Park Like an Idiot!

I thought that this was REALLY cool:

iParkLikeAnIdiot.com

A Proud Teacher

I was very excited this morning to get a visit from a former student. She is now a senior at AHS and I had heard all about her good news the day before. She came in to explain not to buy her new book. I said, "Of course I am going to buy it!" And she explained that she had a copy for me and that she put me in the acknowledgments to thank me. She probably didn't realize it, but I was pretty shook up by that. It really got to me to realize that such a talented and wonderful student thought to thank me for anything.

When I first heard that Cortnee had written a book of poetry and that it was being published I said, "Wow." But, then after considering this accomplishment I realized that anything Cortnee wishes to do is possible. She has incredible talents and tremendous passion.

I am really lucky to have had her as a student and even luckier to have her sister in my AVID class this year. What a great family!

Here are some quotes about Cortnee's new book, Fannin Street

"In her acclaimed collection of poetry, Cortnee Howard paints both vivid and etheral lyrical landscapes filled with parliament smoking strangers, dim-lit coffee shops and jails overrun with artists. Unafraid to digress into even the most wry and oblique of self-perceptions, Howard unites both the obscure and the ordinary with a sharp wit and gracious-yet pragmatic-use of metaphor. In many ways, Fannin Street succeeds where others do not, for it lends meaning in a sad-tragic world bristling with the ineffable and the significant. Howard possess a rare and disquieting brevity that is both subtle and sincere, composed and curious, provocative and profound. An impressive debut." -Robert Holt, The Seattle Review of Book

"A spare and deeply affecting collection of poetry. The quirky-solemn potrayal of both the extrordinary and the everyday make for a winning and irrepressible combination. Cortnee Howard is, by far, one of the genres most talented, emerging writers." -Maricia Metez, American Poetry Today

So impressive. And she is still just a senior in high school. It is stories like this one and students like Cortnee that make teaching so important to me. I can not wait to read her book of poetry!

View Cortnee's Website Here

Wonder if Aidan will ever try this?

Wonder if Aidan will ever try this?

MNF - Boredom

Wow, the Steelers-Dolphins game was not much fun to watch tonight. During commercials I Stumbled Upon this:

The cure for boredom

Fantasy Weekend

I sit here tonight rooting against... The New England Defense, Wes Welker, and Brian Westbrook. Every time that the Eagles score, I smile... as long as it's not Westbrook scoring. Every time the Pats score and it's not Welker, I smile.

Fantasy football is a wild thing.

Right now I am up in both of my leagues, but it is a narrow margin.

Fantasy football really adds an element to 'fandom.' A regular fan just is happy to see a "good game." And most fans right now are salivating at the possibility that the Eagles might upset the invincible Patriots. But, for me... I am smiling because Welker just dropped a pass on the 5 yard line. :)

It is agonizing when you don't have any players left and you are rooting against the other teams players. It's reminiscent of watching my Astros try close out the Cardinals in 2005 to go to the world series. You ride every pitch, hoping nothing happens. Same with Fantasy Football. I would be pleased if a snow storm broke out and blinded the field and no one scored again. Then I win!

Crazy game fantasy football. But I love it.

Both of the teams I am in started their seasons in last place after 4 weeks with the lowest scoring team in both leagues. Now I am scratching and clawing my way back. 2nd in one league and fighting for 3rd in the other. If I can just win both games this week I should make the playoffs.

The drama!

Email Communication "Skills"

This is funny & True!

Made me smile.

talking cats

This is too cool. But, then again... I am a cat person.

Even the Kitchen Sink

We went to Lowes today and bought a new kitchen faucet.

Interestingly enough it is called the "Forte" -- funny, huh? (get it Fordee/Forte) Find more info on it here: Kohler Forte

We are going to have it installed this week. I actually thought about installing it myself.. but with our double basin sink and disposal AND dishwasher lines... it would be messy for me. And, let's face it, I should not be doing anything like this. I can hardly tie my shoes correctly.

It will be great to have a new faucet for the kitchen, but we are not buying what we thought we would this winter. We were in the market for a new light in the dining room and possibly a new dish washer. But then BOOM! out goes the hot water heater and the sink faucet drip turned into the runs. So that's our bit of winter home improvement. I just hope things stop soon, this house is turning into a money pit!

For sure it cements in my mind that we are never moving! Why would I sell this house after sinking all this hard earned money into it? Fifteen years in a house and everything is breaking down. They don't build them like they used to.

Hot Water... no leaks

Our hot water heater is finally installed. I called Home Depot today and said, "I want a refund on the install and I want to go with my own installer." After about an hour on the phone I got my way.

Needless to say they did not have to work on my roof. :)

Now we need to get a new faucet for the sink. The little drip has turned into much worse and the faucet along with all the other appliances in this 15 year old home are going out on us. How come they don't make them like they used to?

Of course I will need someone to come out and install the faucet. I looked online today for hours checking out new faucets and trying to determine if I could install one on my own. Because we have such a big sink (that hangs so low and takes away space from underneath) and because we have a disposal... I just can't imagine doing it myself. Not to mention the fact that I am suffering from a bad back this month. Swapping out a faucet is not my cup of tea. Come to think of it, making a cup of tea is about as far as I can go towards doing work in the kitchen!

Anyway, it has been a stressful week with this water heater. One of the places I called today told me that they could not do the install today... but after hearing about the leaking that I have they cautioned me to not wait another minute and to get it done today. "Sorry we can't help you," is how he ended the conversation. But, he really did help me. It made me realize that I can not wait another day and that I needed to get the thing installed pronto.

Now we have hot water and a little less stress. Next... kitchen faucet. Arghhh. Will it ever end?

Bike Riding Video

Bike Riding in the Fall from fordee on Vimeo.

Happy Turkey Day!

Bike Riding in the Fall

View Full Screen Slide Show

Diego Goldberg :: The Arrow of Time

Diego Goldberg :: The Arrow of Time

This is really amazing. Such consistency. Makes me so happy, yet sad at the same time. Happy that they are all still together as a family, but sad because of what the passage of time does to us. We don't realize it day to day... but we all are changing.

...Still Waiting for Water Heater Install

I am so frustrated right now.

After having our water heater go on the fritz on Saturday, calling for a plummer to come out and fix it that day... then having them not show up on Sunday to fix it... I called Home Depot and bought one over the phone with delivery, install and warranty. I paid way too much, but I figured it would be done properly and I would be happy to be back in hot water heaven.

We are not so lucky.

Today the delivery of the water heater and the install was set for 1-4. It was delivered at 2 pm. Yeaaa! But, the installers never showed up. I called Home Depot. After speaking with 4 people and being on hold forever, I was told that the contractor would be calling them back and that Home Depot would call me to tell me when to expect the contractor.

A minute later I got a call from a dude that said, "Hey! What's the weather like over there?" I didn't even know what to say. I was pissed that he had not shown up and it was 4:15. He said, "We'll be there in 30 minutes." An hour and a 1/2 later - he shows up. He walks in and says, "You already have your water heater? We just spent 90 minutes picking one up for you!" I didn't really care about that. I just wanted him to get to work and finish.

He went upstairs and they looked things over. Immediately they wanted to look at the roof. He said, "My partner needs to get up on the roof, is that ok?" I was kind of stunned, but tired of the waiting and said, "Whatever."

Ten minutes later he says, "We got a big problem, see right here you have a 50" heater that they sent ya'll. Your heater up there is 47". We are going to have to drill a hole in your roof and pop the vent shaft up another 3 inches or so and then re-seal it. Home Depot charges $200 for that." I said, "Thanks for coming out... but we aren't paying a dime more for a new hole in our roof!"

Boy was I hot. He shook my hand and they scampered out - quickly. No paper work, no "Well, we could do this... we could do that." Gone.

I called Home Depot and told them my story. I was not HAPPY. There is a 3 foot pipe in the closet where my water heater is stored. They have PLENTY of room to fit the 50" model in there. Plenty. All they would need to do is refit the pipe - that has 3 pieces to it already and is fitted together. This is all the venting at the top of the heater.

Anyway, after being on hold and speaking with three different people at Home Depot... I was left with this - they can not get in touch with the "installer." They will call me on Friday Morning and do a "Followup" on it. So I said, "let me get this straight... can I just cancel the install if these guys won't do it? And then just get a local plummer to do the job?" The Home Depot guy said, "Yeah, but they will charge you for a trip fee today... and I don't know how much that will be - depends on the installer." I was hot.

After doing some research online I have found out that there are plenty of scams with hot water heaters. People without hot water will not want to wait long before they get it. And 3rd party installers know that people are between a rock and a hard place. They will pay and extra $200 bucks just to get their water back online.

I WILL NOT.

Home Depot is not going to see an extra dime from me. I will install the damn thing myself if it comes to that!

Can you tell my blood pressure is up?

(deep breaths...)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

Waiting for a Water Heater

I am sitting here on my day off waiting... waiting for a water heater. Well, actually it was just delivered. Now I am waiting for it to be installed. I sure will be a lot happier when the thing is up and working and they are done. Then maybe I will feel like my Thanksgiving Break can begin.

Ubuntu

Installed Ubuntu 7.10 operating system on my laptop this week. Ubuntu is a version of Linux that is winning praise because it is user-friendly to setup and use. I am very excited to say that "so far, so good." I am still in the process of trying to get everything installed that I like to use.

I am messing with it while Norma is getting Aidan to sleep and I'm also watching the Rockets/Spurs matchup on ESPNHD. The Rockets have been a lot of fun to watch this year.

What I like best about Ubuntu is this -- FREE. From the website:

Ubuntu is a community developed, linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.

But, I have read that before... many years ago. Linux is everything Windows is... but it never was. It was glitchy and not easy to use. We'll see this time around. But, I have a sneaky suspicion that I could be using this on my laptop and be very happy.

We'll see. On my laptop I only really need to write word docs, email, browse the web, chat and do presentations (for the classes I teach at night and on weekends). This Ubuntu OS has all of those applications and they are pretty easy to use. In fact, the chat application called PIDGIN is about the best I have ever seen!

So who knows? I'll detail the progress here throughout the next couple of months.

Did You Know 2.0

This really makes you think...

AVID Parent Night

Wow. What can I say? It was a great night on Thursday. We had about 100 parents, students and AVID site team members in our cafeteria at AHS. The food was great - Mexican and fajitas. We ate and had a chance to talk to the parents and kids. Then we showed the 10 minute video of music and pictures from the first 12 weeks. It highlighted some of the great things we've been doing:

*Guest Speakers
*Our Binder - which helps kids to organize their work
*Tutoring - we have 8 college tutors come in on Tuesdays an Thursdays to help students with their classes.
*Philosophical Chairs - a debate style that the kids have loved doing in class
*Cornell Notes - a note taking system that they use in their classes.

Then after the video the kids got up an talked about "What they like about AVID." It was awesome to see what an impact it has had on these kids after such a short time. The parents were really into it. One student started to cry as she explained how important the class has been to her because, "now I care about school." Of course, I started to cry then, too.

It was emotional. But that was a good thing. The parents understood at the end of the night that: 1) Their student is doing a great job. 2) The kids are working hard and 3) they appreciate the program. It was a very successful night.

As I told Norma later - I think it was one of the very best things I have ever been involved in during my teaching career.

Modus Operandi

Well, I would say I am busy... but, c'mon. It's pretty much just 'life' now. This week is typical:

Mon - Meeting after school - AVID Site Team (that's the 13 folks at our school that support the program I work in called AVID

Tue - AVID District Meeting from 4:30 to 6:00 pm - that meeting was for everyone in our school district (I believe it is 11 schools) that teach AVID classes).

Wed - All Day AVID Houston Area Conference. That's where my teaching partner and I head off to today. I'm leaving in a bit.

Thurs - AVID Parent Night. We are serving Mexican food and going to show some video of the kids in action. It is from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. It is our 2nd parent night of the year.

Nah, AVID isn't too much extra work, huh? And to think I make not a dime more because of it. But, soooo many people want to teach it. Well, it is an awesome gig. Mostly because I know that in four years of working with these 26 kids I will get a big paycheck at the end: Their acceptance letter to college. That is going to be a great feeling. I just need to make it to that point with them. :)