NHL Lockout?

ESPN NHL Lock-out

Apparently the NHL is following suit after recent lockouts and has decided to have one of there own. . .

What?!?

And it kinda sad that people care even less about the NHL as they did about the NFL Refs; but there they are, negotiating dollars and bonuses.

I'm feeling cynical this evening and I have to admit that I don't care; although I do feel bad that the NHL has to follow up all of the other sports (that actually make money) when going to the negotiating table.

I don't feel bad for them.  NHL, Refs, NFL, any of them. They all make a lot of money getting to play a game, be part of a game that I would gladly trade and take half.

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Somehow thinking about doing their jobs brought me back to contemplating mine (my future job, if I can get my sh!t together and graduate). 

I honestly cannot wait to be in the classroom.  It is the one place that I feel confident that I am smarter than most of the people in the room.  And more than that, . . . I remember that age.

This is strictly a side note, but I remember a lot of things.   Seriously. Hardly ever useful things, but I can recall numerous moments of my life. The moments are like old black and white film though, the picture is grainy and the audio sucks!!!

*ADD* So yeah, the classroom, I'm ready.  I'm still scared about the one actually being in charge (of anything) and even more scared that I am not really getting the opportunity to be in the classroom this semester, but I still feel ready.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that I am not going to have all of the answers when I get into the classroom but I feel that I am prepared.  I have had some outstanding professors in class and some very unique experiences of my own.  

One thing at a time. . . but I know that there is a reason that I am supposed to be in a classroom.  I just hope it's a good reason.

Bright and Early

I have been working my tail of this semester and am taking less classes while doing it.

I'm actually only taking one class this semester.  I tried to take this class over the summer and it kicked my ass.

I'm sorry.  There just isn't a nicer way to put that.

Unfortunately, this one class was the one class I needed before I could student teach and I can't graduate until I student teach.  It ended up being a rough situation (bouncing all over the B/CS this summer moving) complicated by a sh!tty situation (that class).  Now my graduation date has been pushed back until May 2013.

I can't even begin to explain how pissed this actually makes me (at myself of course).  Have you ever listened to a CD (???) so many times that you knew every line of every song including those weird skips/scratches and then tried to listen to the same CD on shuffle.  That always through me off because I knew the songs were coming out of order but even if you put it back to normal there was already one song that came out of place and you'll hear it again.  I feel like my life is on shuffle, like everything is out of order.

I know what I want.  I just seem to be taking the bass-ackwards way of getting there.

I want to graduate from Texas A&M this spring 2013.

I want to find a local job teaching middle school math.

I want to be able to buy a house in a couple of years.

And I want to have kids before I am too old to enjoy seeing them grow up.

Seems simple right?

Yippeeeeareyouf*ckingkiddingme

So it's obviously been a while since I've written anything here, but today I'm back.

I need to write, I've been struck with a pretty terrible week. [Except for A, who is always my saving grace if she can wait two seconds to figure me out] this week has been trying to kick my a$$.

I would like to start this bad adventure off on Monday, but truth is my bad week started Sunday.  More than I would like to admit out loud, my buddy leaving for Cali put me in a funk.

You ever meet someone by accident that you instinctually knew you met on purpose, for some reason they were brought to you. . . 

Then Monday morning I got a phone call saying that I owe this semesters tuition by Wednesday or I'm being dropped from the ONE class I need before I can graduate.  Yippeeeeeeeeeearefuckingkiddingme!!

Tuesday is that one class. . . on the way home from class, I got a #@&ing speeding ticket.  Again, yippeeeeeeeeeareyoufuckingkiddingme!!

I felt it appropriate to pay homage to my buddy tonight after the way my week kicked off.

Wednesday now. . . half way through the week, I can do this.

Be The Match Update

(Sunday, February 26, 2012)
For all of you who are wondering about the lady I donated stem cells to last month, I have an update if only minimal.

She received the graft and was released from the hospital.  Her doctor indicated that she was doing well and  now all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and should know more in July.

Horses and Congressman

(Sunday, February 26, 2012)

Yesterday, I got to follow the wife out to a dressage show at Topsider Farm and got some really good pictures.  This is probably one of my favorites, if only because it's so close to the house.  Although with that being said, there are some really awesome eventing locations.

I have to admit, and don't tell my wife I said it, but there are a lot of cool things about going to watch (I'm never sure what to call what the wife does) horse trials.

This is what went through my mind.

Sometimes it's only dressage that she does, still not sure it's not French for boring, and other times it's only jumping and then there are both; this can be either in an arena or out on a cross country course.  When she is really feeling frisky she and the other crazy riders (I say it with love) decide to do all three within 12 hour window.

And for those of you who don't know, there are quite a few English riders out there.  I never would have thought there would be, but there are eventing sites all over the place.  *They have meetings, and groups.  I think it's a conspiracy and they are going to try to take over the world* except that there really isn't a lot of money in it and it costs more than you think.  The horses are kind of like congressman, in that you are forced to give them money and what you get in return tends to be a lot of manure.

Seriously though, if you've never been to one of these events, horse trials,  I highly suggest you go. At least when the horses work, you see them sweat.

Another All Nighter

(Wednesday, February 22, 2012)

Only a little creepy

I'm sitting at McD's at three in morning, borrowing their wifi to work on my homework and wondering why.

Why am I up at 3a when I have class tomorrow?
Why do I care about homework that I am pretty sure is pointless?
Why am I blogging instead of working on homework that I wish was already done?

Well kind of like an exercise in "free-writing" I thought that if I sat here a minute writing words that had nothing to do with the homework I need to be working on then maybe I can trick myself into switching over to the homework while still letting my mind freely create words .....

Just in case you were wondering, the free-writing did work to get me started on my homework (for a couple of minutes).  Other things cross my mind and I'm distracted and back to the blog.
I don't like to be told to write, the blog feels like an assignment sometimes and that is what my homework is, writing essays.  Writing about topics chosen by my professor to see if I am actually reading the books.  I am, but that doesn't help.  I could write some cr@ppy answers and finish the paper, but I actually can't.  I can't do it, as much as I wish I could, I cannot turn in a paper that I am not happy with.  I'd rather take late points on a perfect paper than turn in a paper that I know is mediocre on time.

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(Friday, February 24, 2012)

Remember the good old days when an all nighter meant partying until dawn, well now my idea of all nighters usually include homework.  Man I got old :-0


This is why I never finish a blog page.  I start on a page and never finish the thought.  I did eventually finish my homework; came home Thursday after class and crashed out on the couch.  I was exhausted and thankfully classes were extra boring.  It was d@mn near to keep my eyes open.

So I guess this is what you can expect from here forward.  I'll just have to write and then finish the thought later.  The thought on my mind at the moment is the lesson I have to teach on Monday morning and the truly scary part is that I'm on my own.  My mentor is out for STAAR training.

(to be continued...)

Taking a Break

I've been a little over-whelmed since school started back up; always racing trying to catch up, trying to keep up.  When I actually do get everything done, I worry that I forgot something.  It's just easier to stay busy.

My methods class was a lot of fun, the kids are surprisingly well behaved.  I'm sure that they have just been on their best behavior since I'm new to the classroom.  By next week they'll be used to me and we'll just have to see how it goes.  I'm really looking forward to this semester and having more opportunities to actually teach a lesson.


Between classes and work, it's been everything I could do to get through assignments.  I did however get one of these early assignments back and my prof took the time to tell me she really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd share it.
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Trying to dredge up memories of reading for me is like the proverbial “trying to find a needle in a haystack.”  I love to read.  I regularly find myself fascinated by the most obtuse of subjects.  Advertisements, manufacture’s labels, graffiti; it doesn’t matter to me.  It is just as interesting to see how something was written, the style of the writing, as to actually read the words.  This love of reading has also lent itself to an adoration of creating my own prose.  I find the more that I read the better I am able to write.  While I don’t necessarily consider myself a writer, I often find it easier to develop my thoughts on paper rather than speak them aloud.

  I don’t recall ‘learning’ to read or write.  I try to imagine myself unable to read or write and suddenly these words begin to vanish from the page.  Such a seemingly insignificant initial talent has had such a profound effect on every aspect of my life.  The first memory I do have of actually reading, was reading my little brother bedtime stories.  With about four years of age difference between us, I must have been about 6 or 7 years old when he and I started our nightly ritual.  What is more significant about this ritual is that my brother later claimed these bedtime stories as one of his earliest memories, which only helped to reinforce my passion for reading.

It is perhaps indicative that my favorite teachers before college were during this time frame, my 1^st and 2^nd grade teachers, Mrs. Cagle and Mrs. Cain.  I remember during one or both of these school years that we would ‘take a break’ from class work and to go to the library.   At that age the great thing about going to the library was we were able to move about freely with our friends between the numerous shelves and our library felt endless.  I still feel a sense of awe walking into a library, thinking about the so many words that have been have been contained within so few pages; I have also maintained the habit of reading to ‘take a break’ from work.

My early experiences reading and writing up until about the 5^th grade are perhaps my favorite encounters with English and grammar if only for their simplicity.  I read the books in the library to earn “Rapid Reader” points and I read to read.  I don’t remember having to do a whole lot of tedious book reports or being told that I had to read a certain book.  Sometime around middle school and junior high that all changed.  I’m not sure if it was the books that were chosen for us to read or the fact that I was being told to read them, either way I decidedly no longer liked reading. 

My senior year of high school, Mrs. Starkey reignited that spark I had had for reading and writing.  We read The Canterbury Tales and she had so many interesting stories that went along with the tales; stories about her travels to England and through Europe.  We spent several weeks reading Shakespeare and thinking back now I remember that Mrs. Starkey was the teacher that taught me to read for meaning; to consider not only the word itself but the sentence, the paragraph, and the context in which it was written.

If my experiences are any suggestion of how other students have ever felt then I can empathize.  I feel that I made the most progress parsing when I was guided to develop my style instead being pushed to conform to a standard.  I hope that by having my students ‘take a break’ to read and write will inspire them to not only develop their own styles but to also develop their own thoughts.

Wonderopolis

WONDEROPOLIS.org

I wish this was a new utopia, but unfortunately it is not.  It is however the Next Best Thing; it is a website with so many cool ADD topics that I am going to be entertained for HOURS!  Sorry A.

Everyday they have a "Wonder of the Day" that is connect to several links and activities about that wonder.  This must be a relatively new site because they don't have a huge list of wonders, yet, but they do have an article about Chinchillas.  Seriously chinchillas, even the name is fun to say.



*LMAO* Did you actually watch the video?  Did you notice anything funny at the end of the video?  Apparently this is a very educational video.  Oops

Anyways, I had to attend an Education seminar this morning and this happened to be one of the web pages they were talking about.  Wonderopolis, not Youtube.  I'm serious about this site, it's ADD kid's best friend (like me).  Except for you Bert.  You keep life interesting.  I don't know what I'd do without you.  


The seminar wasn't that bad, but every time I stop to think about how much stuff has got to be done this year it literally takes my breath away.  Seriously, if you ever get the opportunity thank your teachers.  Holy cr@p!  Between writing lesson plans that will appeal to children and dealing with national standards and then incorporate parents mix in a little under funding and Yippee do you have something fun.

I know that I only have an inkling of what I am in for.  I just have to remind myself why I want to do this.  Because learning can be fun.  I'm serious, no sarcasm there.

Welcome

199% behind A and AnchorEquestrian

Welcome to "Tales From the Other End of the Horse."  I am starting this new blog because I realized that I had started "Anchored Down & Horsing Around" as a way to support my beautiful, talented wife and her ever growing business, Anchor Equestrian.  That blog was supposed to be about A and the horses, and I'd rather my wonderful wife not be scrutinized because of some of the things I say.  Not that I ever say anything wrong! Hopefully by doing this too, we can persuade A to start writing.


I figure this way when we do eventually get A to start writing their isn't any confusion as to who is writing, although I'm sure it wouldn't be to hard to tell the difference between the way her mind works, straight-lines/ cause & effect; versus mine, which is more like the toilet on the space station backfiring.


So here it is, "Tales From the Other End of the Horse."  It somehow seems appropriate in so many ways, that its sorta sad that it didn't occur to me before.  But be happy because now its here.


For those of you who don't know me, stick around.  I won't make any promises that you'll ever figure out what I am talking about but then again my family rarely does either.  I can tell you a couple of things that are concrete at the moment, unlike most of my thoughts.


I am 30 years old.  Still crazy to think.  I'm married to literally the greatest woman in the world, even though some days I forget that.  And I am a senior Education major at Texas A&M hoping to teach middle school when I grow up or after graduation, December 2012, which ever comes first.


The rest, well like I said, stick around.  Maybe I'll have a break through and actually complete a thought.