Thankful

After spending a week with my awesome two year old and my beautiful wife...

I am Thankful!

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Christmas Comes Early for Astros

Talk about BLACK Friday! The Astros got two big pieces to their 2007 puzzle today. Carlos Lee and Woody Williams are now Astros. Pretty sweet.

Left field in Minute Maid will now have a new name. Lee's nickname is "El Caballo," which means "The Horse." He was given his nickname by White Sox television announcer Hawk Harrelson. When he played for the Brewers, there was a sign in the left field corner that read "El Caballo's Corner." I can see the left field corner of the Crawford Boxes becoming The Big Horse's corner.

It will be fun to watch him work. The guy is a super slugger. But, he does not strike out a lot. He will provide a lot of protection in the order for Lance Berkman. I can see a lineup that looks like this:

1. Taveras, CF
2. Scott, RF
3. Berkman, 1B
4. Lee, LF
5. Ensberg/Lamb, 3B
6. Biggio/Burke, 2B
7. Everett, SS
8. Ausmus, C

It's a MUCH better lineup with El Caballo in there. It helps the weak bottom portion of the order. Everett/Ausums suck at the plate, but provide great D.

The starting rotation may look like this now:
1. Oswalt
2. Williams
3, 4, 5. Buchholz/Albers/Hirsh/Sampson

The 3, 4, 5 starters would be a battle in spring. Each of these young guys has shown some promise. Of course, Clemens and Pettitte could be back, but I am not counting on it.

Looking forward to Baseball starting in just a few months. I have something to look forward to now, The Big Horse is now the stable.

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Turkey Break

We are enjoying Turkey Week off of school and having time at home with the baby. Unfortunately we are all sick. I am recovering pretty well though. I went to the docs on Saturday and got a new dosage of antibiotics and oral steroids. Aidan went in today and got his antibiotics. Norma is tougher than both of us and just takes some cold meds and toughs it out (although I am pushing her to go into the docs, too).

So lots of rest for us this week. But, we also have a lot to get finished. We are working on Christmas shopping and getting up Christmas decorations. The shopping has gotten off to a good start. We purchased some good things on Monday and hope to get most of the shopping done tomorrow. The rest we can probably do online. :) Isn't the internet great?

We found out today that Aidan is in the 80% percentile in height and 75% percentile in weight. He's a big boy. The doc was a little concerned that he isn't talking much. He said if Aidan does not show some improvement (stringing a few words together) in 6 months then we should probably start getting him to a speech therapist.

I'm not very worried about it though. I didn't start talking until I was three. So it could be all my fault. :) Einstein didn't talk until he was 4. There is even a book about it: "The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late".

I think Aidan will come around throughout this year and start to become more verbal. He knows all the characters in his books. He can point to them and other objects that we don't even realize he knows the names of yet. It is amazing how much these kids soak up like a sponge all day long. I know that the verbal part will all come crashing down on us soon and we'll be looking at each other like, "When is he going to be quiet?"

Until then we keep trying to prompt him for oral responses, but get little satisfaction from our efforts right now. It will pay off in the end, I am sure.

I have also been playing Gears of War on Xbox 360. The game is an amazing feat of graphical, gameplay and action. Really an awesome game. I haven't gotten too far through it, but at every turn there is an added twist to the story. And at every turn there is a new beast that seems scarier than the ones that came before it. Really an awesome game. I haven't even scratched the surface with it, but I can tell it is deep-deep-deep. It is going to rescue the 360 this holiday season.

Not much else going on. I am going to try to get some rest and let my body chase off the rest of this infection. Aidan is fast asleep and Norma is about to jump on the computer and upload pictures. Yeah, we have a few of those to send out to family over Christmas. A few thousand!

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"Pretty Much" Nice Email

I just checked my work email. I usually check a couple of times a day over the weekend and during a break like Thanksgiving. We have the next week off. I saw that I had a few extra credit emails, the kids had to figure out what a hyroglyphic message on my website was and email it to me. I also had this email:

Mr. D, you're awesome
and pretty much my favorite teacher.
I'm really enjoying working on the castle project.
Happy Thanksgiving

As sick as I am right now, that really made me feel good. Probably better than the oral steroids and new dose of antibiotics that the doc gave me today.

Teaching is a great job. There is nothing else that I would rather do with my life. I love being able to hear kids say that my history class is their favorite. Or that I am their "pretty much" favorite teacher. That made me laugh.

The kids have a couple of more weeks to work on their Castle Project. It is a project that is probably the most creative and fun of the year. They design and build a castle and they have a lot of room to be creative. It goes along with the Middle Ages unit that we are studying.

I'll start getting some of them coming into school on the Monday when we return. We have the next week off for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see what the kids come up with.

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The Big Game - OSU vs. Michgan

Bo and Woody - together again

I usually root for both of these two teams to lose, even when they play each other. But, today I will be rooting for the maise and blue. Bo Schembeckler was a great man, a great coach and a great motivator. Will he motivate his Wolverines one more time? He did speak to the team this week before he passed away yesterday.

The other reason I would like to see Michigan win and beat #1 Ohio State is that I am a fan of the Nittany Lions first, but next I root for "college football chaos." Michigan winning would throw a wrench into all of the National Championship hopes. That's why I will also pull for Cal over USC tonight.

It would be great if there are a ton of 1-loss teams and an undefeated Rutgers team. We'll see what happens, but in my lifetime it would be great to finally witness College Football Bliss --- a playoff that determines the National Championship.

Michigan just scored to make it 7-0. Brent Musberger said it well, "Somewhere, Someplace Bo Schembeckler is smiling."

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Wii would never buy a PS3

Just one man's opinion, but I would never buy a PS3. The launch is tonight at midnight. People are already resorting to stealing them:
Armed men take off with PS3s

Sad.

MSNBC: Die hards line up for PS3

Nintendo is doing the right thing. Their launch is just after the PS3. When all the kids that can't get a PS3 (and can't afford one because it is $600 bucks) are upset and sad, they just might turn and buy the more inexpensive Wii.

Sony is hoping PS3 can revive their entire company. It has been in the crapper for the past few years. Some of it is because they just have not been able to get the PS3 made and have slipped behind some companies like Samsung in consumer electronics innovation. I am thinking that this might be a death nail for Sony if it can't pull off a huge PS3 debut and if fans are not wowed. Early reports are mixed about the new system. Backwards compatibility is not working like they said it would.

I am hoping that Gears of War prompts more people to buy the Xbox 360. It's probably the one game I would buy right now. I will wait though until after Christmas and pull some money together. 60 bucks is just ridiculous for games.

It's one of the reasons that our video game club at school has so much interest. Kids don't want to drop $60 hard earned bucks on a game that stinks. We talk about the games, show video reviews and are even going to start trading them each week. It has been a fun club and I hope it gets even better with the launch of two more great systems.

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Eagle Sweatshirt

A couple of my first period students brought in a gift for Aidan today. It is a really cute little red AHS Eagle sweatshirt. I said, "If you think you can BRIBE me by bring in gifts for my kid... your right!" :)

They will be really excited to see his picture on my wallpaper tomorrow on my computer.
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A Frackin Awesome Machine

This is great: I love Battlestar Galactica: "A New Crew in Town"
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Jersey Day!

On Fridays this year at school the varsity football team has been passing out their jerseys to the kids and then the kids take it to a teacher of their choice. Norma teaches freshman and I teach sophomores and we don't have many kids that play varsity football in our classes. So we have never been given a jersey... until today!



This really made my day. It was awesome. I got the kicker's jersey. Tony is a great kid in my class and I was really proud to wear his jersey. It gave me a little steam in my stride on a Friday. :) Luckily Norma took the camera in today to take some pictures of her kids so we had it to take a couple of shots of us.
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...handed to them

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A great day to be a Dem

I didn't have very high expectations. When you have lived through the tough loses of the past few national elections, you just hold your breath. I couldn't believe all the prognosticators about what was coming. But it is here...

1) A Dem controlled House.
2) A woman speaker for the first time ever.
3) Control of the majority of governor's seats.
4) Rummy Resigns! WOW.
AND TONIGHT!...
5) A Dem controlled Senate.

Yep, that's a sweep folks. They eeked it out, but the Democrats took the Senate, too. Amazing.

Here is my bottom line with all of it: This should help the 2008 Election cycle. Dems now know they can win again. Their confidence is restored. Now it is up to them to show the public that they can govern and that they can be trusted. Talk is cheap. Two years from now we'll have to see serious movement out of Iraq. Two years from now we'll have to see the Congress make progress on increasing the minimum wage and reforming immigration.

If they make progress in these regards, it sets up nicely for Hillary, Edwards, Obama, or Biden.

But, what it is all about is the people speaking and taking a stand. Enough is certainly enough. I haven't been blogging much about politics lately. I just can't seem to take it any more. But, just maybe I will have a few good stories to talk about for a change?

What a great day.
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Jack Bauer - Sacrificed in January?

The new trailer for 24:

24 Trailer dot com

Can't wait for January! A bearded Jack returns.


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Arrogant to the bitter end... and will it even cost them?

Can the GOP be any more stubborn?
Cheney Vows 'Full Speed Ahead' on Iraq War

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 4, 2006; Page A08

COLORADO SPRINGS, Nov. 3 -- The Bush administration is determined to continue "full speed ahead" with its policy in Iraq, regardless of Tuesday's midterm elections, Vice President Cheney said Friday.

Cheney said in an interview with ABC News that the administration is convinced that it is pursuing the right path in Iraq.

"It may not be popular with the public. It doesn't matter, in the sense that we have to continue what we think is right," Cheney said. "That's exactly what we're doing. We're not running for office. We're doing what we think is right."

The election is set for Tuesday. We usually vote early, but we waited this year since I have been sick and we have been busy with the baby. So Tuesday we'll go down right after school and cast our ballots. I'll vote straight Dem and I will be voting for the propositions on the ballot for Houston infrastructure improvement. But, it's not going to make any difference in my area and in my state. All I can say is, I am sending my message. Whether or not it gets to the fatcats, I don't care.

I'll tell you what. I don't think the Congress is going back to the Dems. Simple fact is that the whole 06 election just reminds me 2004 and 2000. Everyone wants change and the press is predicting a big turnaround for the Dems. But, their platform is "We're not the corrupt bad guys - vote for us!" Not good enough.

Anyway, I know the platform is middle class tax cuts (and raising taxes on the top earners and corporations), health care for everyone, and doing SOMETHING/ANYTHING about Iraq. In fact the official platform is: 1) Honest Government 2) Real Security 3) Energy Independence 4) Economic Prosperity and Educational Excellence 5) Healthcare for Everyone 6) Retirement Security.

That message isn't getting out though. The one that is getting out is "We are not Republicans." Is it enough? Probably not. Republicans have redistricted and setup their party for years of dominance. It is very difficult to loose seats for them. They have rewritten the rulebook for elections. Their voting machines are in place. I will vote on Tuesday and not be given a receipt of who I voted for. They can be hacked in minutes. And bottom line? Republicans vote.

Boy do I hope I am wrong.

Will the Democrats Regain Power on Tuesday?
	Yes, both Senate and House
	Yes, only the Senate
	Yes, only the House
	Nope
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Halloween Week

We had a great time with Halloween this week. Aidan just loved every minute of it. He went to about 10 houses and was so cute in his Elmo outfit. He didn't put the hood of it up, but he knocked on every door and jiggled his pumpkin to show how much candy he was getting.

It was neat to see some of our neighbors, we don't see many of them very often. We are all so busy. The little street we live on is a nice one. The homes are modest for our village and many have kids around or near Aidan's age.

We were a little worried on Halloween because Aidan wasn't feeling very well. A kid at his day care is always sick and got Aidan sick again. But, he felt well enough to go trick or treating and has been feeling a little better ever since.

I, on the other hand, have been real sick. My cold/flu (whatever it was) turned into another sinus infection. I went to the emergency clinic today and got a steroid shot and some antibiotics. Hopefully with a lot of rest this weekend I will turn the corner and be able to head back to work feeling better on Monday.

It is hard to believe that high school football season is almost ending. Our AHS team has really been getting hammered lately. They lost to our hometown team Kingwood 45-7 last night. Without any seniors it has been a long year. But, they did win one game which is more than many people figured they would.

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