Tomorrow begins the week of state mandated testing. Much tension and silliness will abound. I have already made my thoughts clear about testing before in these pages, and will not repeat my screed. The test as an instrument of measure is more akin to a butter knife than a surgeon's scalpel. These are, however, the times in which we live, and we can only hope for better ones in the future.
Our little one has just finished her bedtime snack, and daddy here is going to down a little NyQuil, in the hopes that he can sleep off the cold that has been bugging him for the past several days. A quiet, peaceful Sunday night at the end of a quiet, peaceful weekend. A quiet, peaceful week would be nice...
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Life With Baby...
Hectic, but good. We are fortunate that our benefits package plus my wife's accumulated sick time allows her twelve weeks at home with our little angel (at least until she hits the Terrible Twos). Alice eats about every three hours, or sooner if she is hungry. She is a pretty good napper, having had only one day that I can remember where she was fussy for most of the day. I try to take over, except for feeding, in the evening when I get home. After Alice gets fed, my wife will usually head to bed to try to get two or three hours of early sleep. That is my alone time with my little girl, and it is my favorite time of the day. By sometime between 10:30-11:30, I am just too sleepy to keep it going and I swaddle her up and go to bed myself.
Alice is strong. We have a little swaddling device that uses velcro to secure the wrap. I put her in it last night. When she wakened my wife, she had worked herself out of the thing entirely. She spent nine months batting around uterine fibroids that were pretty big. I think that she had a workout of some significance...
Alice is strong. We have a little swaddling device that uses velcro to secure the wrap. I put her in it last night. When she wakened my wife, she had worked herself out of the thing entirely. She spent nine months batting around uterine fibroids that were pretty big. I think that she had a workout of some significance...
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
God Forgive Me, I Am Lazy and Unworthy...
I have been remiss, which is what I always say when I look at my neglect of this site. Much has happened, so let's catch up.
Power Outages-the failure that I referred to back in February lasted for five days. By that time, many of us had lost the food that was stored in our refrigerators. The district had sent several portable generators that were to be used for refrigeration support to our site at the time that the power was finally restored. Since then, we have had a couple of day-long outages, and one that just ended over the weekend that lasted three days. We now have a portable generator for each building, and we have some limited electrical outlet availability in the hallway outside our apartment. We have taken to plugging in a surge strip into that outlet, and running our refrigerator and freezer off from it. Even though the power is back on today, we still have extension cords running through the apartment. I suspect that we may keep it this way for the rest of the school year.
Baby! My little princess, Alice, was born on March 7. Of course, I believe in some level of my heart that she is the most unique human being ever born. I am silly that way. Everything went even more smoothly than we could have hoped, especially with some of the complications that we faced. Of course, I have not begun to deal with medical bills in earnest as yet. Our insurance is pretty comprehensive, so I am hopeful. Daddyhood for the second time is fun. Even when it is inconvenient. Remind me of this when I am 74 years old with a 15-year-old to deal with. I will certainly have it coming for my arrogance.
That is the big stuff. We are about 7 1/2 weeks from being done, and we have the big, bad test days next week to enjoy and plan around. It is light until ten o' clock or so, and spring is clearly coming, even if it is -20 in the mornings when I walk the dogs. Summer is coming, it cannot be stopped...
Power Outages-the failure that I referred to back in February lasted for five days. By that time, many of us had lost the food that was stored in our refrigerators. The district had sent several portable generators that were to be used for refrigeration support to our site at the time that the power was finally restored. Since then, we have had a couple of day-long outages, and one that just ended over the weekend that lasted three days. We now have a portable generator for each building, and we have some limited electrical outlet availability in the hallway outside our apartment. We have taken to plugging in a surge strip into that outlet, and running our refrigerator and freezer off from it. Even though the power is back on today, we still have extension cords running through the apartment. I suspect that we may keep it this way for the rest of the school year.
Baby! My little princess, Alice, was born on March 7. Of course, I believe in some level of my heart that she is the most unique human being ever born. I am silly that way. Everything went even more smoothly than we could have hoped, especially with some of the complications that we faced. Of course, I have not begun to deal with medical bills in earnest as yet. Our insurance is pretty comprehensive, so I am hopeful. Daddyhood for the second time is fun. Even when it is inconvenient. Remind me of this when I am 74 years old with a 15-year-old to deal with. I will certainly have it coming for my arrogance.
That is the big stuff. We are about 7 1/2 weeks from being done, and we have the big, bad test days next week to enjoy and plan around. It is light until ten o' clock or so, and spring is clearly coming, even if it is -20 in the mornings when I walk the dogs. Summer is coming, it cannot be stopped...
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Sunday Night, No Juice...
I am here at the school, doing a load of laundry for my wife. Lesson plans are done, and I am ready for tomorrow. The weekend was uneventful. I hauled several totes full of frozen food over here to put it into the school freezer. I buried another in the snow, and it has obligingly dropped off to zero since.
We were eating dinner at the school (functioning oven), and we got an invite from friends of ours to visit. Off we went, and socializing went on there and back at the house until 1:45 am Sunday.
We are invited again this evening, and one of the other teachers is coming over with us. It will be a nice way to close out the weekend, and start my last week with my wife before she and the baby to be depart for Anchorage and the safety of sophisticated medical facilities.
Time to check the dryer, and go visiting.
We were eating dinner at the school (functioning oven), and we got an invite from friends of ours to visit. Off we went, and socializing went on there and back at the house until 1:45 am Sunday.
We are invited again this evening, and one of the other teachers is coming over with us. It will be a nice way to close out the weekend, and start my last week with my wife before she and the baby to be depart for Anchorage and the safety of sophisticated medical facilities.
Time to check the dryer, and go visiting.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Dim, But With Heat...
Back to our narrative, after a lapse of a few days. We are on into February, and the saga of our pregnancy continues. My wife is at 35 weeks now, and our little one will be arriving in the next little while. The preparations are as complete as possible.
We are in the school at 10:27 on a Friday night because the power has gone out again. It went down a day ago, and the prospects for restoration are murky in the near term future. This time, however, we have a generator supplying the two teacher housing buildings with enough power to run the heating systems in each of them. The tricky part is that we only have a single generator, for reasons that I do not understand. Our maintenance man is switching the connection from building to building every three hours. So we crank the heat up, and it cools off. So far, so good. However, it is warm-ish right now, in the low 20s. Temperatures for the first part of next week are forecast in the single digits. Things might get trickier then.
Of course, we have to consider ourselves luckier than our principal's wife. The building in which she lives has no provision for generator backup, apparently. The temperature in there overnight was apparently in the upper 40's. She and her son are spending the night in the school.
None of us can run our refrigerators under the circumstances, although the frozen stuff was OK when we checked it this afternoon. We may have to stash food in totes and place them outside if this continues. We do have a convenient deep freeze just outside.
There is talk of a part that has been ordered and is hoped to arrive tomorrow. That remains to be seen. We brought a crock pot over here and put chicken soup in it. More meals will likely be consumed here in the next day or so. Waiting expectantly...for both baby and electricity...
We are in the school at 10:27 on a Friday night because the power has gone out again. It went down a day ago, and the prospects for restoration are murky in the near term future. This time, however, we have a generator supplying the two teacher housing buildings with enough power to run the heating systems in each of them. The tricky part is that we only have a single generator, for reasons that I do not understand. Our maintenance man is switching the connection from building to building every three hours. So we crank the heat up, and it cools off. So far, so good. However, it is warm-ish right now, in the low 20s. Temperatures for the first part of next week are forecast in the single digits. Things might get trickier then.
Of course, we have to consider ourselves luckier than our principal's wife. The building in which she lives has no provision for generator backup, apparently. The temperature in there overnight was apparently in the upper 40's. She and her son are spending the night in the school.
None of us can run our refrigerators under the circumstances, although the frozen stuff was OK when we checked it this afternoon. We may have to stash food in totes and place them outside if this continues. We do have a convenient deep freeze just outside.
There is talk of a part that has been ordered and is hoped to arrive tomorrow. That remains to be seen. We brought a crock pot over here and put chicken soup in it. More meals will likely be consumed here in the next day or so. Waiting expectantly...for both baby and electricity...
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
That Was Quick...
Wednesday already. The weekend was pretty uneventful, although it is nice when we have two days to recover from the work week. That is a pretty relative statement, as I understand that many people have to work seven days a week, and it should also be understood that we work on weekends even when there is no scheduled presence required in the building.
Our reality is that even the stress-free (?) days are busy. I teach an after-school program three days a week with bunches of kids and a fair amount of management involved. By five o' clock, I am ready for a breather, and my day is not generally finished yet. It is just plain nice to sleep in a little bit and to be able to get things done on my own schedule on the weekends. It will be a welcome change of pace to have that choice available this weekend.
I am starting a diet competition with some friends this week. Heavens knows it is overdue. The program is called "Game On," and it involves a competition. The focus is on behavioral changes as opposed to simple weight loss. That sounds like a good idea. We will see how it works.
Parent conferences begin today. I am pretty blocked out for the next two days, as I think that I have the largest class in the school. We encourage the kids to come in to present their own work and discuss their progress with their parents. It has been pretty successful, and we have gotten pretty good participation in the junior high. I will be curious to see how the turnout goes this time.
Now, for math class...
Our reality is that even the stress-free (?) days are busy. I teach an after-school program three days a week with bunches of kids and a fair amount of management involved. By five o' clock, I am ready for a breather, and my day is not generally finished yet. It is just plain nice to sleep in a little bit and to be able to get things done on my own schedule on the weekends. It will be a welcome change of pace to have that choice available this weekend.
I am starting a diet competition with some friends this week. Heavens knows it is overdue. The program is called "Game On," and it involves a competition. The focus is on behavioral changes as opposed to simple weight loss. That sounds like a good idea. We will see how it works.
Parent conferences begin today. I am pretty blocked out for the next two days, as I think that I have the largest class in the school. We encourage the kids to come in to present their own work and discuss their progress with their parents. It has been pretty successful, and we have gotten pretty good participation in the junior high. I will be curious to see how the turnout goes this time.
Now, for math class...
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thursday Morning...
It is my prep period, which comes first thing in the morning, Monday through Thursday. Because Fridays are half-day sessions with students, I do not have a prep on those days.
There are a group of junior high girls sitting on the floor with three elders teaching them a project. It is funny to see the enthusiasm, patience and persistence...on the part of the elders. The girls are slowly awakening, which seems to be the pattern in the early mornings here. I still see the personalities of the girls emerge, although the conversations are in Yup'ik. The curious and investigative ones are the same here as in the rest of their classes. The ones that are content to sit on the sidelines and watch, for whatever reason, are the same as well.
I did have to laugh when one of the elders told the girls that the morning was the time to smile, and that they should not be going to bed late at night. I tend to see the opposite pattern on most mornings. I think that I am going to borrow that concept for myself tomorrow.
We are starting to get into the second semester maelstrom of testing. We can start either this week or next. There are at least three rounds of testing that I can think of between now and the end of the school year, and I am pretty sure that I am missing one. The big one in April essentially eats up most of a week. Even the minor ones take a big chunk of two or three days. They have a way of blasting very big holes in the schedule.
This is one of the reasons why continuity becomes a major challenge after the beginning of the New Year. We spend a lot of time running in multiple directions simultaneously...
Tomorrow is Friday. We have a long pair of inservices Friday night and Saturday, interspersed with basketball games happening here at the same time. Thank heaven for no distractions...
There are a group of junior high girls sitting on the floor with three elders teaching them a project. It is funny to see the enthusiasm, patience and persistence...on the part of the elders. The girls are slowly awakening, which seems to be the pattern in the early mornings here. I still see the personalities of the girls emerge, although the conversations are in Yup'ik. The curious and investigative ones are the same here as in the rest of their classes. The ones that are content to sit on the sidelines and watch, for whatever reason, are the same as well.
I did have to laugh when one of the elders told the girls that the morning was the time to smile, and that they should not be going to bed late at night. I tend to see the opposite pattern on most mornings. I think that I am going to borrow that concept for myself tomorrow.
We are starting to get into the second semester maelstrom of testing. We can start either this week or next. There are at least three rounds of testing that I can think of between now and the end of the school year, and I am pretty sure that I am missing one. The big one in April essentially eats up most of a week. Even the minor ones take a big chunk of two or three days. They have a way of blasting very big holes in the schedule.
This is one of the reasons why continuity becomes a major challenge after the beginning of the New Year. We spend a lot of time running in multiple directions simultaneously...
Tomorrow is Friday. We have a long pair of inservices Friday night and Saturday, interspersed with basketball games happening here at the same time. Thank heaven for no distractions...
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