oh, and a favor

my students are working on capstone projects. please go to our class blog and comment on their proposals. ask questions, give suggestions, etc. your input is greatly appreciated.

bulliscapstones.blogspot.com

thanks!

a quick poll

watch these two videos. what school would you rather attend? (or which one would you most likely send your kids to?) why?

Carpe Diem Marketing Video - Final Cut from Nicholas Tucker on Vimeo.

homecoming

This weekend was homecoming at our school, and I had the privilege of chaperoning the dance. (awesome, by the way.) The dance started at 8:00, but two of our Chinese exchange students showed up at 7:30. The concept of "fashionably late" does not translate into Chinese very well.

mad skills

So in my AP class we are trying to figure out whether or not this video is real: (Um... pretty sure it's not. But they were supposed to prove that it couldn't be real.)

Then we headed down to the gym to film some half-court shot attempts so that we could compare them to the youtube video. My excellent basketball skills were captured on film.

happy hurricane

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home last night to pick up some essentials (like double-stuff Oreos). You know, just in case the power goes out or it floods or something. Everybody else seemed to have the same idea, so periodically store management would make announcements about what lanes were open, etc, and letting us know that they hope we have a great weekend and "enjoy the hurricane".

I have Oreos and Gilmore Girls so I most definitely will, thank you.

who wants to see my new house???

Oh, everybody does?? That's awesome.

My building. I live in the back left corner - nice and shady, which means I hardly even have to use my air conditioning. Awesome!!!

The bathroom (before):

The bathroom (now): The yellow is much darker than it looks here. I sewed a curtain to go around the bottom of the sink (it is odd-shaped and there are NO cabinets that fit it properly) and bought gray towels, bathmat, and shower curtain.

The kitchen (before):

Kitchen (after): I replaced the ugly gold knobs with nice sleek handles and painted (gasp) navy blue. I realized halfway through that the color was going to have to stay whether I liked it or not (I do NOT have the energy to paint over navy blue walls right now) but luckily, I really like how it turned out. Yay!

Dining room (before)

Dining room (now): The walls are actually a little darker than they appear in the pic. It's a nice, rich yellow. I can't quite figure out what to put on the windows... Any suggestions?

And my roommate: His name is Elian and he doesn't know it yet, but I have made an appointment to rob him of his manhood. I'm pretty sure we'll both be much happier that way. And by both of us, I mean me and my poor abused pillows. He is sitting on top of the fabric that I purchased that I am planning on using to make a rug. Nice print, huh?

how embarrassing

I am quite possibly the only person in the DC metro area who did NOT feel the earthquake today. The Commando sent me a text asking if I was okay, which I found very confusing.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to post about it!

so close

In about a week, I will offically be a homeowner.

In preparation for the big event, I have NOT:

started packing

started cleaning

looked for a roommate

found movers

but I HAVE:

spent an obscene amount of time browsing paint colors and decorating options.

so much time, so little to do

So you would think that having summers off would mean lots of time for updates and stories of all the fun I'm having. As it turns out, having all the free time in the world can make one a bit lazy. Huh.

But in case you are worried that I have been sleeping my days away, fear not! I am making good use of my summer. Carrie, Mom, Ashley, Bethany, and Mabel came to visit. I ate lots of cupcakes and took them to all of my favorite restaurants.

I made an offer on a condo in a great area out here. Hopefully on July 29 I will be an official homeowner!! Now I need to get Shady out here to help me pick out paint colors. (Pretty please? I'll buy you dinner and take you to get a massage!)

I am still training for the St George marathon, and still hate running on a treadmill. It gets more and more agonizing every week. But even if it kills me, I'm not quitting.

I joined Twitter! So if anybody wants mundane updates on what I'm having for lunch or how many hours I spent at the pool, you can follow me! (I actually joined because there's a whole community of science and math teachers on Twitter sharing resources and ideas for their classes. So my Tweets just might be less interesting to you than what I'm having for lunch. It's a toss-up.)

I have read 2 whole books in the past 2 days, so I am on the fast track to reading more books this year than Ryan. Now I just need to decide what book I want to make him buy me....

so so close

The end of the school year is almost here, and it could not come soon enough.

It's been a long year. I need a break.

But only 6 days left. 3 review days and 3 exam days. And then I am as free as a little birdie.

Hopefully this will be a sumer full of good change. I need it. I have recently been talking a lot with my favorite coworker. (He is not everybody's favorite coworker. Just mine. In fact, a lot of people find him abrasive and rude. I find him refreshingly honest. But that's just me.) He has challenged me to approach next year with more gumption. I think I'm up for the challenge. (That's part of having gumption, by the way. Being up for challenges. And I now have gumption. When I was little my mom told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. And I want to be gumptious. So now I am. (If that's a word))

awkward

We had a new substitute teacher here at school today, so I decided that it would be polite to make idle talk with him. When he told me his name, I thought that he said "Shark". So I went on and on about what an awesome name to have. His name is not Shark. It's something totally boring like "Shawn"' or something. (No offense, Shawn.)

Awkward.

bragging (again)

So today I was at the mall (because that's where my bank is... this just might be the death of me) when I stopped by a little store that sells hair care products. (I am out of shampoo.) I ended up buying over $100 worth of shampoo and other hair products for a mere $18. I'm pretty sure I have magical powers when it comes to sales.

a nerdy story

So we are currently wrapping up our unit on electromagnetism in my class, so we are obviously discussing induced currents. Which means that we are also discussing the meaning of the word "induced". (As it turns out, most 16-year-olds do not know the meaning of "induced". (Definition: to cause or to make something happen, as in "induced labor" or "chemically induced coma") Side note: the "induced labor" example freaked out the boys in the class. They asked me to please never mention labor ever again. I obliged.)

So anyway, our school's theme this year is "make it happen". Our new headmaster is a go-getter kind of guy. So I suggested to the class that we replace our school theme. Instead of "make it happen" it could be simplified to "induce". Great idea, right?

(I don't think the kids took it seriously. So I suggested it to my colleagues. I don't think they took it seriously either.)

physics fail

we watched this video in my class today. is it mean that i find it kind of funny?

favorites

every teacher has a favorite class. Mine just happens to be the last class of the day, which is so convenient because that means I always go home in a good mood. Awesome, right?

So a while ago, they decided that whenever anybody in the class did something awesome (meaning answering a difficult question, stumping the teacher (this doesn't happen very often - what can I say, I'm pretty good) or asking something insightful, the rest of the class starts up a slow clap in celebration. For those of you who do not know what a slow clap is, it is pretty much what it sounds like. You start clapping slowly, then gradually increase in intensity until you have an all-out celebration. (Sometimes this includes banging on the tables, hooping and hollering, etc.) To be honest, it's pretty awesome.

So yesterday was the senior's last day of school. (They're spending the next few weeks doing service projects.) So all of the juniors got together and decided to do the ultimate slow clap in honor of the seniors. So they clapped once at 2:05. Then they clapped again at 2:15. Then once at 2:23. Then again at 2:28, 2:32, etc. until the very last minute of class there was an eruption of applause, jumping, cheering, and congratulating the seniors on successfully completing high school. They thought it was just fantastic that I had no idea why the entire class would randomly clap once while I was in the middle of saying something that was, in all honesty, not that interesting. (At first I thought they were applauding me and was quite flattered. I was wrong.) How is it possible to NOT love these kids? (Answer: it's not possible. Obviously.)

bring it on

So, just let me brag about myself for a minute. (Since I'm pretty good at it.)

The last time I went on a real run was last August. I broke my foot. Then my eyes stopped working and I started slamming into walls and such if I so much as walked briskly. Poor poor me, I know.

Today, I ran seven miles. In a sub-9-minute mile pace. (Just barely. They were something like 8.9 minute miles, but still. It counts.) Not bad after a 9 month sabbatical. And I ran it on a treadmill (with a .4 incline, thank you very much). I hate treadmills. Almost as much as I hate rap music. (Which is a lot, in case there was any question.)

But I have this coworker named Chris. Back when my eyes stopped working, I got lots of pity from lots of people. Pretty much everyone except for him. He made fun of me. Which, in all honesty, is exactly what I needed. Feeling sorry for myself got me absolutely nowhere. And while it's nice to know that people care, having the rest of the world feel sorry for me also got me nowhere. But being made fun of made me laugh and feel like a normal person. And for that, I love Chris. (Don't tell him that. He's all finicky and weird about mushy stuff like that. He won't even admit that we're friends. We are "friendly". Whatever. We're friends whether he likes it or not.)

But I'm getting off topic here. Last week, I was telling him about how I am registered for a marathon in October and was worried that I wouldn't be able to train since I still have trouble keeping my eyes open when I move any faster than a slug. And again, I got no pity from him. (Surprise, surprise.) In fact, he may have thrown something at me and then told me I was an idiot. (Have I never heard of a treadmill? Really?) As much as I tried to tell him that I hate treadmills and lose my sanity after about 8 minutes, he refused to listen. (As much as I love Chris, listening is not one of his strong points.) Instead, he told me that if I really wanted to run a marathon in October, I had to just make it happen. My excuses are lame. I deserve a better life than I am giving myself. I can do anything I want, have any man I want, but I have to stop holding myself back. Blah, blah, blah. Kind of irritating at the time, but totally true.

So here I am, making it happen. I bought myself a nice long playlist of running music for my ipod (meaning early 90's country music), headed to the gym, set the speed to an 8:50 mile, and ran for seven miles. Monday is incline work, Tuesday will be a nice slow(ish) run, more hills on Wednesday, shorter runs Thursday and Friday, and 10 miles on Saturday. By October, I will be marathon ready.

So I hope Mom and Kate are ready to get their butts kicked in St George.

contradiction

Today I charged my Garmin wristwatch, with hopeful anticipation that I will be able to run in the near future. (And by run, I mean run, not run into. I'm already really good at that.)

Today I also turned in my garage key to my apartment office, since I haven't used it in 8 months and it will save me $40/month.

Apparently for me, running is a little more important than driving. (Mainly because I have a personal chauffeur. Hehe.)

augh.

Today is just one of those days. Not one of the good kind. One of the annoying kind.

My kids are whiny. (All 60 of them. If I hear one more complaint I'm going to lose it.)

One of my students climbed out the window when my back was turned. It took me a good five minutes to figure out why everyone was laughing.

It was supposed to be sunny today, and it is not.

I decided to try driving on Saturday, just to see how it went. It didn't go past the parking garage.

BUT I am getting a new roommate today. One that I am confident will soon turn into a good friend. So maybe today won't be so bad after all.

new blog

pintucksandruffles.blogspot.com

Shady will be posting some sewing/crafty tutorials soon. And so will I.

Who knew I would love being crafty?

march madness

Guess who is ranked #1 in our faculty March Madness bracket pool?

(me)

Now my coworkers are trying to get me disqualified since I am a Mormon and technically not allowed to gamble. They are only thinking of my eternal welfare.

Ahem. Right.