Let me just clarify: I am not a snowbird. I may have Wisconsin license plates but I do in fact have a Florida address. I mention this because yesterday was my first day back to the beach since December. Keep that in mind for later. Cocoa Beach, as always, was a treat but there were a few things that tried to ruin my fun. These things include:
Getting pooped on by a bird, twice. (bad luck seems to follow me. I don’t know if the seagulls are attracted to the color of my bright blue bikini or what, but man, it’s like I have a target strapped to me).
I may or may not have broken a toe while running wildly on the beach. There was blood involved, however, the sand makes for a great band-aid.
My gracelessness caused me a huge bruise from a Frisbee on my shin. At least battle wounds are awesome … they give the perception that I’m one tough cookie.
Sunburn. Goes without explanation.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic. This is where the “not being a snowbird” clarification comes in handy. Now that it’s warm again in Florida people from all over the nation are flocking to the beach. It’s also spring break season so naturally all the college students need to come down to have a “CRAZY SB 2011, MAN!” where I’m sure I’ll hear many phrases like “dude I was so f-ing drunk all day yesterday at the beach” or “I’m totally going after that hot girl in the pink bikini”… blah blah blah. Just think, if you moved to Florida you could have those stories everyday ;-) … not that that’s how I live my life… Anyway…
Alas, my first day back to the beach was a success. Good sun, good fun, and good company!
What else is going on… hm… well I’m finally all recovered from my Washington, D.C. trip with the AmeriCorps group. That was insane. Things I learned:
-How to prevent bullying
-Ways to teach effectively
-How to live off of three hours of sleep
-DC microbreweries are fantastic
-Dinosaurs are beautiful
-You can get into the Library of Congress if you ask
-Being stuck in a hotel for 4 days can be miserable
-The juvenile correctional system is pretty whack
-How to effectively manage classroom behavior
That’s the run-down. I took some pretty bomb-ass notes in my notebook. I wish I had a scanner so I could upload those pages. My notes are filled with pure education complete with pictures and graphs ;-) Ha ha.
So, as the end of my AmeriCorps term is coming up I’m beginning to worry about my future plans. I have no direction as of yet. I was thinking about going back to school for Education Policy but I missed the deadlines for most of the grad schools that I’m interested in and oh, yeah, I haven’t taken the dread GRE yet.
The second option I was thinking about was doing a second year of AmeriCorps. But, it looks like that program might be cut from the budget anytime now. Sad day. If only the legislatures and congressmen knew how valuable AmeriCorps volunteers are. I know that if they do decide to get rid of AmeriCorps a lot of non-profit organizations will be hurting. I know for a fact that the AFLC (the non-profit I work for) will be in dire need of help. As of right now 4 out of 5 of the teachers here are funded by AmeriCorps.
It’s a wild time, let me tell you. I guess all a person can do is fight for what is right, hope for the best, and have a grand ole’ time in the mix of things.
Oh! and i linked my Flickr account to my page- check out my photos!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
"if i was young, i'd flee this town" ... Beirut-Elephant Gun
In less than a day I will be basking in the warm Washington, D.C. sun. How fabulous. Life isn’t so bad… I guess.
Things I should be doing but am not:
1. Planning my lessons for school today
2. Going to the bank to deposit checks/talk to personal banker cuz I’m poor.
3. Packing my stuff for DC (I leave in hmmm 17 hours and I haven’t even began packing yet.)
4. Doing laundry
5. Booking a ticket to go see my bro-bro and his family in KS before he leaves for Iraq
6. Sleeping
7. Reading A Long Way Down
8. Eating cheese (that’s my effing favorite)
9. Learning Spanish so I know what the eff people in this office are saying since I’m the only one that doesn’t speak Spanish in my office…
10. Selling raffle tickets for work that are due today- that I forgot at home
11. Playing my guitar
12. Eating anything. Sometimes I forget to eat … like today… wish I had food right now … all I’ve got is a damn apple
13. Making the six posters that need to be done by 6:30am tomorrow
14. Researching how to meet up with Claire-baby in DC
15. Drinking Spotted Cow… DRINKING SPOTTED COW
16. Still need to be planning my lesson for today- recess all day? Does that make me a bad teacher?
I have no motivation to do anything right now. Dammit, I wasn’t supposed to graduate college, yet. I am supposed to still be in Madison, Wisconsin, living the college life. How could the advisor just pass me along without all the required courses? I tried my best to delay my graduation. I picked up two extra majors for crying out loud! Sadly, my four years that I was allotted in Madison (and Wisconsin) has expired. I missed so many cool Wisconsin things already since the 7 months I’ve been gone. Snow days, tweeting opportunities with Kait, sauerbraten with the fam, Obama in Madison, the Badgers making it to the Rose Bowl, Packers winning the Super Bowl, sit-ins at the capitol to demonstrate the collective bargaining rights for teachers, and oh so much more. Oh Scott Walker, why did you have to come into office a year after I left?
Well I am not in Wisconsin. I am here I am at my big wooden desk at the Apopka Family Learning Center in Apopka, Florida. I am not protesting anything (besides work), or at a championship Badger game, or hearing Obama speak. I am instead eating an apple, drinking green tea, preparing myself (mentally) to teach my class of 25 students, and listening to my boss have a meeting with some woman while her 2 year old son stares at me from across the room. I’m as far from Wisconsin as I can get without leaving the country. I’m a little bitter about missing all the history that Wisconsin is making. Florida- can’t you do something interesting?
Randy says my blog is boring (indirectly of course ;-) ) and I believe him. Last night we brainstormed things to make it better. We decided that next year I’m going to travel. I am going to buy more mini dinosaurs (I’ve already given quite a few away). I am going to go wherever the wind blows me. I am going to interview people wherever I stop. I am going to transcribe my interviews and put them on my blog. I’m going to give the interviewee a dinosaur. I am going to post their picture with the dinosaur to my blog. It’s going to be sweet… it would be sweet.
It’d be sweet if I could actually afford to do it… silly money- always getting in the way. He had an idea for that too, but unfortunately, I’m not technologically savvy enough for that idea quite yet. Maybe someday I’ll reveal it to the world.
Maybe my blog is boring because my life is boring? AHHHHH when did I turn into an adult working for “the man”? oh to be 21 again…
I guess I should start working on that “to do” list …
Peace out from the desk of hvoss
Things I should be doing but am not:
1. Planning my lessons for school today
2. Going to the bank to deposit checks/talk to personal banker cuz I’m poor.
3. Packing my stuff for DC (I leave in hmmm 17 hours and I haven’t even began packing yet.)
4. Doing laundry
5. Booking a ticket to go see my bro-bro and his family in KS before he leaves for Iraq
6. Sleeping
7. Reading A Long Way Down
8. Eating cheese (that’s my effing favorite)
9. Learning Spanish so I know what the eff people in this office are saying since I’m the only one that doesn’t speak Spanish in my office…
10. Selling raffle tickets for work that are due today- that I forgot at home
11. Playing my guitar
12. Eating anything. Sometimes I forget to eat … like today… wish I had food right now … all I’ve got is a damn apple
13. Making the six posters that need to be done by 6:30am tomorrow
14. Researching how to meet up with Claire-baby in DC
15. Drinking Spotted Cow… DRINKING SPOTTED COW
16. Still need to be planning my lesson for today- recess all day? Does that make me a bad teacher?
I have no motivation to do anything right now. Dammit, I wasn’t supposed to graduate college, yet. I am supposed to still be in Madison, Wisconsin, living the college life. How could the advisor just pass me along without all the required courses? I tried my best to delay my graduation. I picked up two extra majors for crying out loud! Sadly, my four years that I was allotted in Madison (and Wisconsin) has expired. I missed so many cool Wisconsin things already since the 7 months I’ve been gone. Snow days, tweeting opportunities with Kait, sauerbraten with the fam, Obama in Madison, the Badgers making it to the Rose Bowl, Packers winning the Super Bowl, sit-ins at the capitol to demonstrate the collective bargaining rights for teachers, and oh so much more. Oh Scott Walker, why did you have to come into office a year after I left?
Well I am not in Wisconsin. I am here I am at my big wooden desk at the Apopka Family Learning Center in Apopka, Florida. I am not protesting anything (besides work), or at a championship Badger game, or hearing Obama speak. I am instead eating an apple, drinking green tea, preparing myself (mentally) to teach my class of 25 students, and listening to my boss have a meeting with some woman while her 2 year old son stares at me from across the room. I’m as far from Wisconsin as I can get without leaving the country. I’m a little bitter about missing all the history that Wisconsin is making. Florida- can’t you do something interesting?
Randy says my blog is boring (indirectly of course ;-) ) and I believe him. Last night we brainstormed things to make it better. We decided that next year I’m going to travel. I am going to buy more mini dinosaurs (I’ve already given quite a few away). I am going to go wherever the wind blows me. I am going to interview people wherever I stop. I am going to transcribe my interviews and put them on my blog. I’m going to give the interviewee a dinosaur. I am going to post their picture with the dinosaur to my blog. It’s going to be sweet… it would be sweet.
It’d be sweet if I could actually afford to do it… silly money- always getting in the way. He had an idea for that too, but unfortunately, I’m not technologically savvy enough for that idea quite yet. Maybe someday I’ll reveal it to the world.
Maybe my blog is boring because my life is boring? AHHHHH when did I turn into an adult working for “the man”? oh to be 21 again…
I guess I should start working on that “to do” list …
Peace out from the desk of hvoss
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
"without a home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone..." Like a Rolling Stone-Bob Dylan
Today has been a “spill coffee all down your white shirt kind of day…” I can whole-heartedly confess that I cannot multitask. Not even for the simplest of things, namely, drinking coffee and driving.
Life has been a bit exhausting as of late. Last week I had to coordinate another Education Angels project with 16 of the kids, who are not all in my class. Education Angels is the pen-pal program I set up to connect sponsors (people with lots of money that donate to AFLC) with a student who is in Kids In Motion. Sounds easy, right? Have a kid write a letter to some person thanking them for giving us money and updating them about their academics. However, it gets a little difficult when I need to get them all together and write to someone they don’t know. They.hate.doing.this. It’s hard enough to get everyone together because of absences and such. For February I had them make a Valentines Day card for their pen pal and include a lovely letter about how they are doing at school. Between me being sick and the kids being sick it came down to the Friday before Valentines Day; the day the cards needed to go out. So, I had to run around like crazy. I got it done though and now I have a month to recuperate and think of next months project for them.
This weekend AFLC’s golf tournament fund raiser so work has been extra crazy in that sense too. Trying to get everything together and round up donations to make the even run is no easy task. Today I had to drive out to Altamonte Springs to pick up some donated things from a golf shop. It was nice to be out of the office for a little bit! That took all morning…
The last thing (besides the kids of course) that is making life a little crazy at work is trying to figure out where to put the computer lab that we received. So I’ve been looking at the floor plans and blueprints of AFLC … trying to figure out what all the numbers mean! It’s a very good learning experience…
I was thinking about music today and this is what I came up with:
Soundtrack: i miss cheese curds. and spotted cow. a lot.
Track 1: Better Together – Jack Johnson
Track 2: Wedding Song – Bob Dylan
Track 3: Wildflowers – Tom Petty
Track 4: What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes
Track 4.5: Little Lion Man: Mumford And Sons
Track 5: Counting the Days – Goldfinger
Track 6: We Can Try – Between the Trees
Track 6.5: Amarillo Sky – Jason Aldean
Track 7: The Guy that Says Goodbye – Griffen House
Track 8: Kiss With a Fist – Florence and the Machines
Track 9: Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
Track 10: You’ll Think of Me – Keith Urban
Track 11: Beautiful – Eminem
Track 12: Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan
Track 13: Be Okay – Ingrid Michaelson
Track 14: The Long Way Around – Dixie Chicks
Track 15: Erase Me - Kid Cudi
Track 16: Riding Solo - Jason Derulo
Track 17: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Starfucker
Track 18: Mama You Been on my Mind – Bob Dylan
Track 19: Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
Track 20: Go Girl – Pitbull
Yes, This is what I do with my life. I think of soundtracks.
This weekend I’m going to Washington, D.C. with the AmeriCorps crew. I’m pretty excited. I get to see Claire Baby! (hopefully our schedules allow us to meet up anyway). We're leaving Friday and coming back Tuesday night (technically Wednesday morning). I best start mentally preparing for this!
Also: There is a boy in my class who eats his pocket lint. I'm not sure how to go about handling that... ha ha ha laughing probably isn't the best solution...
AND I GOT SOMEONE TO CONFESS TO STEALING THE CANDY JAR! ahhhaaa the prompt worked ;-) woo woo.
That’s all the exciting news from APK FLA for today.
Hmmm…much rhyming up there.
“well so long, farewell, good-bye.”
Life has been a bit exhausting as of late. Last week I had to coordinate another Education Angels project with 16 of the kids, who are not all in my class. Education Angels is the pen-pal program I set up to connect sponsors (people with lots of money that donate to AFLC) with a student who is in Kids In Motion. Sounds easy, right? Have a kid write a letter to some person thanking them for giving us money and updating them about their academics. However, it gets a little difficult when I need to get them all together and write to someone they don’t know. They.hate.doing.this. It’s hard enough to get everyone together because of absences and such. For February I had them make a Valentines Day card for their pen pal and include a lovely letter about how they are doing at school. Between me being sick and the kids being sick it came down to the Friday before Valentines Day; the day the cards needed to go out. So, I had to run around like crazy. I got it done though and now I have a month to recuperate and think of next months project for them.
This weekend AFLC’s golf tournament fund raiser so work has been extra crazy in that sense too. Trying to get everything together and round up donations to make the even run is no easy task. Today I had to drive out to Altamonte Springs to pick up some donated things from a golf shop. It was nice to be out of the office for a little bit! That took all morning…
The last thing (besides the kids of course) that is making life a little crazy at work is trying to figure out where to put the computer lab that we received. So I’ve been looking at the floor plans and blueprints of AFLC … trying to figure out what all the numbers mean! It’s a very good learning experience…
I was thinking about music today and this is what I came up with:
Soundtrack: i miss cheese curds. and spotted cow. a lot.
Track 1: Better Together – Jack Johnson
Track 2: Wedding Song – Bob Dylan
Track 3: Wildflowers – Tom Petty
Track 4: What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes
Track 4.5: Little Lion Man: Mumford And Sons
Track 5: Counting the Days – Goldfinger
Track 6: We Can Try – Between the Trees
Track 6.5: Amarillo Sky – Jason Aldean
Track 7: The Guy that Says Goodbye – Griffen House
Track 8: Kiss With a Fist – Florence and the Machines
Track 9: Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
Track 10: You’ll Think of Me – Keith Urban
Track 11: Beautiful – Eminem
Track 12: Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan
Track 13: Be Okay – Ingrid Michaelson
Track 14: The Long Way Around – Dixie Chicks
Track 15: Erase Me - Kid Cudi
Track 16: Riding Solo - Jason Derulo
Track 17: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Starfucker
Track 18: Mama You Been on my Mind – Bob Dylan
Track 19: Don’t Stop Believing – Journey
Track 20: Go Girl – Pitbull
Yes, This is what I do with my life. I think of soundtracks.
This weekend I’m going to Washington, D.C. with the AmeriCorps crew. I’m pretty excited. I get to see Claire Baby! (hopefully our schedules allow us to meet up anyway). We're leaving Friday and coming back Tuesday night (technically Wednesday morning). I best start mentally preparing for this!
Also: There is a boy in my class who eats his pocket lint. I'm not sure how to go about handling that... ha ha ha laughing probably isn't the best solution...
AND I GOT SOMEONE TO CONFESS TO STEALING THE CANDY JAR! ahhhaaa the prompt worked ;-) woo woo.
That’s all the exciting news from APK FLA for today.
Hmmm…much rhyming up there.
“well so long, farewell, good-bye.”
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
"Well, I'll go to college and I'll learn some big words, I'll talk real loud, goddamn right I'll be heard..."
I love writing lists.
Today I was going through my documents on my computer and I found this list of things I learned in college, or more precisely, my senior year of college. I thought it was really funny, probably because each one of the things on the list comes with a hilarious story... that only I will understand. None-the-less, maybe you'll find some of these things entertaining as well! Keep an open mind while reading this... don't judge ;-)
Here She Is:
What I learned in college...or senior year
by Heidi Voss on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 2:40pm
1. Living a mile and a half away from campus and forcing myself to walk to class everyday increased my happiness exponentially.
2. Working at a coffee shop was the best idea, especially during finals week and Friday mornings.
3. Choose your roommates carefully.
4. Keep your shoes on… but if they happen to get lost, backtracking the next day… or couple of days can be surprising.
5. Don’t leave researching for/writing 14 five-page papers off until three days before they are due.
6. Don’t leave dirty silverwear in a cup in the sink. Someone might think they are clean.
7. Don’t fall while moshing. Or go on stage during a concert. Or sell merch with the band. Or wander into a house thinking you’re somewhere else. Okay, don’t fall while moshing, it leads to bad things.
8. Required readings are required for a reason (usually).
9. Fishbowl races are a bad idea.
10. 1 pitcher of beer at a college bar = 1 pint at the capitol bars. (cost-wise)
11. Taking every dare isn’t always the best idea.
12. I will always love Special K, no matter what.
13. Social Science does not lock the TP roll holder to the stall… keep that in mind for desperate times.
14. Going to the basketball courts just to “shoot around” never happens. Prepare yourself for street ball and wear shorts.
15. Don’t date business men.
16. Or guys with tighter pants than you.
17. Dinner parties are amazing.
18. Good customer service needs to end right after your shift is over. Avoid regular customers in bars.
19. Everyone loves Apples to Apples.
20. Taco Heaven is named that for a reason. Go there at 4:30am and you’ll understand.
21. Farewell shots are bittersweet.
22. You don’t need anyone but yourself to go on big adventures and plane tickets are a good investment.
23. Sleep is not mandatory.
24. Do not text or call anyone past 11pm, especially on weekends.
25. If you want to do a triathlon, learn how to switch gears.
26. Learn to trust people.
27. Stick people can be beautiful, and get you a 98% on an art project.
28. Don’t be afraid to try something because you’re afraid you’ll fail.
29. Drinking wine out of a Nalgene never leads to good happenings.
30. Flabongos are awesome, thanks Joel. Whoever you are.
31. Sailing is fun. And so are sailors.
32. Sampling cookies out all day at work is a bad idea.
33. Don’t take life too seriously.
34. Everyone has a story to tell and sometimes talking to strangers on planes, trains, and automobiles, can take you to some very unexpected places.
35. Professors are (for the most part) human.
36. Living without TV is liberating.
37. You can’t change anyone but yourself, so don’t try.
38. Be careful when you tell someone you like their dreads.
39. You can make 100 different recipes from one package of Ramen Noodles.
40. Be proactive.
41. Keep your promises.
42. Give people a chance, be patient, and don’t judge.
43. Make sure you know when your graduation date is.
44. Sit in the front row during lectures and discussions, professors and TAs will like you more.
45. But if you bring Qdoba to lecture and sit in the front row be prepared to be called out in front of 350 students.
46. Be on time.
47. Love yourself first.
48. Learn how to jump for three minutes straight. And how to balance on a 12inch bleacher while doing said jumping.
49. Bucky badger is by far the best mascot.
50. College goes by fast. Live it. Enjoy it.
Today I was going through my documents on my computer and I found this list of things I learned in college, or more precisely, my senior year of college. I thought it was really funny, probably because each one of the things on the list comes with a hilarious story... that only I will understand. None-the-less, maybe you'll find some of these things entertaining as well! Keep an open mind while reading this... don't judge ;-)
Here She Is:
What I learned in college...or senior year
by Heidi Voss on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 2:40pm
1. Living a mile and a half away from campus and forcing myself to walk to class everyday increased my happiness exponentially.
2. Working at a coffee shop was the best idea, especially during finals week and Friday mornings.
3. Choose your roommates carefully.
4. Keep your shoes on… but if they happen to get lost, backtracking the next day… or couple of days can be surprising.
5. Don’t leave researching for/writing 14 five-page papers off until three days before they are due.
6. Don’t leave dirty silverwear in a cup in the sink. Someone might think they are clean.
7. Don’t fall while moshing. Or go on stage during a concert. Or sell merch with the band. Or wander into a house thinking you’re somewhere else. Okay, don’t fall while moshing, it leads to bad things.
8. Required readings are required for a reason (usually).
9. Fishbowl races are a bad idea.
10. 1 pitcher of beer at a college bar = 1 pint at the capitol bars. (cost-wise)
11. Taking every dare isn’t always the best idea.
12. I will always love Special K, no matter what.
13. Social Science does not lock the TP roll holder to the stall… keep that in mind for desperate times.
14. Going to the basketball courts just to “shoot around” never happens. Prepare yourself for street ball and wear shorts.
15. Don’t date business men.
16. Or guys with tighter pants than you.
17. Dinner parties are amazing.
18. Good customer service needs to end right after your shift is over. Avoid regular customers in bars.
19. Everyone loves Apples to Apples.
20. Taco Heaven is named that for a reason. Go there at 4:30am and you’ll understand.
21. Farewell shots are bittersweet.
22. You don’t need anyone but yourself to go on big adventures and plane tickets are a good investment.
23. Sleep is not mandatory.
24. Do not text or call anyone past 11pm, especially on weekends.
25. If you want to do a triathlon, learn how to switch gears.
26. Learn to trust people.
27. Stick people can be beautiful, and get you a 98% on an art project.
28. Don’t be afraid to try something because you’re afraid you’ll fail.
29. Drinking wine out of a Nalgene never leads to good happenings.
30. Flabongos are awesome, thanks Joel. Whoever you are.
31. Sailing is fun. And so are sailors.
32. Sampling cookies out all day at work is a bad idea.
33. Don’t take life too seriously.
34. Everyone has a story to tell and sometimes talking to strangers on planes, trains, and automobiles, can take you to some very unexpected places.
35. Professors are (for the most part) human.
36. Living without TV is liberating.
37. You can’t change anyone but yourself, so don’t try.
38. Be careful when you tell someone you like their dreads.
39. You can make 100 different recipes from one package of Ramen Noodles.
40. Be proactive.
41. Keep your promises.
42. Give people a chance, be patient, and don’t judge.
43. Make sure you know when your graduation date is.
44. Sit in the front row during lectures and discussions, professors and TAs will like you more.
45. But if you bring Qdoba to lecture and sit in the front row be prepared to be called out in front of 350 students.
46. Be on time.
47. Love yourself first.
48. Learn how to jump for three minutes straight. And how to balance on a 12inch bleacher while doing said jumping.
49. Bucky badger is by far the best mascot.
50. College goes by fast. Live it. Enjoy it.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Someone Stole the Candy from the Candy Jar... or the entire candy jar...
• Super bowl Sunday.
o Super bowl Sunday is a de facto national holiday
o Second largest day for food consumption- only Thanksgiving beats the Super bowl…
o The Super bowl is the most watched American television broadcast
o There is a competition between companies to claim the best commercial during the Super Bowl
o The winning team of the Super bowl receives the “Vince Lombardi Trophy”. The trophy was named after the Green Bay Packers coach who won the first two Super bowl games. Fun fact- there used to be two leagues – the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL) (now there are two conferences) … the Super bowl was created as a merger agreement between the AFL and the NFL. The Packers were a part of the NFL and after they won the first two Super Bowl games team owners feared that the AFL wasn’t going to be competitive enough for the NFL. GO PACK GO!
o The first Super Bowl was held on January 15, 1967 against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers.
• Valentines for New Glarus
o IDEA: Beer Bottle and Poem to schmooze them into sending beer to FLA.
o Poem:
New Glarus, New Glarus
Your beer is truly the fairest
We met on my birthday tour
When I saw the cask-conditioned beer, I was sure
I love Spotted Cow
In fact, I wish I had one right now
But the stupid job market sent me out of state
And with me my lover, Spotted Cow, I could not take
My dearest Deborah and Dan
I’m positive I’m your biggest fan
Sadly, you don’t export this delicacy
Couldn’t you make just one exception for me?
Alas, the love affair will need to end
Unless to FLA Spotted cow you will send
I’d jump up and down
And be the coolest girl in town
If I could see my lover today
For the shipping I’d even pay!
Oh Deborah and Dan
Make me happy this Valentines Day
o Or write a love letter to Spotted Cow himself.
o AHHHH I only have a few days to figure this all out. Idk what to do man!
Yesterday was pretty interesting. I went for a run before work. That’s where it all started… I was running down the street and I had my headphones in …listening to some sweet tunes so I didn’t realize that I was being followed by a pack of dogs. (Okay, it was only two). Dogs are everywhere here in Apopka, I don’t understand why their owners just let them run around. Well, anyway, I didn’t notice that I was being followed until the little one started biting at my ankles! How rude! I didn’t know what to do and it totally threw off my running momentum. I just stood there looking at them and slowly walked away, after a while they lost interest in me, like most do.
That was the first interesting thing. The second interesting thing: on my running route there is a pasture with cows. Yesterday the cow was up close to the fence with his head resting over the top of it. HELLLLLLLLLO cow. MOO.
Third interesting thing: My IPod died. GOOODBYE music.
Fourth interesting thing: in Apopka it is normal for roosters to be roaming the streets. Yesterday there were two right in my path. Cacadoodle doooooo … HELLO roosters. Get out of my way. GOODBYE!
SO anyway, that all happened before 9am.
Work was a little rough yesterday too. These high school kids for whatever reason want to be tutors or help out in the classrooms. Which sounds pretty nice. But, alas, kids lose focus very easily when there are strangers in the classroom. These tutors didn’t really want to tutor, I’m sure of it. They both just sat there … like they were waiting for something- probably their ride home. I guess a heads up that they were coming would’ve been nice…
The kids were not focused at all yesterday. It was terrible. I’ve acquired 5 new students. 5 new trouble-maker students. Hooray. They are great models for the used-to-be-good students. Up until these new kids arrived I had very little behavioral issues. It’s like they’re testing me… the school Gods that it.
I took the kids out for recess and while we were out there, for the whole 15 minutes, someone stole the candy jar. Cool guys. I just spent over 20 bucks on that candy. That.Was.For.THEM! So anyway, I don’t really know how to deal with that. I’m home sick today (surprise) so tomorrow hopefully I’ll be back. I was thinking of giving them a writing prompt that goes something like this:
February 10, 2011
BE A DETECTIVE!
Miss Heidi’s third and fourth grade class was out of the room for recess. When the class returned, Miss Heidi discovered that the candy jar was missing. Someone had stolen it! Who could have done it? Write a story involving a detective trying to solve this mystery.
ALSO: Hopefully the candy will be returned or the person who took the candy (or someone who knows who took the candy) will tell Miss Heidi before tomorrow or there will be some changes to our classroom- like no more recess.
What do you think? I’ll give it a go and see what happens.
What has this world come to!? Ach du meine Güte! Was ist los?!
Good Riddance.
o Super bowl Sunday is a de facto national holiday
o Second largest day for food consumption- only Thanksgiving beats the Super bowl…
o The Super bowl is the most watched American television broadcast
o There is a competition between companies to claim the best commercial during the Super Bowl
o The winning team of the Super bowl receives the “Vince Lombardi Trophy”. The trophy was named after the Green Bay Packers coach who won the first two Super bowl games. Fun fact- there used to be two leagues – the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL) (now there are two conferences) … the Super bowl was created as a merger agreement between the AFL and the NFL. The Packers were a part of the NFL and after they won the first two Super Bowl games team owners feared that the AFL wasn’t going to be competitive enough for the NFL. GO PACK GO!
o The first Super Bowl was held on January 15, 1967 against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers.
• Valentines for New Glarus
o IDEA: Beer Bottle and Poem to schmooze them into sending beer to FLA.
o Poem:
New Glarus, New Glarus
Your beer is truly the fairest
We met on my birthday tour
When I saw the cask-conditioned beer, I was sure
I love Spotted Cow
In fact, I wish I had one right now
But the stupid job market sent me out of state
And with me my lover, Spotted Cow, I could not take
My dearest Deborah and Dan
I’m positive I’m your biggest fan
Sadly, you don’t export this delicacy
Couldn’t you make just one exception for me?
Alas, the love affair will need to end
Unless to FLA Spotted cow you will send
I’d jump up and down
And be the coolest girl in town
If I could see my lover today
For the shipping I’d even pay!
Oh Deborah and Dan
Make me happy this Valentines Day
o Or write a love letter to Spotted Cow himself.
o AHHHH I only have a few days to figure this all out. Idk what to do man!
Yesterday was pretty interesting. I went for a run before work. That’s where it all started… I was running down the street and I had my headphones in …listening to some sweet tunes so I didn’t realize that I was being followed by a pack of dogs. (Okay, it was only two). Dogs are everywhere here in Apopka, I don’t understand why their owners just let them run around. Well, anyway, I didn’t notice that I was being followed until the little one started biting at my ankles! How rude! I didn’t know what to do and it totally threw off my running momentum. I just stood there looking at them and slowly walked away, after a while they lost interest in me, like most do.
That was the first interesting thing. The second interesting thing: on my running route there is a pasture with cows. Yesterday the cow was up close to the fence with his head resting over the top of it. HELLLLLLLLLO cow. MOO.
Third interesting thing: My IPod died. GOOODBYE music.
Fourth interesting thing: in Apopka it is normal for roosters to be roaming the streets. Yesterday there were two right in my path. Cacadoodle doooooo … HELLO roosters. Get out of my way. GOODBYE!
SO anyway, that all happened before 9am.
Work was a little rough yesterday too. These high school kids for whatever reason want to be tutors or help out in the classrooms. Which sounds pretty nice. But, alas, kids lose focus very easily when there are strangers in the classroom. These tutors didn’t really want to tutor, I’m sure of it. They both just sat there … like they were waiting for something- probably their ride home. I guess a heads up that they were coming would’ve been nice…
The kids were not focused at all yesterday. It was terrible. I’ve acquired 5 new students. 5 new trouble-maker students. Hooray. They are great models for the used-to-be-good students. Up until these new kids arrived I had very little behavioral issues. It’s like they’re testing me… the school Gods that it.
I took the kids out for recess and while we were out there, for the whole 15 minutes, someone stole the candy jar. Cool guys. I just spent over 20 bucks on that candy. That.Was.For.THEM! So anyway, I don’t really know how to deal with that. I’m home sick today (surprise) so tomorrow hopefully I’ll be back. I was thinking of giving them a writing prompt that goes something like this:
February 10, 2011
BE A DETECTIVE!
Miss Heidi’s third and fourth grade class was out of the room for recess. When the class returned, Miss Heidi discovered that the candy jar was missing. Someone had stolen it! Who could have done it? Write a story involving a detective trying to solve this mystery.
ALSO: Hopefully the candy will be returned or the person who took the candy (or someone who knows who took the candy) will tell Miss Heidi before tomorrow or there will be some changes to our classroom- like no more recess.
What do you think? I’ll give it a go and see what happens.
What has this world come to!? Ach du meine Güte! Was ist los?!
Good Riddance.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
When life hands you lemons, buy 24 miniature dinosaurs (to decorate the house with, of course)
Well it’s Thursday. WAAAAAHOOOO. ¬That means only a few more hours until it’s Friday.
Last weekend was a bust. I have been sick for weeks now, which is dumb. I should probably go to the doctor but those guys freak me out. Anywho- Alisha and I were going to go to Gasparilla, a pirate festival in Tampa but we weren’t feeling so good. Instead we dressed up like pirates and sat around the house watching pirate movies. It was fun.
Here's evidence:
Gnomeo and Juliet comes out next Friday (February 11). I’m excited.
I thought Jordan broke my pencil sharpener in my classroom. I was crafty and fixed it today.
Sometimes I make my kids read silently so I can read too.
Today I researched chocolate. There are, on average, 8 insect legs per chocolate bar. Gross.
The Packers are playing the Steelers in the Superbowl on Sunday. That’s exciting. Go Pack Go.
Today I’m making my children play Apples to Apples. I love that game.
Well that was a nice 5 minute spill of the randomness that’s in my head.
Adios amigos.
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