The typing habits of Big Fabes.

Woo!

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:49:36 -0600

Just got accepted into grad school for a M.Ed, pending my eventual passing of the GRE.

Desk goes boom.

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:10:50 -0500

So I had my first desk tipping incident today. Luckily, that’s where it ended. I knew this day would come. Everyone stayed calm and everything go back to normal. I even got the desk flipper to talk about what X-Box games he would play this weekend less than 15 minutes after the flip.

Missing time.

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:30:59 -0500

Apparently being a school teacher means all of your free time goes swirling into some vortex, never to be seen again.

I absolutely love what I’m doing right now, although it scares me that I’m getting my 98 percent on instinct and 2 percent on knowledge/know-how. Obviously, that ratio should change in time. For now, however, I think I’ve been a bit too fortunate in a lot of regards.

Some of those regards: no fights, no weapons, no angry parents yelling at me, no potty accidents.

Sure, I’ve been threatened with a hypothetical chainsaw, but I just don’t find the six-year-old’s threats credible at this point.

What happened?

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:55:18 -0500

I haven’t Tumblred in more than a month. And what a month!
Started teaching. Got sick twice (cold and headache). Wife started a new job. Got a big new TV and a Wii to play.
It’s Sunday afternoon. I wasted all Saturday watching TV and feeling sick with a head cold. That means today is all about trying to figure out how I’m going to keep control of/teach my tiny, yet energetic, class this coming week.
Really I need to just steal the stuff from the 2nd grade team. They work together to plan. I’m supposed to be teaching the same stuff. No reason to reinvent the wheel. Unless, of course, that wheel is the textbook, which I don’t have yet.
Back to work…

The magic exercise.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:23:29 -0500

Just finished up the two-week swim lesson. Most of the second week was just me swimming back and forth, instead of getting instruction. I mastered the crawl and breaststroke pretty quickly and others in the class were still learning to go under water.

All that means that I got plenty of exercise this week. Swimming seems to be magic. I took off around three pounds this week. And, now, my body wants to swim every day. It isn’t going to get that, but the whole swimming for fitness thing seems sustainable.

Into the deep end.

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:43:46 -0500

My first Red Cross adult swim lesson last night was a slight disappointment. Let’s just say it started slow, with instruction in dunking under the water and blowing bubbles.

That’s OK. It was cool to get into a pool again. And I did some short, awful, laps with my lousy crawl stroke afterward.

Even though I still don’t really know what I’m doing when I’m swimming, I have high hopes I’ll learn and like it. I’ll never be a runner because of my legs (two previouslu broken ankles, numerous sprains, two knees that suffer from water on the knee and two feet with high and painful arches). Houston just isn’t a cycling town or a cross-country skiing town. And the skiing and cycling machines at the gym are a failed substitute for the actual thing.

That leaves swimming as a possible, quasi-daily exercise activity that won’t leave me injured or in the poorhouse (like rowing, yoga or other activities might).

So, I’ll keep learning and force myself to be a swimmer, because, Lord knows, I need regular exercise.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs trailer!

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:25:23 -0500

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs trailer!:

My second favorite picture book of all time is coming to the movie theater!

The room.

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:32:13 -0500

Got into my clasroom for the first time today — darn, it feels good to say “my classroom.” All the furniture had been pushed to the middle because the school is still in the midst of its summer cleaning.

I poked around, took pictures of much of the room and sat at my desk and thought. Next week, when I’m not wearing a dress shirt and slacks, I will dig in and figure out everything I have and everything I need.

So excited!

The family crew in Cincy. Not pictured: us and...

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:05:47 -0500

The family crew in Cincy. Not pictured: us and Cincinnati’s awesome chili!

I lived in Aurora for nearly five years and don't ever remember seeing this building. Que lastima!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:37:34 -0500

I lived in Aurora for nearly five years and don't ever remember seeing this building. Que lastima!

Up all night.

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:16:54 -0500

With a headache and a stomach ache.

But, I did get to finish reading “A Single Shard,” a Newbery award winning I’ve been stuck in the middle of for a month or two.

My wife had never seen Minesweeper before today!

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:23:51 -0500

The best pork chop ever.

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:37:45 -0500

The best pork chop ever.:

Seriously. The flame seared crust was so good that I cleaned every inch of it off of my huge chop since I new the crispy chewiness would be lost by refrigerating the leftovers.

The meat was so tender I cut through it with a fork.

The apple sauce and herb cream sauce served with the chop were an awesome counterpoint to the pork.

And, the chop was so big that the leftovers became pulled pork for dinner.

Amazing.

Magic shoes!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:40:49 -0500

Magic shoes!:

As many of you know, I’ve had terrible feet for years. When I lived in Wisconsin I went from walking eight miles per week to nothing because my feet fell apart.

Since then, I’ve landed some sweet orthotic inserts for my shoes, which were recently refurbished.

This weekend I took another big step to healthy feet. I gave up my stupid brand loyalty. Everyone who know anything about feet has been making fun of my loyalty to Reebok athletic shoes.

Everyone is right. The wife and I headed to one of the high-end athletic shoe stores in town to get some shoes that will do right by our growing fitness efforts. The nice man there matched me up with a pair of Saucony shoes. One workout in, I’m sold. Sure, there was foot pain. There will always be some foot pain. But there was so much less. And I’m not all achy now that I’m done. Huzzah!

Paperwork.

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:25:52 -0500

Met with the school district HR yesterday.

It was all rote, but went well. I signed way too many forms. They’re running a background check. I need to spend the next week getting a TB test, getting fingerprinted, getting an official college transcript and the like.

So it is an ongoing process that should be done by the end of next week or early the week after. Then new teacher inservice starts on Aug. 5, although additional training is possible in July.

So I finally bought and listened to Neutral Milk Hotel’s...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:03:00 -0500

So I finally bought and listened to Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” Then I listened to it again. And again.

It truly is an amazing album, but I feel like I am listening to it at the wrong moment in time. Had I picked it up in ‘98 when it came out and when I was a college student, it probably would have been the defining album of my college experience (right now that’s held in a tie between Old 97’s “Fight Songs,” The Refreshments’ “Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy,” Barenaked Ladies’ “Stunt” and Ben Folds Five’s “Whatever and Ever Amen”) [“Ruby Vroom” fails to make the list because it was released in ‘94, before I was in college.].

Instead, hearing “In the Aeroplane” for the first time in 2009, I’m left knowing this is an amazing album — one, in fact, that I will listen to dozens and dozens of times — but it isn’t an album that will speak to where I am right now or have a lasting impact in my musical influences.

DSLR?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:19:27 -0500

We’re thinking about getting a digital single-lens reflex camera. Right now the leader may be the Olympus E-520. I can’t find a single bad review on it.

Any advice from you photogs out there?

At camp.

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:04:48 -0500

I’m spending my days this week at a camp for children with disabilities run by United Cerebral Palsy. Can I just say I’m having a great time.

Each camper has one or two volunteers to work with him or her while we do crafts, watch shows (magician, puppet show, zoo show), play sports and, generally, just have a fun day.

My camper doesn’t talk too much, but we are having a blast. He loves to play basketball and soccer (indoors, thankfully, given the heat), and I’m so content to spend half an hour just pulling down boards or playing keeper.

Obviously this isn’t a perfect approximation of what teaching will be like. Not even close. But I’m truly enjoying working with my camper and some of the other campers who he has befriended.

In other words, I think I could get use to this. Once this week is over, I’m going into overdrive to get ready for the school year.

More official than before.

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:08:36 -0500

Upon arriving home from the Dallas area, I found a message from Houston school h.r. telling me my hiring memo had been filed and that I should call to schedule an appointment.

Sweet! I’m a signature or two away from official! (Hopefully.)

A mystery shine.

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:07:18 -0500

Me: Why is my finger all shiny?

Jenny: Because you gave your fingernail to the strange lady in the mall.