Today is Labor Day, and summer is now over for me.  Work starts up again tomorrow, and while I'm excited for the coming year, I'm going to miss this summer.  It's been the best summer I've had in ages, and I feel refreshed from the summer like i haven't felt in years.  For years, I've spent a lot of time every summer taking care of sick and elderly family members.  This summer was for me, and I got to spend time with my friends and go on trips.  I loved it.

This weekend was a great way to end the summer.  I'm at the shore house, getting a last little bit of relaxation in before the upcoming 10 months of craziness.  Had a nice afternoon on the beach after I finally made it down here on Friday, although Tian disappeared at one point and scared us - the waves were rough, and we imagined the worst.  It turned out he'd been hurt in a very large wave - the water was rough - and gotten out to find a lifeguard.  We found him after a bit of panic, and headed back to the house to make dinner.  We contemplated going out after dinner, but stayed in and watched Newsies.  Yesterday, we attempted to go shopping, but got distracted, and headed back to the house after the Sprint store and lunch.  Went to the beach, where we got sandblasted, and we didn't dare going into the water.  Instead of Friday's big waves, Saturday's ocean was more of a giant meat tenderizer.  After we'd had enough of sandy logic puzzles, we went back to the house for a bit, then went to Donovan's Reef to see The Nerds play.

Although I liked Jenk's better for seeing the band, sitting on a beach with friends and a beer watching the shadows lengthen as the ocean did it's best to wash away the beach was a nice way to pass part of the last night of summer.

And now, it's my last day before returning to work.  It's going to be a rough year - I'm starting an FTC team, and I'm up for tenure - but I think it's going to be a good year.  We'll see how it goes.

I had a dream last night.  In my dream, I was at the local Korean church.  We were putting grapes on the graves of a cemetery on their property by the side of the road to honor the dead.  This cemetary doesn't actually exist, but it existed in my dream.  Oddly, almost everybody there was blonde, blue eyed, and a little creepy.  While I was putting grapes on graves, I ran into a bunch of my relatives from my dad's side of the family.  All of one part of the family, and the youngest daughter of another cousin.  And yes, they're all Jewish.  The youngest one there is even a Lubavitch girl from Spring Valley (the others are all from Dallas).  As we walked around depositing grapes, they were discussing legal terms and how they related to hot dogs.  And then in my dream, I sat down with my phone to post on LJ about my favorite hot dogs.  Except for some reason I kept typing "Rambo."

WTF, brain?

Can't sleep.  It's 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and I've already walked the dog and had breakfast.  Going to the JCC now to do some swimming.  Maybe I'll finally get my sleep cycle back to normal hours.

Please, please, please no more salt water up my butt. Please.

Thanks.

Summer!

My keys are handed in and I no longer have a classroom.  My stuff can't be in either my old room or my new room, because the floors are going to be torn up, so it's currently covering nearly every surface and filling every empty cabinet in a nearby classroom.  So now I'm waiting for the construction workers to do their jobs quickly and correctly so I can move to my new room and start unpacking and organizing.  Which, if you're at all familiar with the saga of the construction at school, you know is most likely not going to happen.  I should be able to use this summer to set up, but if I'm lucky, there'll be a couple of weeks at the end of August for me to do so.  I'm guessing a few days are more likely, and not having a classroom at the start of the school year doesn't seem entirely unbelievable.

I'm so glad it's finally time for my break, especially after the craziness of the end of the year.  I have a lot to do, and only two months to do it in.  Time to go get started!

It seems to me that it's a bad sign when the phrase "Well, at least it's only a little gas leak" no longer seems terribly odd.  I've reached that point at work.

Why does this nice weather have to be so sunny?

Time to find my sunscreen, then go out and start my garden.  I've never gardened on my own before (grandpa used to garden, but I was of minimal help), so wish me luck!

Today is the first day of spring.  I drove through a snow storm to get to work.  By the afternoon, I had my classroom door open, and I drove home through beautiful weather that seemed months away from snow.

It's now been 2009 for a bit over 25 hours around here.  I'm hoping for the good stuff from 2008 to continue, and to get a break from some of the more negative things I had to deal with in the past year.

Also, first post from the new computer!

It's snowing.  In central Jersey.  In October.

Very, very strange.

Labor Day is like the ultimate Sunday night for a procrastinating teacher.

Remember how, in school, Sunday night was when you had to get everything done for the coming week?  Well, I'm at the end of a two month weekend leading up to a 10 month week.

Back to work!

Lauren's home for a week to spend her birthday here in New Jersey.  Happy birthday, Lauren!

Now that I'm hanging out with her at the shore, it finally feels like a proper summer.

My grandpa has a very sweet, well-behaved elderly female doberman.  A number of you have met her before.  Unfortunately, grandpa is in bad shape, and won't be able to take care of her anymore.  I'm looking for a home for her.

The dog's name is Sage.  She's friendly, she loves to be around people, and should be fine with other dogs, even most other female dogs.  I've heard she doesn't get along with my aunt's female doberman puppy, but she loves to play with the female jack russell/pug mix I've got.  We don't know how she'd be with cats - we've had her since she was an older puppy, and in that time she's never met a cat.  She's about average size for a female doberman.  She loves to play with my dog, and she'll rarely pass up a chance to run around outdoors or go for a walk, but she really doesn't demand much exercise - she's been coping without walks for quite a while now, although I'm sure she'd be thrilled if you'd walk her sometimes.

If you'd like to take her, but you don't quite have the budget to add a dog to your home, let me know - we should be able to help out with the expenses.  I'd take her myself, but we have a small house and three cats in addition to the dog, so a second dog isn't an option for us.

Here's the problem - I need an answer as soon as possible.  My aunt called today to tell us that if we couldn't take Sage, she'd be put to sleep.  I've convinced her to give me until tomorrow evening to try to find her a home, but she won't wait any longer than that.  If you'd like to take her, but there's a problem we might be able to help with, tell me, and I'll see if we can work it out.

I think I may have a dwarven dog.

• She's short.
• She's very stocky.
• She's unexpectedly strong.
• Her size makes her look like an easy target, but she can take on a dog several times her size.  And win.
• She has white chin markings that make me think of a beard.
• She likes to dig for treasure (although admittedly not exactly the dwarven idea of treasure).
  

Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done. See if anybody else responds with "I've done that."

1) Accidentally stayed up reading all night before taking the SAT.  Twice.

2) I've gotten lost on a train.  Yes, you read that right.  I got up to go to the snack car, and it took me a few attempts to get back to my seat.

3) An axel.

Quick Quiz:

You're planning a major ceremony.  There are close to 2,000 people involved.  The weather forecast is calling for thunderstorms, and you can see a rapidly approaching wall of dark, flashing clouds.  Do you:

A) Get inside as fast as you can, to try to keep things relatively sane

or

B) Wait until it starts pouring, then have everybody head inside, absolutely soaked.

I bet you can guess which option our admins went for...

The year is coming to an end, and the end of the year is bringing with it many frustrations.  Apparently, I'm a "crazy woman," a "tight-ass bitch," "evil," and various other insults.  Some of the seniors who don't really want to be in my class and have been a pain in the ass all year have been practically unbearable lately.  On Friday, my first period class was driving me absolutely nuts.

I did make it through the day, to eleventh period, which is the final period of the day.  Usually, period 2 helps me recover from period 1, but because of the modified schedule, period 2 was canceled.  I was worn out and frustrated by the time the end of the day came around, and terribly overheated.  I have some of my best students in that period, and I'm really going to miss the two seniors (the others are all going to be back with me next year).

As one of the two seniors was packing up to leave, she asked me to sign her yearbook, which made me pretty happy.  Then she handed me an envelope, and thanked me for everything I'd done this year.  Even without that envelope, she made me feel so much better, and reminded me of one of the reasons I teach - I want to be that teacher that my kids will remember for the positive impact I had on them, or what they learned from me, or how interesting my class was, or anything else like that - I want to be Mr. Lamb, or Mrs. Anderson, or Mr. Novotny, or even Mrs. Sachs.  Or even looking back to college, I want to be like Dr. Finkral, or that English professor whose name I can't recall but whose class I'll never forget.

The girl left after she handed me the envelope, and I opened it up and took a look inside.  She'd written me a beautiful thank you note sharing her feelings.  I hope I can find her at graduation, because I want to thank her.  It made me feel so good to know that for at least one girl, I've managed to be the teacher I want to be.  I'm going to miss her, and I think that as much as she says she's benefited by having me - I benefited at least as much by having her.  She's the sort of student I don't think I'll ever forget, and I wish her the best in her future and hope to see her achieving great things - I know she will.

As frustrating as my job can get, the better parts of teaching make it all worthwhile, and that knowledge gets me through the rough times.  And while I know she'll never see this... to one of my favorite students, thank you.  I'm grateful to have been your teacher and to have had the chance to get to know you.  I wish you the best of luck in the future.

I've been salmonbotted.

( Nunlicious! )

I was looking at tv listings, and I thought I saw "Lolcat Programming."  Oops.  It would've been more interesting than local programming, though.

My classroom was already unbearable when I got to work this morning.  At 6:30 AM.  At 10:30, they announced an early closing.  At 1, when we got out, they announced tomorrow's early closing.

I envy the districts that are closed entirely.