turkeys. I didn't want my turkey bulletin board in December. My original plan was to put up the literacy work for a few days until my class did bulletin board worthy work. What should have been a 30 minute activity, turned into a couple of hours -- a surprise visit by a parent took about 20 minutes of my time. I ended up taking about 2 hours to collect, grade the students' writing, applying the rubric grades, and personalized comments for most of the assignments. I even had my regular students (who were in our school's after-school program) to redo the paper hugs. I ended up finishing the bulletin board by 6:45PM. What was the assignment?

From a guided reading of the story "Willie's not the hugging kind", the students had to write a message to someone they wanted to hug and why. They then had to fold color construction paper into thirds. Cutting out arm shapes to the fold on each end, and making a face to glue on top creates what looks a little bit like a paper doll "hugging" their writing which is glued in the middle. I also took the extra step of attaching a clip art teddy bear into the final draft page that the students would write their message on. The teddy bears came out a bit too dark, so that the write is a bit difficult to see, however, from a distance, it looks a little bit like paper dolls hugging teddy bears. I would have attached a photo here, but I had no idea that I would even be putting up the hall bulletin board, so I did not bring my camera. The bulletin boards are due in about 2 weeks. The end result is that I am now ahead. After all of the work I did for this "temporary" bulletin board, I am keeping this one up until the end of December. I now have time to get my students to type their character sketches. And the 3 or 4 who didn't do one can get it done.

Anyway, by the time I finished the bulletin board, it was time to leave. The custodian came in and told me that I had to leave. This custodian is a bit more "business-like" than the others. I didn't like the business-like way I was told to get out, but for people like me I guess a kick in the pants is the only way we move. I left tired, but with a good feeling. I finally accomplished something that was ahead instead of late. I also left with the feeling that I would do more to get back to my goals of getting organized.

By the time I got to my home MN station, I was tempted to go to the local Chinese takeout (with the promise that I would start going to the gym tomorrow). Luckily, I resisted the temptation. I went home and microwaved a couple of weight watchers' meal. And fell asleep soon after.

Well, that is about it....Oh wait!

A few days ago, another blogger posted photos from his Picasa website. For the heck of it, I clicked a link that said my photos. I wanted to see what would appear. Somehow, Blogger is linked, because all of the photos that I have posted on my blog were instantly compiled into one "album". It made me feel a bit uncomfortable seeing how much information was presented without my knowledge. Now, having revisited my "album", I am feeling a bit better about the album. If anyone is interested in seeing all of the photos that I've posted on my blog, just click on the photo link above.

Now, I have to go to the post office. That is about a two hour walk (one hour each way), however, I am not really feeling in the walking mood. I think I will take the bus and my "Storm of Swords" book. It is still dragging on. Now I am hearing about the "Golden Compass" ads. Now, I want to drop this book to start reading the trilogy with the Compass story. I would like to read the book before I see the movie.

Well, I better go before the post office closes.


Post Date - Saturday, December 1, 2007 2:06PM

Hi sa shi buri desu ne (Japanese). "It has been a while". Sorry, if you've read my blog over a period of time, you'll know (or can probably get a sense) when I am in a "mood". I really did not feel like blogging. Boredom at the moment is the reason I'm blogging now. I was planning to type my students' information into Excel, but I got lazy. Well, since I am here, I might as well do a catch up, however, by now so much is just shades of repetition.

First up, (random) near blog entries that never got written:

*Shoulder pain so bad that I could barely lift my right arm. Luckily, it was only for a day. I don't know what caused it, but it is gone.
*Sticky Finger drama. The step-mom wanted the cell phone that birth-mom said to throw away. Finally met Sticky finger's father. A week of teary-eyed fear has dissipated to the same vague response to the "I'm going to speak to your father". A follow-up meeting with the father did not yield the same "teary-eyed" fear.

*School newsletter drama. My offer to submit a photo of my bulletin board (to avoid having to write anything)turned into a last minute "blurb" that required me to fill 3/4 of the page. And it needed to be done and finished because of the deadline by "today". And after submitting a 2 paragraph summary of the paragraph along with a student's sample of the spider report by 5pm. The principal was impressed with what I'd submitted, but didn't know how it could be glued into the final newsletter draft. I submitted a paper copy to let her know what was available in digital form upstairs, but "cutting and pasting" and "reshaping" seemed alien to "Blackberry Queen". Anyway, after submitting the summary, the principal put it into a folder and said that the secretary would finish it tomorrow. In the end, only the single photo was used with a one-line caption that basically said, "nice work, keep up the good work!". I was planning to post the article submission and photo here, but now the moment has past. If I remember, I'll at least post a photo of the bulletin board.
*And finally, I could spend the next 15 or 20 minutes with the same "I ate, I walked, I slept" as previous entries to summarize the last week, but I won't. I'll just do today's. :)

So now, I am caught up. Now, a quick summary of today. Professional development class in Queens meant a two hour commute there. This week, we learned mail merge. Last week, we learned how to use Microsoft's Excel program. Both lessons were very interesting. With mail merge, I can send a personalize form letter to each student and/or their parents. With Excel, I can organize students' testing data. Both lessons made the 2 hour commute worthwhile. Our last class will be in two weeks. The last class is supposed to apply all of the skills we learned. Although I found that class very useful, that sounds like a lot of down time. We have to bring in 3 lesson plans and/or documents that we can apply the skills on. Oh, I almost forgot, we also learned about PowerPoint today. I'm not really a big PowerPoint fan, but I think it was still useful to learn.

On the commute back to Yonkers, I continued to read "A Storm of Swords". On the ride to the PD class, I was thinking about dropping the book. I was annoyed at the adult content that would appear every now and then. "Women are whores. She takes him in her mouth. She was striped naked and thrown in the street. He's hard. He's inside her." Etc... And I am only on the 168th(of 973) pages. If I am going to read adult content, it would not be in science fiction. I was also annoyed at the book's layout. Each chapter is focused on one character (and there are about 7 or 8 main characters). Everyone has a barely pronounceable name. Anyway, on the train ride back home, the first scene where characters (or just events) are finally coming together....I think. Up until now, I felt like I was reading seven or eight different books. I have to keep going back to the last time the character's chapter last appeared to remember what happened. I bought the book thinking that it was a combination of sword and sorcery along with some political intrigue with royal houses. The royal intrigue part is there, but it might be a bit over my head. With the first near overlapping of story lines, I will hold out a bit longer before deciding to drop this book. Being a bit of a cheapskate, I hate the thought of throwing my money away for a book that I don't read.

On my way home, I remembered that new bulletin boards are due by Friday, Nov. 9th. I got off the train -- oh, there was track work on the #1, #2 and #3 train line, but it did not really affect me. Anyway, I got off the train at 116th street. I went to the teacher's College Bookstore. Wow, what slim pickings. There were about 4 colors left, and a not very good selection of borders. I'm assuming that with Parent / Teacher Conference days away, teachers are redoing their bulletin boards. Anyway, I settled for a lite purple paper with a slightly darker border with a flower pattern. I asked a lady also shopping for her opinion just to make sure it matched. After stopping at the bank, I headed for home.

I was home about 5pm. And, I was asleep within minutes of arriving. I woke up about 8pm. Since I had a big lunch, I didn't eat dinner. I ordered take out from a Spanish restaurant in the school's neighborhood. I ordered Spanish rice and chicken. That was my day.


Post Date - Saturday, November 3, 2007 10:42pm