Wacky Weekend...

This is a few days late, but the story is kind of fun, so here it goes.

Last weekend was the date for the last big local basketball tournament of the winter, involving our junior high kids and six other teams from around our league. One school actually brought two teams. We had kids all over the school. The first game began at 2 pm Friday afternoon, and six were scheduled for the evening. My wife and I were in the concession stand helping the senior class raise money for their trip at the end of May. There was a crew of hardworking seniors there, too.

Throughout the evening, the lines never seemed to dissipate. Box after box of soft pretzels disappeared into the oven and out to the waiting crowds. I probably am fixated on them because I was the pretzel guy for much of the evening. I don't really care to see another pretzel for a while.

We managed to sell out of nearly everything long before the first evening was over. It was time for a morning run to Bethel to get more stuff. I was nominated, and I preferred that to the chaos at the concessions window.

The light was flat, and the truck trail was drifted in spots where the wind had blown snow the night before. It was kind of hard to see where the drifts were until I was almost upon them. Nonetheless, I made it up and back with more supplies, which were consumed by the crowd in less than two hours. Amazing. Over three thousand dollars in concessions sales for the weekend.

It was also my birthday on Friday, but there wasn't much time for celebrating. We decided to do that on Saturday night. That turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected...

Done With That...

My last evaluation of the year took place today. During the first three years in the district, we are subject to multiple evals each year. If I make the grade, and get offered a contract for next year, I will have tenure when I begin the first work day in August. It will be a nice feeling. I can't believe how quickly time has passed since I came here nearly three years ago.

Tomorrow will be the day of the big junior high school tournament, which is taking place here. There are seven teams coming, which will make for a long and crazy, and hopefully, a fun evening. The boys' tournament last weekend was ok, but these are my kiddies, and that makes it different for some reason. I will be in the stands for the first game, and will be peeking out from the concessions stand for the other ones.

The whole thing lasts until the middle of Saturday afternoon. To make things even more fun, we are apparently hosting the LKSD school board meeting tomorrow morning. Madness, I tell ya!

I think (hope) that things went OK with my eval today, and that will take a fair amount of self-generated pressure off of me. I can just go on with the rest of the semester, and have a normal (that means crazy) life. I am looking forward to it...

One More Eval...

I am done for the year after tomorrow morning. It is often uncomfortable to be watched, "observed" in our parlance, but it is unavoidable in this business. I am not all that fond of the experience, because I am all to aware of everything that is not perfect or wrong. Sometimes the worst day is the observation day, and the kids have been pretty buggy so far this week. I suspect that it gets worse next week after basketball season is over and eligibility goes off the table. We will see whether the efforts that I have made are in vain or not. If they are not working, the next 12 weeks will seem like a long time...

Another Day...

Tuesday-not much to report..out at 4:30 and back for a union meeting at 7 pm. The week progresses...

Day Over (almost)...

Twelve more Mondays...it is nice to think about summer vacation...in a few more weeks I will be thinking about little else..it might be premature, but it is an awfully pleasant thought to have...

Mondays...

Still hate 'em...not sure why. Not a very restful weekend, and next weekend promises to be little better. We do have the short week after that, and I hope that helps. Still, we are thirteen weeks until summer vacation, so I suppose that it doesn't do to whine too much. Mostly, it feels like a lot more to do than there is time in which to do it. Not sure what else to say about this week-think that I will take it as it comes, and hope for the best...

Goin' To Bethel (On a Couple of Different Levels)...

Our boys have done it again...they won two in a row to win the conference tournament last night and first thing this morning. We were lucky enough to watch the games from the concession stand window, and there were some interesting, dramatic, and even comic moments. At more or less the same time, our girls' team placed second in their tournament to win the chance to compete in Bethel at the district tournament alongside the boys in less than two weeks. That is where we will be spending the weekend of March 1-2-3, likely including some exciting hallway tailgating at Bethel Regional High School. So much for the idea of rest and relaxation that weekend, although I guess a few days off to watch basketball isn't exactly hell on earth. It does get hectic with the travel back and forth, but it is all pretty much fun.

After we watched the awards ceremony, cleaned up the concessions area, and got the sno go and the sled hooked up, we jetted off to Bethel for a union meeting (I am on the executive board), and helped pack up t-shirts for the membership. Thanks to the good leadership of LKNEA for the pizza! We are entering negotiations with the district, during which we find out just how we are loved and valued by our employer. I know that I was impressed with the selfless generosity of the opening offer. But, enough of that. We capped off our day of fun with a trip to the Alaska Commercial store, and a three hundred dollar grocery bill. Yum, food.

After that, it was down the river, past the O-ville Ooze (the overflow by Oscarville is plentiful), and back to home sweet home for a nap and a walk for my wife and our new mama, Sara Jung. I have been hanging out here in my cave at the school doing emails and checking out the internet. I guess it is time to get over with the funnin' around, and load up some pages on the computer so that I can haul my work home and do my grading and planning from there tonight and tomorrow.

It is nearly time for my last evaluation for the year. Third year teachers have two. After this, should I be offered a contract, and should I return, I will be in a tenured position, and will be evaluated annually. Time has gone by quickly since I first applied to the AKT2 program in 2008. Nearly three years of teaching in the Bush. I like an awful lot of things about this job, and I think that I am pretty well convinced that the good (and the great) outnumber the bad. Of course, you should probably not ask me that same question on a Monday. I expect to be back for another year in August, with a whole new cast of junior high kids for my entertainment. The cycle goes on and on...

Catfish Grabbin' On the History Channel....

Holy cats! (All puns intended). We went to Bethel last night to pick up supplies for tonight's b-ball tournament. While we were there, we stopped to have Valentine's Day dinner at VIP Restaurant, our favorite place in town. To my wonderment, we were treated to a show on the History Channel about guys who stand up to their necks in muddy water so that they can reach under things like rocks and trees and grab catfish. When I think of the History Channel, camo, tats, and catfish are the first things that come to mind. That, and how aliens invaded the Mayan empire.

This is apparently a brand new show for the History Channel, having just started on Feb. 9. We apparently were fortunate enough to witness the second episode. Glory.

In other news, we are working late again this Friday night for the greater glory of the Napaskiak senior class of 2012. There is a tournament here to see which teams will go on to the district tournament in Bethel in two weeks, and we are at our concessions post again. It is nice to help the kids, but this is the second year in a row for us, and I will be glad to let the torch pass to other hands.

All else is well. February is waning, and my birthday approaches. 58. Nice round number. After that, we have a short week because of the district tournament, which we just decided to schedule as vacation time last year. We make it up elsewhere, and it is nice to get a little break.

Just about time to go see how our boys do tonight...

Monday Moanin'...

A columnist in Detroit used to run a recurring item with something like this title. I also find myself thinking of the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Monday." The weekends are never long enough, mostly because they are relaxing, and ya can't get enough of that. Both my sweetie and I got the summons to steam last night, and I was happy to get it. It made for a nice bit of relaxation at the end of the weekend.

So now we return to the grind. This will be a busy week with basketball (a tournament, no less) at the end of the week. I just spoke with our boy's coach, and it sounds as if the big challenge may be finding enough teams with enough eligible members. This has been a bigger issue in the past couple of years, as the district has revamped its curriculum and grading system, perhaps in response to state and federal mandates. We do not generally know the explanation for these changes. We just get told to implement them.

We don't have any special or weird stuff coming up this week aside from the tournament. The weeks are beginning to dwindle, as we approach the halfway mark towards the end of the first card marking already. We will be done three months from Friday. It seems to be going very quickly...

February Continues...

It's a cloudy but warm-ish Saturday, and we are at the shop here getting weekend work done. The hope that we have is that we will finish today and play tonight and tomorrow. Sounds like a good bet. I have a list on my whiteboard to erase, and if I quit screwing around on the internet, I think that it can get obliterated.

The big chill is officially in the rearview mirror for now. There are no signs in the upcoming forecast that suggest its return in the next week. It is amazing how comfortable 26 degrees feels after a month of -25.

The weather does seem to be affecting the kiddies somewhat. They are definitely sillier than they have been in the past few weeks. I suspect that there is more "playing out" going on, and thus less sleep. Fabulous.

This is the off weekend for basketball. The next two weekends will involve tournaments that will be held here, involving the high school boys and the junior high, respectively. Lots of work in the concession stand for those events. We are hoping to raise enough money for the senior class to fund a trip to the Midwest at the end of the school year. Events like these are big money makers for the seniors, and they are crucial to our hoped-for success. They make for long weekends, though. And they don't excuse us from our usual weekend necessities, such as grading, lesson planning, and the laundry. Oh, well. Only two to go. And we have a short week after the last one, which will give us a chance for a breather.

A couple of newsworthy events have been taking place here. First, there are some suggestions that tuberculosis is cropping up in spots around the Delta. That will be something to keep an eye on, for sure. I have also heard that the fuel supply for our electrical generators is getting disturbingly low. This will also be interesting to follow as winter continues.

For now, the focus will be on getting my weekend chores done. Maybe later, we can play and visit babies. My wife seems to enjoy that...hmmm.

Now, It's Slushy...

Kind of a pillar to post weekend. On Friday morning, the temperature was in the -30 range. By Saturday afternoon, it was nearly +35. Big swing in a short period of time...the weather has stayeed in the 30s for the most part since then. The only problem with this is that the river has started to have a fair amount of overflow on it in various spots. The tides rise and fall, and the seams of the ice on top of the river allow it to seep through. It can be messy, and some of the puddles are deep enough to swamp a snowmachine. Not a pleasant prospect. We are supposed to go to Bethel this afternoon to pick up veggie boxes, so the river's condition will be an issue. On a positive note, we attempted to start the machine yesterday after about 40 days of sitting in subzero cold. First time, with the starter. No pulls needed at all. Pretty amazing. The bigger challenge proved to be getting the lock on the tracks unfrozen. That took a lighter and a little patience. I took the machine out for a little spin and parked it to make access easier. Not a bad half-hour's work...

Cutting It Close...

The temperature is -30. The windchill is -42. LKSD board policy says that students may not travel for activities if the windchill exceeds -35. This is going to be interesting. The temperature is supposed to rise, but the wind is also expected to do the same. We will await a decision on whether games are going to proceed as scheduled or not...

Yippee...

-23. Enough said.

Noooooooooo.....

Blizzard Warning in effect until 9 am akst Thursday...

Wind Chill Advisory in effect until noon akst Thursday...

(sound of middle-aged man banging head against wall)..."when will this finally end???"