My Life: The Eagles Have Landed

It is official. At lunch today I walked down to the office and checked my mailbox. There it was... the letter. As I ripped it open I knew that this would basically tell me where I would spend the next 30 years of my life. The new high school is opening next fall and our current high school will be splitting the kids in 1/2 and the letter would tell me whether I would be a part of the new high school faculty or staying at my current assignment.

As I read the letter I was excited... the words Atascocita High School were in the first sentence and I was relieved. Then I realized what it said: "This letter is coming to you in response to your interest in being considered for a transfer of assignment to Atascocita High School for the new school year." It said nothing about where I would be going... I quickly scanned the rest to see... and there it was, "Your assignment for the 2006-2007 school year will be Atascocita High School."

I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be though... I didn't know whether Norma had gotten the same letter or not. I hurried back to my classroom and gave her a call... no answer. I emailed her and waited for reply. A minute later my phone rang and she confirmed that she was also going.



Now I was excited. Norma and I will be trading in our Wildcat Purple for Eagle Red. It is going to be a wonderful experience opening up a new school. Most of the students I have now in my honors classes will be going to AHS. My last class of the day was pretty excited to hear the news that I would be going.

It was a great piece of news during a pretty rough week emotionally for me. My students have been doing projects on Africa. You can see the assignment here: Africa Project

The topics are things like: Starvation in the African Horn, Genocide in Sudan, The Rwandan Crisis, Aids, etc. They are pretty depressing to see over and over again for four straight days. The kids have done an incredible job with the projects. They did them on Powerpoint and I will be putting them up on my classroom website for all to see next week. But, still it is emotionally draining to discuss these topics when they really get you in the gut.

At the end of my classes today we had a few minutes left so I showed a video clip of Anderson Cooper (from CNN) on Oprah's show. It was an episode from this winter where Cooper showed a story he did on the starving children of Niger. It is such a terrible story and I cry nearly every time I see it. The only times I don't cry is when I either distract myself or bite my tongue or something. But, I try not to let the kids see it. I want to keep my composure so that I can deliver the main point of the lesson - we need to end poverty in our lifetime.

Teaching such weighty topics is hard work. It is the reason why many teachers choose to avoid Africa altogether. But, for me it is simple. I left the corporate world to have an impact on my community and on this planet. I do not come to school each day just waiting for 3:00 pm to arrive and go home. I am busy trying to make a difference. I told my kids today, "If just one of my students over a 30 year period becomes a millionaire CEO of a large company and can use their vast fortunes for good... well, it is all worth it." It is so hard to tell where your impact stops when you are educating.

If I didn't tackle tough topics like these, I would be wasting my time. The kids are impacted by it and I look forward to reading their reflective essays on the project next week.

My Life: AHS Decision Tomorrow

Tomorrow at the end of the school day the district administration will be delivering word about our teaching assignments for next year. We have been waiting on these for a LONG, LONG time. Finally we'll find out. Norma and I are pretty confident based on raw numbers that we'll be heading to the new high school next fall. But, you never know.

I have been down these roads with employment many time. Waiting on a new position, transfer, or simply a new job. You go through the 'jumping through hoops' and hear 'good things' and then it doesn't work out. Those are heartbreaking situations when your hopes are up. We have tried not to think too much about it, but it is our future and we'll be spending the next 30 years at this school.... whichever we'll be at. So it is a pretty big day tomorrow.

The new high school is really coming along. You can check out the video for it here: Atascocita High School: April Video

We have our fingers crossed. The school looks beautiful. And we are really jazzed up about some of the new programs and changes they will be using. I have a good feeling... we'll see.

Politics: Bush takes a real person's question/comments

This is pretty amazing video footage [cnn video]. You don't see this very often. I am guessing it's an effort for the President to try and raise his approval rating by taking on real quesitons? Interesting. I give the President credit. He let the man talk. But, he sure didn't say much that made sense. Notice the applause at the end from a very pro-Bush crowd. I guess they let one or two dissenters in? Makes it look good.

Read the article here

Bush defends domestic spying program
Man tells president he should be ashamed of policies
"I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration," Taylor said, standing in a balcony seat and looking down at Bush on stage. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."

"You said would I apologize for that?" Bush told him. "The answer is absolutely not."

The challenge to the president came near the end of a lengthy appearance before the World Affairs Council of Charlotte, where he took questions from the audience. Despite a couple tough questions, the president got plenty of easy ones. One woman requested a picture with him and another asked about how young people can get involved to help. One questioner simply told the president people are praying for him and another said he has a friend from Iraq who is grateful that he has made the country safer.

Outside, Bush's motorcade came within site of at least a couple hundred protesters outside the hall. They chanted, "Do your job!" and held signs with phrases such as "Liar" and "Worst President Ever."

Meanwhile in the legal world of dirty politics: Court documents: Libby testified that Bush OK'd intelligence leak But, you won't read that on the front pages of any newspapers in America tomorrow, will you? This liberal media drives me crazy (insert sarcasm here)!

Also, it looks like the Senate is about to pass legislation on immigration. Senate 'breakthrough' on immigration
Bipartisan compromise also draws criticism from both sides

Part of the deal includes:
*payment of a $2,000 fines and any back taxes, clearing a background check and learning English.
*Illegal immigrants in the country for between two and five years could obtain a temporary work visa after reporting to a border point of entry.
*Officials said it could take as long as 13 to 14 years for some illegal immigrants to gain citizenship.
*Illegal immigrants in the United States for less than two years would be required to leave the country and apply for re-entry alongside anyone else seeking to emigrate.

My thoughts? Any illegal immigrant that is living in the shadows, scraping together money to send back to Mexico, and does not have any legal working records are still not a part of this program. Are they really going to pay fines & back taxes? C'mon? Plus, how is our government to know who has been here 2, 5, or whatever years? Holes galore in this bill.

Plus, conservative Republicans HATE IT. Which kind of makes me smile, listening to all of them on the radio today. They are boiling over. Isn't this an election year? :)

Technorati Tags: Bush, Politics, Libby, Intelligence
Immigration

Aidan: New Car

Tonight we took a trip to Toys R Us to look around, get out of the heat (it was 90+ today) and get the baby out of the house. Norma has been looking for a used Lil'Tykes truck for a long time. She wanted to buy one off one of our local yardsales websites, but it didn't work out.

So we saw this police car and decided to pull the trigger on it. Aidan loves the little cars at his sitter's house. He gets so upset when we say, "It's time to go!" If he is out playing, he'll pretty much throw a fit because he wants to stay and ride in the cars.

Now he can ride around at home. The thing has a cb in it that you can plug batteries into. He's going to have a ball with that. But, the thing he loves is the side door that opens. He gets in, presses some buttons, gets out. Then the process starts all over again.



I'm going to post some more pictures of him tonight in my Buzznet Gallery tomorrow. I had major insomnia last night. I bet I only got about 3 hours of sleep. I don't really know why... possibly because of my dentist trip. He told me that I am grinding my teeth pretty bad. I had no idea. He showed me the proof and I agree that it is definitely happening. I can guarantee that it is not when I am aware of it, so I think it's happening at night. So I think that was one of the things that kept me awake... worrying about falling asleep and grinding my teeth. So tonight I bought a mouth guard grinder. Talk about sexy. Hey, if it protects my teeth, then it's thumbs up on the mouth guard.

I also think that sitting in the dentist chair yesterday just made me think about my Dad the entire time. Sitting with my mouth open for an hour for xrays, cleaning and checkup just made me think... "If my Dad only would have gone to the dentist regularly... he could be here today." The bacteria that may have entered his blood stream over a number of years through cavities in his teeth could have caused his valve in his heart to go bad. It just makes me upset.

All I can say is that I learned my lesson. I go back to the dentist on April 24th to have an old filling removed. But, I had no cavities. That surprised me! So good news there. Maybe that good news will swirl through my head tonight and help me fall asleep?

Or maybe I'll try to dream of my big boy riding in his new police car?

Chron.com | Oswalt gets Astros off to roaring start

The Astros begin 1-0 with a 1-0 win. This team got it done down the stretch last year in close one-run games. There is nothing different in 2006. They just find a way to win.


Chron.com | Oswalt gets Astros off to roaring start

Craig Biggio took off as soon as he noticed the wild pitch bounce off the catcher and trickle far enough for him to sprint home with the winning run Monday night, giving longtime Astros fans a reminder of the hustle Biggio has embodied while leading the most successful period in franchise history.

The Astros opened their 45th season by paying homage to all their postseason teams — from Nolan Ryan's 1980 National League West champions to the 2005 NL champions — before a sellout crowd of 43,666 at Minute Maid Park.

Tears were shed and ovations rendered, especially when injured icon Jeff Bagwell drew a standing ovation of nearly two minutes and another of 30 seconds.

The Bagwell ovation was really something. I had missed it during the pregame on TV, we were eating and cleaning up after dinner. But, when they talked about it and showed the replay later I really got emotional. He has been such a huge part of this team and the best class act you can imagine. He really deserved that. If I was there I would have been balling my eyes out. Must have been neat to see the fans erupt like that.

My Astros should have a really fun season. Most of the prognosticators are predicting that they will not make the playoffs. Yet this team has made the playoffs in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004 & 2005. Last year's National League Championship Season doesn't seem to have bought them any respect.

But that's just the way we like it in Houston. These are our guys. Down to earth, hard working, and scrap out wins. Just like Monday night's opening game 1-0 victory. Whatever it takes.

Technorati Tags: Baseball, MLB, Houston Astros, Florida Marlins, Opening Day 2006, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio

My Life: Heading to the dentist... ugh

Is there anything worse than going to the dentist? Boy I really hate it. But, after what happened with my Dad I have told myself that I will go a couple of times a year regularly. He had some teeth decay that may have led to the problems he had with his heart. When you have bacteria entering your body through your teeth it can cause problems. One of those problems is with valves in your heart.

As much as I hate it, going to the dentist is now a regular routine for me.

So... I guess I have to!

My guess... 3 cavities. I always have terrible teeth. Always have. Hoping the damage isn't bad. But, I haven't gone since Aidan was born. So that is almost 2 years. I am so bad. When the baby routine starts rolling it's hard to build time to go to the dentist and take care of yourself. You get to be so concerned with the baby and a lot less with yourself.

But, it is time I started taking care of myself a little better.

Kiefer Sutherland to appear on ABC's Lost

Kiefer Sutherland to appear on ABC's Lost

Just in case you missed the "news of the weekend"!

APRIL 1--Hollywood Wow! reported today that Fox and ABC have joined forces for a novel form of synergization. The networks will feature Jack Bauer, the character played by Kiefer Sutherland in the Fox action series 24, in the ABC supernatural series Lost.

The storyline is being kept under wraps, but sources say it involves Bauer crash-landing on the island in a WWII biplane after he is fired by CTU. Bauer and Lost character Sayid, an ex-Iraqi army interrogator, compete to see who is the best at devolving into paranoia under the guise of protecting the security of the island. The climax is said to feature the two engaging in a torture contest.

Or just in case you missed MY POST on Saturday. :)

Kinda sad how many people fall for this stuff.

Technorati Tags: 24, Keifer Sutherland, Jack Bauer, Lost, April Fools

Video Games: Heavyweight Champion of the World

This afternoon I won the Heavyweight Championship of the World on Fight Night 3 Xbox 360.

Woo hoo!

I have been working in career mode for weeks and finally have won the belt. My record? 32-8.

:)

Technorati Tags: Fight Night Round 3, EA Sports, Xbox 360, Video Games

Blogging: Using Technorati Tags Helps

I use Technorati Tags on this site and have been for a while. If you don't know what they are, basically they are used by a site called Technorati.com to help bloggers find information on certain topics. You "tag" your topics. According to the Technorati site: Think of a tag as a simple category name. People can categorize their posts, photos, and links with any tag that makes sense. If you want to learn more you can visit: How to Use Technorati for some help. I have been linked from their help section where I wrote an entry on How to Use Tags.

I have recently been checking out my stats through my counter service: Site Meter and it occurred to me that my traffic has been steadily increasing since I started using Technorati Tags. As you can see from the graphic below, things started picking up in January when I started using them:

I find them highly effective for certain topics. My top tags so far are shown here. No surprise which are the biggest tags: Bush, Baby Pictures, Snapshots, TV, 24, and Family. I don't tag my "My Life" posts. Those are just for me... don't really need a tag do they? But, if someone wants to read more about sports, politics, or tv they can find me and read my opinions through Technorati. It's a neat service.

Has anyone else seen good results with it?
Technorati Tags: Using Technorati, Technorati Tags, Tags, Blogging

Blogging: Fixing Permalink Title in Blogger

I have been a little frustrated with a few things in the Blogger World. It's a great service, don't get me wrong. But, so much of it is cutomizable it takes a while to get everything setup perfectly. The template I am using (like most) did not have permalinks in the title of each blog entry. That frustrated me as I was used to it from Modblog and also used to most blogs using that function.

I found code and fixed it tonight. All I did was insert this code into the template.

Then saved and republished my template and voila. It worked. Whew. Nice learning opportunity tonight.

Source: Simple SEO
Technorati Tags: Permalink Title in Blogger, Blogger tips, Blogger Tricks

Aidan: New Haircut

Norma and I worked Aidan over last Sunday to give him his best haircut yet. It really does look pretty good. It isn't easy to cut a 17-month old's hair. We did it in the living room with Nick on the tv tuned to his favorite cartoons. It didn't go very well until I got down on my knees and cut his hair at his eye level. When I was hovering over him it bothered Aidan a lot.

Clipper, Clipper, Clipper. I am getting better at it. This was the 2nd time. I hope next time we have it down to a science.

Tags: baby pictures, family, snapshots

Sports: Texans Trade David Car... set to draft Vince Young #1

The Houston Texans today traded former first round pick David Carr to the Green Bay Packers for their first round draft pick this year. This frees up the Texans to draft hometown hero Vince Young with the top pick in the draft. The draft is set for later this month.

Amazing story. I am stunned. I can hardly believe this is true. First the Packers decide that they are going to turn to Carr instead of the close-to-retirement Favre. And now all of the UT fans of Houston will be rejoicing to see their homeboy Vince being drafted by their home pro team. I am sure it is a dream come true for a lot of Houston fans.

For me, I would never have approved this. But, now that it has happened I am getting excited about seeing #10 running around for my Texans!

[april fools! i got my wife with this just a few minutes ago. she was pissed to hear that the texans would trade carr. she loves him. and she doesn't like UT and vince young. so it was a pretty good joke!]

Tags: Vince Young, David Carr, Houston Texans, Green Bay Packers, NFL, NFL Draft, April Fools