Maqiq again...

..and it's been way too long. How relaxing this feeling is on the Sunday night before another week. It is hard to convey just how much I love a good steam. And this was a good one. Hot...burning hot pallets...the floor was almost too hot to sit on. It was definitely too hot to get down on my forearms. Uff da, that was a good steam!

Only problem that I have now is that I want to go to bed instead of finishing off my lesson plans, which is what I should be concentrating on. That, and the gigantic yummy steak that I am about to devour part of. Alas, the master commandeth lesson plans, and I must deliver, or pay the consequences. So, I guess they will get done.

Twill be a strange week, with standardized testing and parent-teacher conferences. Many things to juggle...

Catch-Up

It has been a while since I have been around these parts...the end of the week was busy with travel and more learning. For all the disruptive effect of the second year teacher inservices, they have generally been more useful in some ways than the regular or district-wide models. Mostly it was the end of an era of sorts, affording an opportunity to see some of the people with whom I came in to the district, perhaps for the final time. I have talked to a few of them, and they mostly seem ready to leave. This is a difficult life in many ways for a young, single person, and many have stories of wearing down under disrespect and isolation. It is hard for me to effectively assess the reality of their claims about disrespect, but the isolation part is easy to understand for young folks just out of college.

I suspect that for the old fossils like me, the knowledge that things are very bad indeed back in the lower 48 is enough to temper our thoughts of departure. And we do have a generous financial package of pay and benefits. But many of us are out here with loved ones that can share our struggles and provide a more immediate layer of support. It is easier for us to stay, I suspect, than it is for a single person in his or her 20's. They, however, are the future for this district. It would be nice if we could find a way to keep them here. If I had the perfect answer, I would offer it. I just feel sad to know that many of the faces that I saw the first time a year ago in August will not be showing up next August when the district gathers again in Bethel.

Much Betta...

As in that is much more like it...I had a little chat (well, several) with m'kiddies today, and explained in detail exactly what I expected from them and even spent a little time with the why of it as well. It seemed to work pretty well. It might be for an hour, or for a day, but I am glad that I took the step, and it seemed to help me form a tighter bond in some ways.

The mentors are here, and that takes up more of my evening, but it is nice to have company as a change of pace, and I got my evening exercise in anyway, albeit at 9:00. Tomorrow will be another day with company, although I am not sure to what extent they will be with my counterpart in the 5/6 classroom.

This was one of those rewarding days that you hear about in the popular imagination, but not in the "Oh My God" breakthrough way. It was enough to relieve me of my currently building annoyance with AKT2 and its ways. Silly, silly...if only they knew how they are loved in the hinterlands...but the work is the important thing, as I am beginning to see more clearly all the time. If it just wasn't such a damn grind sometimes. Of course, that may be part of what makes it worth it....

Ugh...

On to Wednesday. T'uai...

Concentration...

...may not be at a premium today...

Tuesday...

I slept from 9pm to 6:25 am, and still woke up tired...hmmm...we will see how this one goes. I need a blank CD and some adding machine paper, and I need to remember to go and look for both this morning.The idea of a sick day is appealing, but I am not sick, just sorta and mostly tired. I need to save those sick days for the real thing. We will play quizlet this morning, and I hope that that works to keep 'em happy for a little while.

The search begins in an hour...

A Quick Monday Update...

The day: not bad overall. Flaky like Monday, but workable.

Progress: we finished the first week of our challenge, and made our target weight loss goals. We are tied as far as I know on points.

Laundry: done.

Dishes: nearly done.

Colds: apparently coming on. (Crap).

Bed: coming soon, if we want to try and sleep this stuff off.

I Mean Winter, Damn It!

The weather stopped playing Mr. Nice Guy this weekend. I am actually not all that sure how nice it has been, if you must know the truth. It has actually been kind of crappy, or at least pretty cold. On the other hand, there have been some beautifully sunny days.

Saturday, the teeth came out. The temperature fell to -20, and the windchill fell to -40. Of course, this was the day that we needed to get to Bethel to pick up necessary cooking supplies for my bride's cooking class. We went to the BIA building to unearth our snowmachine, which has been in storage since the break. No dice there. It did not want to start, which as of this writing remains an unsolved mystery.

No problem-the school has its own machine, and we were on school business. It is, however, set up a little differently than ours, which proved to be a bit of a challenge for both of us in different ways through the afternoon. Off we went. As cold as it was, the conditions were tolerable because we were all bundled up. After our penultimate stop, we had trouble getting the thing started again, so I sat on the seat outside Swanson's grocery store while I left it running.

The sun was setting as we headed down to Napaskiak, with me trying to see without my glasses as I picked my way along the rutted track. Even though my sweetie told me that she was worried about the route that I was taking, she was forced to admit that I got us back in one piece. I ran the machine back to the storage building while she unloaded the groceries from the sled. It was all kind of exhilarating, despite the problems that the afternoon threw in our way. We worked together and got it done.

Over the night, the wind began to climb in speed. Every time I got up to go to the bathroom, I could hear the windows shaking. By morning, the winds were gusting over 50 mph, and the windchill was somewhere between -50 and -65. We had been invited back to Bethel for football watching, but the four of us that were supposed to travel decided that we were way too chicken to venture up the river in that mess. No football parties today...

Eric and I ended up venturing down to Joe's, with brownies and chili provided by our spouses, who were likely just glad to get rid of us. It was a pleasant way to spend a few hours with friends, something that can be in short supply out here, with all of us so busy.

The weekend is over, and it is time to return to the work of getting kids to learn. Tomorrow will mark our first weigh-in for our little contest. I will be interested to see what result the first week has produced. I think that we may be joined in this contest soon.

Interesting Day...

...but I am tired and want to go to bed...so, we will get to it in the morning...really, really cold here...so this is Alaska, huh??

Friday Night...

Not a bad week for the first one. It took me a few days to get my feet wet, but I think we are back under full steam. We had a long evening session of Professional Development, and we have a morning session tomorrow, but we are now done with these long events for the rest of the school year.

It is plenty cold here-we have a windchill advisory, because it is nearly-40 now and will be perhaps -45 tomorrow night. Time to be careful. Or get on the snowmachine and ride to Bethel a couple of times this weekend. Either one.

We have an invitation to watch the Bears-Packers game with a bunch of people from Wisconsin. Bears fans are invited to watch from the porch. Sounds cozy. Also sounds like fun. I plan to be there.

Time for a nap, as tomorrow starts early...

OK, That's Getting Better...

I slept in until 5 am today. Of course, I went to bed at 9 the night before. For whatever reason, that seems to have done the trick for me. I feel much more energy today, and am not drooping tonight. Of course, I still have laundry to fetch and fold and put away. But it's not bad at all. And tomorrow is Friday. The weekend is not all ours, but some of it is, and I am looking forward to some quality time with my sweetie. I hope that we can make it.

I watched my junior high goons scrimmage with the high school girls tonight. Of course, I had to cheer for them. After all, they have named me the King of Goons. I guess we are stuck with one another. If we don't kill each other first....

Just Want To Sleep...

It is amazing how many of the walking wounded are walking around these parts, this early in the semester. We have one feverish, one still congested (who hasn't recovered from before the break), and various and sundry other ailments. I am feeling comparatively fortunate to only be suffering from a fairly constant level of exhaustion upon arrival home from work. I am not sure what is causing it, but it is not my usual state of being. All I want to do tonight is get the dishes done, finish this post, and fall into bed.

It is probably a combination of jet lag, picking up my personal pace because of the renewed activity of teaching school, and a reaction to increased exercise levels. Either that, or mononucleosis. Whichever it is, I suspect that it will either pass, or kill me. Not to worry.

I am awfully glad to be back, and awfully glad that tomorrow is already Thursday. I can already smell the weekend, and the prospect of a trip to Bethel has already been dangled before me. How can I resist? The K300, one of the major dog racing events in the state, and certainly the biggest one around here that I know of, begins on Friday night. It might be nice to go up and check it out, but we have a long in-service that will run until Friday at about the same time that the first teams are scheduled to go of. Besides, we have to be back in the morning to finish the rest of the session. Maybe next year.

For now, I need rest...

A Warm Spell...

It has finally gotten above zero degrees Fahrenheit this morning. When we first arrived, it got down to -21, which is not a record by any means around here, but it is cold. The thermometer has been climbing steadily since then, and it is currently three degrees over at the Bethel airport, which is only about four miles away. Breakfast is cooking in the oven, and coffee is nearly ready.

Last night was still a busy one, with multiple bathroom trips (three plus liters of water will do that), but I did get a better night's sleep on the whole. It is already Wednesday, which leads me to the good news/bad news reporting for the week. Bad news: we have six day work weeks this week and next. Good news: the 29th is the last scheduled work Saturday for the rest of the school year. Bad news: the 29th is the last day that we will get paid for working on Saturday. On and on it goes...

My main goal for this semester, aside from triumphing in the competition that my bride and I have going, is to have more fun doing this. It is a serious job, and needs to be taken seriously, but I feel the need for a better balance. That will be the challenge. I am trying to use my time more wisely and efficiently, and my hope is that will lead to less stress overall. We shall see if it works...

Who Are All Of These Children, and Why Do They Keep Calling Me Mister?

Back with real kids, in the place of the perfect ones that we get in in-services. And they were real for sure, man. Not awful, just flaky. Kind of makes sense after the layoff, under the circumstances. We all got through it, and that will work fine for the moment. Tomorrow we will try for something a little more substantial, and I hope that it will work.

I challenged my students to finish the year on grade level for reading. If they do, they get to give me a haircut. They have been wanting to do it for the last year or so. I needed to have a target that they had a good chance of hitting. This group has a good chance.

There is not a whole lot else to report, except that my darling and I are having a diet and exercise competition, and it involves drinking a lot of water, among other things. I don't know how often she was hitting the bathroom today, but I was making regular trips. I will update the competition as the winter goes along. It will add a little spice to this time of year.

I think that my body is still on Eastern time, because I begin getting noticeably tired at 8:00 or 8:30 in the evenings. I know that it will pass, but for now I am just going to go with it and get lots of sleep. That is probably not a bad thing, given my predilection for insomnia. Mmmm, nice warm comfy bed...night, Napas...

Back At It...

...kind of. Today was an in-service day, and we spent most of the day playing at being teachers. Lots of talk involving most of the usual cliches. Entirely too many uses of the word "rich" in contexts other than personal wealth and desserts. Incantations of the phrase "with fidelity." All of the usual suspects in the murder of language that is educationese.

I was shuffled off to the math ghetto where I have taken up residence by accident. I enjoy teaching the course, but I am often as baffled as my students. Nonetheless, it is what I do, for a good chunk of my day. Tomorrow, I will try to get the returning vacationers to review geometric concepts in preparation for a test. O joy.

Despite the dreary nature of the day's activity, I am glad to be back. I saw a couple of kids, and was happy for it. My bride and I are starting something called "Game On," and we will see how living like this for the next several weeks affects our mutual sanity. I have relatively little by way of prepared lesson plans for the week, partially because I expect to spend no little time reviewing basic concepts and wakening young brains back into the school regimen. I had probably come up with something a little more complex than that, so it will be an early night, so that I may arise early to prepare something more substantial.

Maybe I will have it together by the end of the week...

Early To Bed and Early To Rise...

...is for suckers.

Gee, It's Good To Be Back Home Again...

The oil stove is making it nice and warm, and the sun is shining in the living room window...we have made it home safely again. Buddha is scamming popcorn, and the mutt is sleeping peacefully next to her mistress on the couch. We put away groceries and did some of the clean-up that we didn't get to do before we left, and took a nap. We are now sitting in our jammies at 4:30 in the afternoon catching up on a few necessities. It feels quiet and homey and altogether welcome after a couple days of travel.

Our trip from Anchorage to Bethel was as uneventful as was the trip from Chicago to Anchorage. That is a good thing in my book. It was sunny and spectacular as we flew over the mountains, and the time passed quickly. Joe B was there to greet us after we got off of the plane, and the ride home was smooth. I managed to get the door unlocked without any difficulty, and we proceeded in our homecoming routine.

Tomorrow is an in-service day, and I have laundry to get finished. (And probably lesson plans, too.) It is time for winter semester, and I am looking forward to it. Time to see what we can get done.

Here Again

We touched down in Anchorage at about 1:37 local time yesterday-it is snowy and cold, so there are no surprises there. All is well so far, and we are looking forward to getting back to our little corner of paradise today, if all goes well. The weather looks promising, and Joe has promised to meet us at the airport in Bethel, so it looks as if we will ride back in the comfort of a nice warm truck cab rather than on the back of a snowmachine. I am not quite ready for that action yet, so you can color me grateful. The only obligatory thing left to do before we leave ANC is the trip to the grocery store.

I was definitely more excited about getting here yesterday than I am this morning, but that may have something to do with what the football authorities call "excessive celebration" last night. I suspect that I will ultimately live...stay tuned for further updates...

Pathetic

I have to be posting more than this or everyone will recognize me for the pathetic useless bugger that I am. Not much new here to post, as the days have been filled with either visits with friends and family or appointments. Necessities such as dentist/optometrist/haircut and the like. We seem to be doing a pretty good job of getting the visiting done as well.

I am waiting to see if my new bike and glasses will make it here before we leave. Our estimated departure date looks as if it will most likely be Friday, as there is supposed to be a bunch of snow deposited between here and Chicago between now and Wednesday night, and I would like to give the road commissions time to clear it off of the roads. Tomorrow we will go to Traverse City once again to see friends, let my wife get a pedicure, and access a little wi-fi, so that I can do some submissions for my masters in Juneau.

Vacation has been fun, relaxing, and productive simultaneously. It is too bad that it is nearly over, but it is also time to get back to work for a few months before the next break. Teachers are streaming back into the LKSD system, and there are inservices and lesson plans to get around to. Back to normal (!) life...

Over To A New Year...

I managed to avoid the portentous post about 1/1/11...most people thankfully avoided the subject as far as I could tell. Maybe they are more focused on the upcoming end of the world in 2012.

We have continued to whirl through the Northern Michigan wilds celebrating and visiting. Lotsa friends and family. More to come tonight, as we head for the southern part of the state and my family.

We have been fortunate to get a little rest in with all of the fun, and I think that maybe we are getting refreshed for our return to PKA in a couple of weeks. If we are not, I think that we will work diligently on that in the time remaining.

Here's hoping that all of our friends in Napaskiak have had a safe and happy New Year so far...