First Game of the Year

I went to my first baseball game of the year on Monday. A friend of mine from volunteering gave us her corporate tickets. Sweet! It was a beautiful night, but COLD!



Check out our awesome seats.

Ryan Howard at bat.


Lance Berkman warming up.


Yadier Molina.


I didn't get any of Pujols though.

On the geek front, did you know they have developed a new way of pouring beer? They do it from the bottom. The cups have a magnet on them so that once they finish filling, the magnet drops down to seal the base. Sweet huh? Here's a video.



When I asked the lady if I could film her doing it, she said that everyone does and she's famous on YouTube. Those cups must be expensive though. I thin they should let you buy your first beer and then bring your cup back for refills for 10% off or something. Cool technology nevertheless.

Terror is One Way to Start the Day

I teach AP Bio and Anatomy. We are currently doing dissections, and the kids wanted to get a better feeling of where structures would be in humans, so I brought in the anatomy manaquin Tuesday afternoon. As I walked in Wednesday morning, before having my first cup of coffee, I caught sight of her out of the corner of my eye. I jumped about 10 feet in the air before I realized what it was.

Baby Making

Some girls like music. Some like candles. I like a nice chilly glass of white.



I keep thinking that we will have real spring soon, so we decided to try some new whites to see what we might enjoy this coming summer. And if it serves a greater purpose of extra together time, well, that's awesome too. :)

I'm a Mean Doggy Mom

Doggy dinner time is at 5:00. We try not to deviate too much from that. Henry had other ideas today though.

Compare and Contrast

On Saturday mornings, I volunteer at Stray Rescue. I usually get there around 6:30 in the morning and leave between 12:00 and 1:00. At this point I'm hungry, but drive-through options are, to say the least, not usually healthy. The new Panera by me now has a drive-through though, and I do love their yogurt parfaits. I also wanted to get a hamburger for the old dog and cat who are losing weight and getting much pickier as they get older. While at McDonald's, I decided to grab one of their parfaits as well.

And so we begin the compare/contrast.



Taste: McDonald's yogurt is thicker and creamier. The parfait also has more types of fruit in it but less granola. The Panera parfait is not as sweet but the granola has more nuts in it. I think this battle has to be considered a draw. It would really depend on what I was craving.

Cost: A Panera parfait is $3.99. The McDonald's version is $1. However, the McDonald's version is almost exactly half the size, so, for an equal portion, which I would consider a reasonable size meal, it would be $2. This makes McDonald's the winner here.

Nutrition: So let's assume that for lunch I would eat one Panera parfait or two McDonald's parfaits. With that in mind, there would be 10 more calories from McDonald's.(310 vs 320) The Panera parfait has 11 grams of fat (I assume from more nuts) while two of the McDonald's parfaits would have a total of 4 grams of fat. Here's the kicker. Sugar. The Panera parfait has 28 grams of sugar. Two McDonald's parfaits would have 42!!!!!! Holy cow. So, who wins here? I consider calories a draw, McDonald's wins in fat, but Panera smokes them in sugar.

Overall: Well, I like knowing that McDonald's, which is everywhere, has something that I can eat and be satisfied with. I also like knowing that it is so affordable. However, the sugar thing kind of freaks me out. Why do they have all that sugar? Is it necessary? Doubtful. My guess is that I will still tend towards the Panera version, but the McDonald's one will be a good backup.

*Note also that I know I could have the stuff to make these at home, but I'm talking about when I'm HUNGRY here people. There are times when even that basic pseudo-cooking seems like too much.

Work

In the past two years I have thought a lot about my career. I started my own business and found out that I missed teaching too much. Just like being a lab scientist WASN'T for me, I realized that working in schools and with kids IS for me. So last year I got back in the classroom and managed to acquire an administrative position where I would head the summer academy. It was a big deal for me since I was new to the school yet still got selected.

So the reality is that, while I'm not the head of a division, I am more than a teacher. Probably somewhere between department chair and dean in terms of the hierarchy. For some people, this change in my position immediately changed how they treated me. All in all though, it has just been an opportunity for me to take on more responsibility and get my foot in the door.

This week however, I think I might have come to the point where I have to flex my muscle. Currently there are four sections of AP Biology. I teach two and my colleague teaches two. Next year there will only be three sections. This means that one of us will get one and one will get two. We both want the two sections of AP. I'm sure that some of our reasons are the same: it is nice teaching the top kids and having your class basically "end" about three weeks before the end of the school year. I have the added reason of needing a little more down time during these weeks as it is crunch time for the summer school.

In private conversations, the other teacher mentioned that she thought it would be easy for her to get the two sections because she had seniority. Hmmm. I mentioned that this issue would be coming up to the Assistant Head of School/my mentor and gave him all my reasons for hoping I could get two sections. I also asked if he thought it was worth it to peruse it though as she did have seniority. He immediately said that it made complete sense that I should get the two sections based on my all-school responsibilities. He also indicated that he would tell my department chair that this needed to happen.

There has been no fallout yet. We actually haven't even officially scheduled classes yet. I'm still not 100% comfortable with being "above" some people on the ladder though. I'll get there, but it is awkward for me. This co-worker has made it perfectly clear that she has no aspirations to be in any kind of administration, and, to some extent, I feel like she has made her own decisions. If she doesn't want to be the boss, then she has to deal with the reality that people will leapfrog her despite how long she has been somewhere.

I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill.

Getting Something Off My Chest

I am Christian. Not the in-your-face, if you don't believe what I believe you're going to hell type. But I do believe in God, I go to church regularly, I pray, and, if it seems appropriate, I am happy to talk about my faith. (And yes, I think you can be religious and still believe in Evolution, the Big Bang, and other scientific ideas. In fact, I find that religion supports them.)

So I pray. Let's be clear that I pray with purpose. I recognize and am grateful that I have lots of wonderful things in my life, but there are things I still long for. For the past year, I've been praying that our family could grow. Yes, I specifically prayed for a baby. Just like Hannah and Sarah. Guess what? I still don't have one. I don't think that means I'm praying wrong. I don't think that means God doesn't love me. That does mean that sometimes I'm angry about it, but I still believe God loves me even when I feel that way.

I just thought I would clarify that little tidbit. You can ask for EXACTLY what you want and still not get it.

Giveaway

I haven't posted about any bloggy giveaways lately because, well, there haven't really been any that interested me. However, Alyssa linked me to one today!

Stephany is giving away cute return address labels. Check it out. While the ones she is offering are adorable, I have a different favorite.

These!


So yeah, you should go enter.

How can you complain when this is how your volunteer shift starts on Saturday morning? So cute! (Yes, he's sleeping ON the desk.)

Three Stories: Two Dog and One Cat

Ginger had her one-year vet appointment. Her weight is "perfect. The vet said she could feel her ribs but not see them. This is a new development as she really just put on quite a bit of weight in the last six weeks or so. The only worrisome thing is her teeth. She's got quite a bit of tartar, more than the two year old, and we suspect it has to do with her rough start. Because she's still a level 1, we're going to try denta stix and t/d food as treats to see if it gets better. The vet thinks there is a good chance of that fixing it without having to do a full cleaning. As a patient though, she was so so good.

The other story has to do with Doc, the 18 year old Shih Tzu mix. Well, at that age, his sight is getting worse, and depth perception is particularly bad. A was taking a load of laundry down to the basement this morning and Doc tried to follow. He missed the first step, hit the third step with his back legs, did a flip in the air, and A had to catch him in the laundry basket! OMG! Can you imagine if he had been trying to go down those stairs on his own? He would have been seriously hurt. We'll have to make sure that door is closed when we're not at home.

The cat is also experiencing some age issues. He's losing weight despite having food available at all times. His claws are also getting really thick. He doesn't sharpen them anymore, and this makes clipping harder. Because of his weight loss, he's also cold a lot. We tried putting a fleece hoodie that we bought for our foster dog on him. He really loves it and seems much happier.



Pets getting older is so sad. :(

On My Playlist Now

My Friday!

Ok, so today is Thursday, but there is no school tomorrow, so it's kind of like Friday.

My students take their AP on Monday, so that class (2 sections) is basically over. I'll do one more small project with them that won't take outside grading, but really, that's it. Woohoo!

I'm covering my last unit in Anatomy too. In other words, I really only have one more test to grade this year. Phew.

I'm helping organize a charity event for Stray Rescue tomorrow night. A is going to help too since it's at an antique gallery. This will be his first event! I'm also making bandanas for all the adoptable dogs who will be there. Here are my dogs modeling the first couple. Henry is not happy he's wearing one for girls. :)



(Yuck, you can see the gross linoleum floor in our kitchen. Blech.)



Who knows what the rest of the weekend will bring, but I'm feeling light and free. Next week will be easy, they weather seems to finally be turning, and, well, life is just good right now. And I still feel hopeful. Do I need to start being cranky again? I have few enough readers as it is. Can you imagine if I have nothing to complain about?

Open Letter

Dear Work,

If you constantly emphasize how we need to use technology in class, then you need to give us a stable network. My kids are supposed to turn in electronic assignments, access electronic study materials, and I am expected to monitor them using electronic technologies in the classroom. This spring has been ridiculous.

Thank you,

A frustrated teacher