Today is the last day of 2007, a time I always find to be good for reflecting on what has happened in the past year. This year has been an emotional roller coaster for a large number of reasons. The primary one is the entire reason for this blog's existence.
Looking back at this time last year, my family had just undergone a major transformation with the birth of #3. I was at my wit's end with my job and knew that I needed to change. Within weeks of the new year, the course was set and I began this journey towards career and life change. I'm proud to say that I was able to knock out 7 classes in 1 plus semester and proud of what my family has done to support me. It's often easy to overlook the sacrifices made by others on your behalf. But there is no way I could have done nearly as much as I have without a great support system to come home to each and every night. And while I may not make the transition to the new career as quickly as I would have originally preferred, I am as excited (and scared and nervous) today as the day I decided this was the change I was going to make.
On top of my career change, my first child entered kindergarten. It's been a sea change in her development, I am amazed at how much and how quickly she has learned. I don't know if all kids learn this quickly but it is unbelievable the difference from this time last year to today. I can't wait until she's old enough to support me :-)
And we experienced for the last time the first step, the first birthday and the first word of our child. It's so cliche to say the time goes so fast but if you don't stop to take it all in, the days will fly past you in a blur. I appreciate the better half and I frequently looking at each other in amazement and soaking up the individual moments that fill our daily lives with joy. While I'm not particularly religious or spiritual, to me these are the snapshots of enlightenment. I really hope to explore this area much more in depth in 2008 as I am developing a keen interest in my own self-awareness and discovering faith. I guess I'll have to fit that in between Calculus and Learning to Teach Learning Disabled Children :-)
I hope the journey from 2007 to 2008 has been as exciting and full of wonder for each of you as it has for me. And I look even more forward to the next chapter. Happy New Year.
Until next time.
Ace
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Big dude in a red jumpsuit
No, I'm not talking about David Lee Roth, I'm talking Santa baby! I hope this message finds all loyal readers making full use of their acquired holiday toys and trinkets. I am pleased to report the receipt of Season One of Flight of the Conchords, really the only thing I could think that I really wanted this year. The best part of the holidays was spending time with the family and having a long stretch away from work. With Xmas on Tuesday, Monday was also a holiday at work and I am using up a couple of extra vacation days so I'm not heading back until Friday. I can deal with 1 day work weeks, where do we sign up for that permanently?
I was a little bummed about Christmas this year. We hosted but due to Xmas being on a Tuesday very few travelers were able to make it. I usually love having a huge group around for the holidays but it was not to be. So, it was a quiet day with our only visitors showing up late Christmas Eve/early Xmas am and leaving by mid-day. We're going to make up for it by hosting a New Years extravaganza - hopefully it'll be a grand time.
The schedule for next semester is set up, with class on Monday and Wednesday evenings. These are 2 more required classes I will be getting knocked off the list. This should make summer a little easier, since I'm taking one of the 3 courses I was supposed to take over the summer. I may actually sign up for one more math class if I can figure that out before school starts in the next two weeks. I think I'm going to need to try and qualify for the class since I don't have any of the pre-requisites. I really should have taken Calculus a long time ago :-(
And I am happy to report that I have even had a little free time to read during the break from class. I read a book called Fantasyland, which is the story of a sportswriter for the New York Times who signs up for his first ever fantasy baseball league. The story talks about his experience and the very strange and obsessed sub-culture of fantasy sports. The book is pretty good but there are times when you call tell the dude is a fantasy newbie.
I also read a book from Phil Jackson, former head coach of the Chicago Bulls and current coach of the LA Lakers. It's a decent read but the guy who co-wrote the book with him sucks, because it doesn't have much voice at all. You can tell Phil's influence in the book but it comes off as amateurish. In my mind, it's the co-author's job to make the sports person sound like they wrote a real book. But there were some very interesting ideas in the book that I hope to explore in greater detail in this space in the future. Phil is known as a bit of a hippie type so I was intrigued by some of his psychology and philosophy.
And, speaking of fantasy, football has wrapped up. There was some sort of mix-up in the one league where I thought I didn't make the playoffs. Turns out, I actually did. Not only did I make it, I wound up winning the whole thing. And I managed to make it to the championship in my league with the highest entry, where the person I played in the championship (Q) and I agreed to split the first and second place money before the game. Lucky for me as he edged me by about 10 points. So, I made the playoffs in all 3 leagues and cashed in 2, coming out way ahead on my entry fees. Good stuff.
I'm pleased to report that one of my favorite bands has a new album coming. A couple of the tracks can be heard here. I can't wait, I will be attending the two record release shows taking place in Florida in February. A good time to escape the midwest cold.
OK, that's enough for now. I hope everyone has a great new years!
Until next time.
Ace
I was a little bummed about Christmas this year. We hosted but due to Xmas being on a Tuesday very few travelers were able to make it. I usually love having a huge group around for the holidays but it was not to be. So, it was a quiet day with our only visitors showing up late Christmas Eve/early Xmas am and leaving by mid-day. We're going to make up for it by hosting a New Years extravaganza - hopefully it'll be a grand time.
The schedule for next semester is set up, with class on Monday and Wednesday evenings. These are 2 more required classes I will be getting knocked off the list. This should make summer a little easier, since I'm taking one of the 3 courses I was supposed to take over the summer. I may actually sign up for one more math class if I can figure that out before school starts in the next two weeks. I think I'm going to need to try and qualify for the class since I don't have any of the pre-requisites. I really should have taken Calculus a long time ago :-(
And I am happy to report that I have even had a little free time to read during the break from class. I read a book called Fantasyland, which is the story of a sportswriter for the New York Times who signs up for his first ever fantasy baseball league. The story talks about his experience and the very strange and obsessed sub-culture of fantasy sports. The book is pretty good but there are times when you call tell the dude is a fantasy newbie.
I also read a book from Phil Jackson, former head coach of the Chicago Bulls and current coach of the LA Lakers. It's a decent read but the guy who co-wrote the book with him sucks, because it doesn't have much voice at all. You can tell Phil's influence in the book but it comes off as amateurish. In my mind, it's the co-author's job to make the sports person sound like they wrote a real book. But there were some very interesting ideas in the book that I hope to explore in greater detail in this space in the future. Phil is known as a bit of a hippie type so I was intrigued by some of his psychology and philosophy.
And, speaking of fantasy, football has wrapped up. There was some sort of mix-up in the one league where I thought I didn't make the playoffs. Turns out, I actually did. Not only did I make it, I wound up winning the whole thing. And I managed to make it to the championship in my league with the highest entry, where the person I played in the championship (Q) and I agreed to split the first and second place money before the game. Lucky for me as he edged me by about 10 points. So, I made the playoffs in all 3 leagues and cashed in 2, coming out way ahead on my entry fees. Good stuff.
I'm pleased to report that one of my favorite bands has a new album coming. A couple of the tracks can be heard here. I can't wait, I will be attending the two record release shows taking place in Florida in February. A good time to escape the midwest cold.
OK, that's enough for now. I hope everyone has a great new years!
Until next time.
Ace
Thursday, December 20, 2007
CD Review - Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
From the first drum roll of Smashing Pumpkins much anticipated comeback CD Zeitgeist, I wanted to jump up and yell "The Pumpkins are back!" The CD features many of the sounds that make the Pumpkins what they are, from Billy Corgan's cerebral and symbolic lyrics and distinct voice to the inimitable drumwork of Jimmy Chamberlain.
When the first track Doomsday Clock kicks things off, you're at once brought back to the heavier sounds the Pumpkins highlighted during the heyday of the band. At the same time, you feel the band expanding and experimenting with new, even heavier drum beats and apocalyptic lyrical work from Corgan "I'm certain of the end / it's the means that has me spooked". You can't help but feel like Billy is aiming this one straight at the Bush administration when he wails "it's lonely at the top / these lonely days when will they ever stop / we gotta dig in, gas masks on / wait in the sunshine, bug-eyed / if this is living?" In fact, the whole album feels a lot more political than previous efforts from the band.
Bleeding The Orchid is a melodic lambast of the music industry and the sycophantic business approach of the record labels. I heard Billy rant about the topic in an in-studio live performance on XM Radio that demonstrated the passion the band has for making music. I will say that I was extremely disappointed to learn that my favorite lyric from this song does not say "There's clowns in my shower" but instead the more humdrum "There's clouds in my shower". Damn, clowns would have been a lot more fun.
That's The Way (My Love Is) is a hit in the vein of Adore or Machina, later Pumpkin albums that were considered more artsy and not as commercially successful as alt-rock staples Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie. The melodies are catchy and the music filled with the hooks Corgan has come to be known for.
The first track released to radio is the ambling and rambling Tarantula, conjuring up images of the Guns N Roses track Double Talkin' Jive from Use Your Illusion I. While the Pumpkins would probably cringe at the thought, the vocal rhythm is strikingly similar and the dirty guitar sound adds another level of comparison. Billy reaches a little further back in Stars, a song that must have been a cast off from some 70's era ridiculous arena rock also ran. The picture of Chamberlain mid-drum solo seals the image.
The middle of the CD displays some real strength. United States of America is the drunken lovechild of previous Pumpkin favs Drown (of Singles soundtrack fame) and Silverf*ck from Siamese Dream, with a crazy Michael Jackson screech thrown in for good measure. The drumwork in this song is exceptional.
The best part of the CD is the diversity and ease with which the band switches from one sound to another, as deftly as ever. The transition is never more apparent than switching from the driving drum-heavy USA to the soft-handed, xylophonic Neverlost as Corgan gently pleads "Let's kill these hours and fill desire." This song crystallizes why I love the Pumpkins. They can write a song that will make you want to dive headlong off a stage and turn around and write a sweet melody such as this.
Bring The Light is my favorite track and starts slowly before sending the album back into turbo mode. The quick, short verses over Billy's melodies create a driving and emotional backdrop and Chamberlain struts his stuff on this quirky tune. For God and Country has the band dipping into an 80's pop tart sound while delving into issues of faith and patriotism(?). The piano sound towards the end of the song helps distract attention from the Thomas Dolby sound-alike attempts.
The title track to wrap up the album leaves an upbeat acoustic sound with Corgan asking "Are there any real souls to find?" The song brings to mind a more innocent time in our country, where a young Corgan could happily hitchhike his way across a hilly, verdant New England patch of road as afternoon stretches into early evening.
All in all, the CD mixes a lot of different sounds so that old Pumpkins fans and newer ones will find something to like. I also found a few things not to like, including the annoying habit of bands to release several "versions" of the same CD, with each having one different song than the others. Very annoying for those of us who haven't yet followed the herd onto I-tunes where you buy the songs individually. And a few of the songs on the CD were just a bit too much for me, primarily Stars and For God and Country. Oh yeah, and the fact that he didn't say "There's clowns in my shower." Boooo...
Until next time.
Ace
When the first track Doomsday Clock kicks things off, you're at once brought back to the heavier sounds the Pumpkins highlighted during the heyday of the band. At the same time, you feel the band expanding and experimenting with new, even heavier drum beats and apocalyptic lyrical work from Corgan "I'm certain of the end / it's the means that has me spooked". You can't help but feel like Billy is aiming this one straight at the Bush administration when he wails "it's lonely at the top / these lonely days when will they ever stop / we gotta dig in, gas masks on / wait in the sunshine, bug-eyed / if this is living?" In fact, the whole album feels a lot more political than previous efforts from the band.
Bleeding The Orchid is a melodic lambast of the music industry and the sycophantic business approach of the record labels. I heard Billy rant about the topic in an in-studio live performance on XM Radio that demonstrated the passion the band has for making music. I will say that I was extremely disappointed to learn that my favorite lyric from this song does not say "There's clowns in my shower" but instead the more humdrum "There's clouds in my shower". Damn, clowns would have been a lot more fun.
That's The Way (My Love Is) is a hit in the vein of Adore or Machina, later Pumpkin albums that were considered more artsy and not as commercially successful as alt-rock staples Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie. The melodies are catchy and the music filled with the hooks Corgan has come to be known for.
The first track released to radio is the ambling and rambling Tarantula, conjuring up images of the Guns N Roses track Double Talkin' Jive from Use Your Illusion I. While the Pumpkins would probably cringe at the thought, the vocal rhythm is strikingly similar and the dirty guitar sound adds another level of comparison. Billy reaches a little further back in Stars, a song that must have been a cast off from some 70's era ridiculous arena rock also ran. The picture of Chamberlain mid-drum solo seals the image.
The middle of the CD displays some real strength. United States of America is the drunken lovechild of previous Pumpkin favs Drown (of Singles soundtrack fame) and Silverf*ck from Siamese Dream, with a crazy Michael Jackson screech thrown in for good measure. The drumwork in this song is exceptional.
The best part of the CD is the diversity and ease with which the band switches from one sound to another, as deftly as ever. The transition is never more apparent than switching from the driving drum-heavy USA to the soft-handed, xylophonic Neverlost as Corgan gently pleads "Let's kill these hours and fill desire." This song crystallizes why I love the Pumpkins. They can write a song that will make you want to dive headlong off a stage and turn around and write a sweet melody such as this.
Bring The Light is my favorite track and starts slowly before sending the album back into turbo mode. The quick, short verses over Billy's melodies create a driving and emotional backdrop and Chamberlain struts his stuff on this quirky tune. For God and Country has the band dipping into an 80's pop tart sound while delving into issues of faith and patriotism(?). The piano sound towards the end of the song helps distract attention from the Thomas Dolby sound-alike attempts.
The title track to wrap up the album leaves an upbeat acoustic sound with Corgan asking "Are there any real souls to find?" The song brings to mind a more innocent time in our country, where a young Corgan could happily hitchhike his way across a hilly, verdant New England patch of road as afternoon stretches into early evening.
All in all, the CD mixes a lot of different sounds so that old Pumpkins fans and newer ones will find something to like. I also found a few things not to like, including the annoying habit of bands to release several "versions" of the same CD, with each having one different song than the others. Very annoying for those of us who haven't yet followed the herd onto I-tunes where you buy the songs individually. And a few of the songs on the CD were just a bit too much for me, primarily Stars and For God and Country. Oh yeah, and the fact that he didn't say "There's clowns in my shower." Boooo...
Until next time.
Ace
Monday, December 10, 2007
Nearly there
My last class was supposed to be tonight but due to inclement weather, it has been cancelled. Kinda sucks because now I have to drive out and pick up some assignments later this week and complete any revisions and submit them by mid-day Friday. Not very convenient with a very full work schedule but I'm going to have to make it go somehow.
Very short post as I'm trying to catch up on a thousand things that have fallen through the cracks during a very busy semester. But I've bid a fond farewell to my friend Shakespeare (parting is such sweet sorrow) and a not so fond farewell to the irritating professors in charge of my clinical observations. And now I'm trying to chart the course from here to fall '09 when the student teaching begins. It appears I will not actually be able to get my math endorsement by the time I start teaching but hopefully will be able to finish up during my first year of teaching. This should change my status from another English teacher scraping for a job to a very marketable English and Math teacher scraping for a job. This is a good thing.
Next post is likely to be a CD review I promised over the summer. Been a while since I ruminated on any music but I'm starting to get the juices flowing with some recent record releases that I've enjoyed and a few live shows upcoming that I'm excited about.
Almost snuck into the playoffs in my one fantasy league, I won my game, one of the players I needed to lose did lose and the third player won but outscored me by a lot to take the tie-breaker. Suck!!!! But I managed to win one of my playoff games (and lose the other). The good news is, I won in the bigger $$$ league. A win this week puts me in positive cash territory on the season. A loss and I still have a chance to break even. But no matter what, I'm in the money, hurray!
Here's pulling for the App State squad to win the I-AA title in football this Friday for a 3rd straight year!
OK, gotta run.
Until next time.
Ace
Very short post as I'm trying to catch up on a thousand things that have fallen through the cracks during a very busy semester. But I've bid a fond farewell to my friend Shakespeare (parting is such sweet sorrow) and a not so fond farewell to the irritating professors in charge of my clinical observations. And now I'm trying to chart the course from here to fall '09 when the student teaching begins. It appears I will not actually be able to get my math endorsement by the time I start teaching but hopefully will be able to finish up during my first year of teaching. This should change my status from another English teacher scraping for a job to a very marketable English and Math teacher scraping for a job. This is a good thing.
Next post is likely to be a CD review I promised over the summer. Been a while since I ruminated on any music but I'm starting to get the juices flowing with some recent record releases that I've enjoyed and a few live shows upcoming that I'm excited about.
Almost snuck into the playoffs in my one fantasy league, I won my game, one of the players I needed to lose did lose and the third player won but outscored me by a lot to take the tie-breaker. Suck!!!! But I managed to win one of my playoff games (and lose the other). The good news is, I won in the bigger $$$ league. A win this week puts me in positive cash territory on the season. A loss and I still have a chance to break even. But no matter what, I'm in the money, hurray!
Here's pulling for the App State squad to win the I-AA title in football this Friday for a 3rd straight year!
OK, gotta run.
Until next time.
Ace
Friday, November 30, 2007
As The World Turns
Oh the drama! Amazing the ridiculous things occurring at my job. I really wish I was closer to the end than I am. I'll not go into the details (after all, who knows who is reading this blog) but suffice it to say that each day my resolve grows stronger to pursue alternate paths. At times I worry I'm running away from something more than I'm ascending to something else. But, those are the internal battles that are constantly occurring in my head. On to other things that I'd much rather talk about.
Sheesh, I think the people I know are the most fertile in the world. A congrats to DL, a colleague at work who just had a baby girl a couple days ago. And congrats to J&J, who announced the pending arrival of their 3rd. And a hearty congrats to an old friend Dr. JR, who is expecting his first. Wow! It is really crazy right now with all the babies.
Some poker adventures - as mentioned in my last post, Q & I went to play some No Limit at a local riverboat casino. It was $1 / $2 blinds. I won what I believe is the biggest hand I've ever won, approximately $440. I was in the big blind with Q6 off suit and flopped two pair. I managed to take it down. And I witnessed the biggest pot I'd ever seen in a game I was in, over $1k. Unfortunately for Q, he lost the hand with his pocket Aces getting beat by some bozo playing Jack Three suited. Ugh. But Q made an amazing comeback to finish only slightly down for the day while I won a medium amount. It was a lot of fun and a nice change from my normal, Limit poker game. I will definitely play there again on occasion.
Fantasy football was 3-0 last week. I should be in the playoffs in 2 leagues and have an outside shot at the third league. Playoffs start next week in the 2 where I appear to have made it, the week after in the other.
I'm submitting my last assignment for my Shakespeare class today. I have the final to take (which should be a piece of cake). I have gotten A's on everything in that class so far so feeling good about that. My 2 clinical observation classes are now done. And I have 2 weeks left in my other class. Unfortunately, I still have a boatload of work to do in that class. I hope to knock most of it out this weekend.
I'll leave you all with a joke, timely with all the impregnation going on with people I know:
A guy and a girl were happily married and about to have a baby. One day, the wife started having contractions, so the husband rushed her to the hospital. He held her hand as she went through a trying birth. In the end, there were two little baby boys.
The guy turned to his wife and angrily said, "All right, who's the other father!?!"
Until next time.
Ace
Sheesh, I think the people I know are the most fertile in the world. A congrats to DL, a colleague at work who just had a baby girl a couple days ago. And congrats to J&J, who announced the pending arrival of their 3rd. And a hearty congrats to an old friend Dr. JR, who is expecting his first. Wow! It is really crazy right now with all the babies.
Some poker adventures - as mentioned in my last post, Q & I went to play some No Limit at a local riverboat casino. It was $1 / $2 blinds. I won what I believe is the biggest hand I've ever won, approximately $440. I was in the big blind with Q6 off suit and flopped two pair. I managed to take it down. And I witnessed the biggest pot I'd ever seen in a game I was in, over $1k. Unfortunately for Q, he lost the hand with his pocket Aces getting beat by some bozo playing Jack Three suited. Ugh. But Q made an amazing comeback to finish only slightly down for the day while I won a medium amount. It was a lot of fun and a nice change from my normal, Limit poker game. I will definitely play there again on occasion.
Fantasy football was 3-0 last week. I should be in the playoffs in 2 leagues and have an outside shot at the third league. Playoffs start next week in the 2 where I appear to have made it, the week after in the other.
I'm submitting my last assignment for my Shakespeare class today. I have the final to take (which should be a piece of cake). I have gotten A's on everything in that class so far so feeling good about that. My 2 clinical observation classes are now done. And I have 2 weeks left in my other class. Unfortunately, I still have a boatload of work to do in that class. I hope to knock most of it out this weekend.
I'll leave you all with a joke, timely with all the impregnation going on with people I know:
A guy and a girl were happily married and about to have a baby. One day, the wife started having contractions, so the husband rushed her to the hospital. He held her hand as she went through a trying birth. In the end, there were two little baby boys.
The guy turned to his wife and angrily said, "All right, who's the other father!?!"
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Turkey time!
Happy Turkey Day a couple days early to the thousands of loyal readers out there. I'm overwhelmed by the generosity and the astonishing amount of food being sent in to the home office of the blog. Stellar!
It turns out that I'm really the turkey this year (no different than any other, actually). The past week was a big one school wise. First, I completed my clinical observations, including teaching a lesson in one of the classes I worked with. It was ok but the kids were pretty tough, mainly acting up a lot and not paying a lot of attention. I got most of them to do part of the lesson although I wasn't very happy that they didn't all do it. But the teacher was pretty pleased with how many of them actually did so whatever. Anyhow, I'm thinking that one of the things I'll want to do is start my classes out very tough from a discipline perspective. Hopefully that will avoid problems as the semester progresses. Anyone who knows me though knows that I'm pretty laid back in general so this will be sort of tough for me to do. We'll see how it goes.
I also taught a mini grammar lesson in my grad class last night. It was only 10 minutes long but we had to prepare an entire class long lesson. It was a lot of work! I can see how the first year of teaching is really going to be grueling, creating all these lessons from scratch. I think it will get easier once you are able to re-use things in future years. This was probably the most work for any assignment we have in this class so hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here.
I received my student teaching assignment for next fall. It's at a middle school that is about 10 minutes from my house. Unfortunately, I've decided that I'm going to postpone student teaching for one more year. It's primarily due to finances. We just haven't been able to save up enough money to allow me to quit my job as soon as next fall. I'm disappointed because I would really like to move forward that quickly but barring a financial windfall in the next 3-4 weeks, it will be out of the question. The upside is that I'll be able to focus on adding an endorsement, which will allow me to teach in a subject besides English. Since I'm focusing on middle school, I'll probably try to get the endorsement in technology. Business is another interest but I don't think there's a big need for a business teacher in middle school!
So, that will mean I'll have a few more classes to take but I will also have another year in which to take them. I need to work out my new schedule with my advisor pretty quickly.
One more Shakespeare play to go, Much Ado About Nothing. I just finished Merchant of Venice, which is really not very funny for a comedy. But I should be done reading by this time next week!
Travelling home to see my family full of turkeys for Thanksgiving. It will be just an overnight trip due to a bunch of strange schedules but that will allow me to get home quickly, which will be sort of nice. Unfortunately, that means I won't be able to see any of the friends from my hometown, which is always a very fun part of the holidays. Oh well, they're probably tired of my ugly mug anyhow. The upside is I get to spend all day Friday with my boy Q playing poker on his birthday. Sounds great to me!
Congrats are due to D & B, who had a healthy baby boy last Friday. Samuel Neal (again my recommendation of the name Ace was shot down!) is home with mom and everyone is doing great. Glad to hear all is well.
Plans are coming together for one of our family trips scheduled next year. In February, we'll be packing up the kids and trekking to Disney. This will be coupled with a record release weekend for one of my favorite bands, where 2 concerts will be played and general silliness will ensue. I can't wait, it really should be fun. And it looks like we're going to get the hook-up on a timeshare from one of my boys, which should be quite sweet.
My fantasy football teams are complete disasters. 1-2 again this week, barely squeaking out my one win. Here's the lowdown:
Boom Kings: 4-7, will take a minor miracle to make the playoffs
Nice Guy Dick-Taters: 5-6, have a shot at the playoffs but need a strong finish
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery: 6-5, should make the playoffs, jockeying for position right now
Is it baseball season yet?
Until next time.
Ace
It turns out that I'm really the turkey this year (no different than any other, actually). The past week was a big one school wise. First, I completed my clinical observations, including teaching a lesson in one of the classes I worked with. It was ok but the kids were pretty tough, mainly acting up a lot and not paying a lot of attention. I got most of them to do part of the lesson although I wasn't very happy that they didn't all do it. But the teacher was pretty pleased with how many of them actually did so whatever. Anyhow, I'm thinking that one of the things I'll want to do is start my classes out very tough from a discipline perspective. Hopefully that will avoid problems as the semester progresses. Anyone who knows me though knows that I'm pretty laid back in general so this will be sort of tough for me to do. We'll see how it goes.
I also taught a mini grammar lesson in my grad class last night. It was only 10 minutes long but we had to prepare an entire class long lesson. It was a lot of work! I can see how the first year of teaching is really going to be grueling, creating all these lessons from scratch. I think it will get easier once you are able to re-use things in future years. This was probably the most work for any assignment we have in this class so hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here.
I received my student teaching assignment for next fall. It's at a middle school that is about 10 minutes from my house. Unfortunately, I've decided that I'm going to postpone student teaching for one more year. It's primarily due to finances. We just haven't been able to save up enough money to allow me to quit my job as soon as next fall. I'm disappointed because I would really like to move forward that quickly but barring a financial windfall in the next 3-4 weeks, it will be out of the question. The upside is that I'll be able to focus on adding an endorsement, which will allow me to teach in a subject besides English. Since I'm focusing on middle school, I'll probably try to get the endorsement in technology. Business is another interest but I don't think there's a big need for a business teacher in middle school!
So, that will mean I'll have a few more classes to take but I will also have another year in which to take them. I need to work out my new schedule with my advisor pretty quickly.
One more Shakespeare play to go, Much Ado About Nothing. I just finished Merchant of Venice, which is really not very funny for a comedy. But I should be done reading by this time next week!
Travelling home to see my family full of turkeys for Thanksgiving. It will be just an overnight trip due to a bunch of strange schedules but that will allow me to get home quickly, which will be sort of nice. Unfortunately, that means I won't be able to see any of the friends from my hometown, which is always a very fun part of the holidays. Oh well, they're probably tired of my ugly mug anyhow. The upside is I get to spend all day Friday with my boy Q playing poker on his birthday. Sounds great to me!
Congrats are due to D & B, who had a healthy baby boy last Friday. Samuel Neal (again my recommendation of the name Ace was shot down!) is home with mom and everyone is doing great. Glad to hear all is well.
Plans are coming together for one of our family trips scheduled next year. In February, we'll be packing up the kids and trekking to Disney. This will be coupled with a record release weekend for one of my favorite bands, where 2 concerts will be played and general silliness will ensue. I can't wait, it really should be fun. And it looks like we're going to get the hook-up on a timeshare from one of my boys, which should be quite sweet.
My fantasy football teams are complete disasters. 1-2 again this week, barely squeaking out my one win. Here's the lowdown:
Boom Kings: 4-7, will take a minor miracle to make the playoffs
Nice Guy Dick-Taters: 5-6, have a shot at the playoffs but need a strong finish
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery: 6-5, should make the playoffs, jockeying for position right now
Is it baseball season yet?
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Ouch!
I ran in my 10k over the weekend. Before I start to whine about how bad it sucked, let me give a few excuses as to why it went so badly. First off, I started to get sick about a week before the race. I was in bad enough shape last Wednesday that I never got out of bed all day long. But I started feeling better Thursday and was close to back to normal on Friday. Unfortunately, being sick I didn't get to do my last few training runs but I figured I'd be ok since I went 45 minutes on the elliptical, which isn't too much shorter than I expected it to take me to run the race. Secondly, I did not eat dinner the night before the race. I got caught up doing something and just never made time to do it. Since the race was sort of early Saturday am, I really didn't have much of a breakfast either. Not really the brightest idea in the world.
The race was Saturday am. I got there and had a really bad feeling. Even though I trained for several weeks, I had not run outside at all, all the training was on the elliptical. So, the race started and off we went. I did ok the first mile, it was at about the pace I thought I would run the race and I felt ok. The second mile wasn't bad either, it was roughly the same pace. But somewhere between 2 & 2.5 miles I really lost it. I started to get very tired and slowed down. In my mind I had two goals: 1. Don't walk. 2. Don't die. I swear, this is what I was thinking as I was running. That generally is not a good sign. I'm glad to say that I met both goals! My time was about 8 minutes slower than my other 10k I ran two years ago, which sucks, but at least I finished. I will definitely need to train better for my next adventure. And I was about as sore as I have ever been the day after the race. I'm back to normal now but damn that was not fun!
I finished one of my classes last night. I've got another that finishes next Monday I believe. That will leave me with just Shakespeare and my teaching of writing class. The writing class has a big assignment due Monday and a few other big things to do in the next few weeks. I'll be glad to finish up the semester. I get about a month off until spring semester starts.
We hosted a baby shower for our friends C & N over the weekend. A good time seemed to be had by all. There was lots of good food, which made it even more fun. By the way (and not specific to this particular baby shower), the inventor of the couples baby shower really should be locked away somewhere. They are really not my cup of tea.
Congrats to my friend Thumper who had her baby over the weekend. Cute little dude. And congrats to S & B who are expecting their third. We did a count over the weekend and we know eight couples that are expecting right now. Wow! And best wishes out to DS who just found out about a major illness in the family. We're thinking the best thoughts on a successful recovery.
My fantasy football teams suck. I have gone 1-5 the last 2 weeks and will be lucky to make the playoffs in one league at this rate. Ugh!!!!
OK, that's enough for now.
Until next time.
Ace.
The race was Saturday am. I got there and had a really bad feeling. Even though I trained for several weeks, I had not run outside at all, all the training was on the elliptical. So, the race started and off we went. I did ok the first mile, it was at about the pace I thought I would run the race and I felt ok. The second mile wasn't bad either, it was roughly the same pace. But somewhere between 2 & 2.5 miles I really lost it. I started to get very tired and slowed down. In my mind I had two goals: 1. Don't walk. 2. Don't die. I swear, this is what I was thinking as I was running. That generally is not a good sign. I'm glad to say that I met both goals! My time was about 8 minutes slower than my other 10k I ran two years ago, which sucks, but at least I finished. I will definitely need to train better for my next adventure. And I was about as sore as I have ever been the day after the race. I'm back to normal now but damn that was not fun!
I finished one of my classes last night. I've got another that finishes next Monday I believe. That will leave me with just Shakespeare and my teaching of writing class. The writing class has a big assignment due Monday and a few other big things to do in the next few weeks. I'll be glad to finish up the semester. I get about a month off until spring semester starts.
We hosted a baby shower for our friends C & N over the weekend. A good time seemed to be had by all. There was lots of good food, which made it even more fun. By the way (and not specific to this particular baby shower), the inventor of the couples baby shower really should be locked away somewhere. They are really not my cup of tea.
Congrats to my friend Thumper who had her baby over the weekend. Cute little dude. And congrats to S & B who are expecting their third. We did a count over the weekend and we know eight couples that are expecting right now. Wow! And best wishes out to DS who just found out about a major illness in the family. We're thinking the best thoughts on a successful recovery.
My fantasy football teams suck. I have gone 1-5 the last 2 weeks and will be lucky to make the playoffs in one league at this rate. Ugh!!!!
OK, that's enough for now.
Until next time.
Ace.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Eye gouging, poisoning and suicide
No, I have not been watching re-runs of "The Simple Life" or "Real World". Rather, just reading some more of Willie Shakespeare. I just finished King Lear and am now down to just 3 more plays in the next 3 1/2 weeks. Not bad at all my friends. And I really am enjoying reading them, although they are some violent pieces of work. Next up is Richard III, which I understand is more of the same. I think I'm ready for a comedy to be thrown in here!
I am also down to 2 more visits to my middle school to finish my clinical experience for this semester. I've been in class 3 days. My most recent visit was fairly uneventful although I did enjoy reading a couple of stories aloud to the 6th graders in the first period.
I had a sick, sick hand in poker that I wanted to share. I just got back from dinner and sit down in the big blind (playing $5 / $10 Limit Hold 'Em). 6 players limp in and I look down at pocket queens. I raise and all 6 come along for the ride.
The flop comes K-Q-9, with two diamonds on the board. I bet, there is one raise, another raise and I cap the betting. I'm assuming there is at least one person with Jack Ten for a made straight and probably an Ace King. There are 3 of us left in the pot. The turn is a 9, giving me a full house. The only hands that beat me are KK or 99. I bet, one call, a raise, I re-raise and the other dude calls. The river is the worst card in the deck, another K. I check, dude checks, girl bets, I call, he calls. I show my full house, dude shows Jack Ten for the straight and girl shows K-9. So, that river king killed me and lost me a gigantic pot. I was crushed, the pot must have been over $300. Anyhow, I got back at the winner later with another monster pot when I cracked her Aces by flopping a set of 4s. The pot was nearly as big as the Queens hand. I finished up overall but could have had a record breaking night if not for that King, grrrrr.
Some potentially great news came my way over the weekend. I blogged previously about a state content test I took several weeks ago with the expectation at about 70% that I failed. I'll be damned if I didn't get an e-mail with preliminary results showing that I passed quite easily. I'm waiting for the official results in the mail but I was pleasantly surprised by that little gem. The only possible catch is that you have to pass each sub-area in addition to passing overall but I'm guessing I should be ok. What a surprise.
I register for next semester today, looking at 3 classes, which should be pretty comfortable. In fact, I think I'm going to sign-off now to register.
Good luck to D, who is due to go into labor at absolutely any time now. Hope it all goes well!
Until next time,
Ace
I am also down to 2 more visits to my middle school to finish my clinical experience for this semester. I've been in class 3 days. My most recent visit was fairly uneventful although I did enjoy reading a couple of stories aloud to the 6th graders in the first period.
I had a sick, sick hand in poker that I wanted to share. I just got back from dinner and sit down in the big blind (playing $5 / $10 Limit Hold 'Em). 6 players limp in and I look down at pocket queens. I raise and all 6 come along for the ride.
The flop comes K-Q-9, with two diamonds on the board. I bet, there is one raise, another raise and I cap the betting. I'm assuming there is at least one person with Jack Ten for a made straight and probably an Ace King. There are 3 of us left in the pot. The turn is a 9, giving me a full house. The only hands that beat me are KK or 99. I bet, one call, a raise, I re-raise and the other dude calls. The river is the worst card in the deck, another K. I check, dude checks, girl bets, I call, he calls. I show my full house, dude shows Jack Ten for the straight and girl shows K-9. So, that river king killed me and lost me a gigantic pot. I was crushed, the pot must have been over $300. Anyhow, I got back at the winner later with another monster pot when I cracked her Aces by flopping a set of 4s. The pot was nearly as big as the Queens hand. I finished up overall but could have had a record breaking night if not for that King, grrrrr.
Some potentially great news came my way over the weekend. I blogged previously about a state content test I took several weeks ago with the expectation at about 70% that I failed. I'll be damned if I didn't get an e-mail with preliminary results showing that I passed quite easily. I'm waiting for the official results in the mail but I was pleasantly surprised by that little gem. The only possible catch is that you have to pass each sub-area in addition to passing overall but I'm guessing I should be ok. What a surprise.
I register for next semester today, looking at 3 classes, which should be pretty comfortable. In fact, I think I'm going to sign-off now to register.
Good luck to D, who is due to go into labor at absolutely any time now. Hope it all goes well!
Until next time,
Ace
Thursday, November 1, 2007
It's been a while
since I've f*d things up, the way I always do. Ah, the chipper lyrics of Aaron Lewis, lead singer of Staind. Well, I don't think I've f'd anything up but when I wrote the title the song popped into my head. I digress.
MacBeth - done. One page paper to write tonight and I'm halfway done with my Shakespeare class. Dude was a pretty good writer. I'm thinking a bit overrated though. The class I'm taking is all done independently, with audio lessons via CD. The instructors could not be more in love with someone than they are with the old Shaker. I guess it's their job but it's a little disgusting. I think you could get arrested in at least 36 states for giving someone so much lip service. I'm in the midst of King Lear as we speak.
Only about a month left in the semester, I really can't believe it. I'm getting by and thinking I'll do pretty well in the class I care most about, one of my recent assignments has gotten rave reviews. This is a good thing. And I think the teacher likes me. Really, what's not to love?
I register for spring semester next week. It looks like I'll be in class at least 2 nights per week. But one of the courses is an American Lit course at the graduate level. I think it should be fun, I love literature. It looks like 3 classes total, which should be a little easier to handle than this semester.
One quick poker note, I was playing this past weekend and hit a royal flush. Not very often one of those bad boys come around, unfortunately I only had a couple people in the hand with me so it wasn't a huge pot to win. But, I did score 2 free tickets to the buffet for my effort!
Tough week in fantasy football, only 1-2 overall. I'm going to need to get hot to make the playoffs, although it is definitely still in striking distance in all 3 leagues:
Boom Kings 4-4 - probably my best team but on a 2 game losing streak. 5th place overall, top 4 make playoffs, 4th place team also 4-4 but has 27 more pts than me.
Nice Guy Dick Taters 4-4 - 3 game losing streak, tied with 2 other teams at 5th place overall, top 4 make playoffs, playing 4th place team this week.
Come on Sucker Lick My Battery 5-3 - 4th place overall
Congrats Red Sox on winning the World Series, they could definitely be set up for a nice run the next few years with all the talent on that team. And a fun football matchup this weekend with Colts and Patriots squaring off, what a hype fest! Plus the Bulls tipped off last night, not a great beginning but they should be pretty good this season. I sure hope they don't trade for the rapist-prima donna Kobe.
Finally, I'll leave with a limerick, which have gone missing in recent posts. This one is particularly timely:
There was a young damsel named Carole
Who liked to play stud for apparel.
Her opponents straight flush
Brought a maidenly blush,
And a hasty trip home in a barrel.
Until next time,
Ace
MacBeth - done. One page paper to write tonight and I'm halfway done with my Shakespeare class. Dude was a pretty good writer. I'm thinking a bit overrated though. The class I'm taking is all done independently, with audio lessons via CD. The instructors could not be more in love with someone than they are with the old Shaker. I guess it's their job but it's a little disgusting. I think you could get arrested in at least 36 states for giving someone so much lip service. I'm in the midst of King Lear as we speak.
Only about a month left in the semester, I really can't believe it. I'm getting by and thinking I'll do pretty well in the class I care most about, one of my recent assignments has gotten rave reviews. This is a good thing. And I think the teacher likes me. Really, what's not to love?
I register for spring semester next week. It looks like I'll be in class at least 2 nights per week. But one of the courses is an American Lit course at the graduate level. I think it should be fun, I love literature. It looks like 3 classes total, which should be a little easier to handle than this semester.
One quick poker note, I was playing this past weekend and hit a royal flush. Not very often one of those bad boys come around, unfortunately I only had a couple people in the hand with me so it wasn't a huge pot to win. But, I did score 2 free tickets to the buffet for my effort!
Tough week in fantasy football, only 1-2 overall. I'm going to need to get hot to make the playoffs, although it is definitely still in striking distance in all 3 leagues:
Boom Kings 4-4 - probably my best team but on a 2 game losing streak. 5th place overall, top 4 make playoffs, 4th place team also 4-4 but has 27 more pts than me.
Nice Guy Dick Taters 4-4 - 3 game losing streak, tied with 2 other teams at 5th place overall, top 4 make playoffs, playing 4th place team this week.
Come on Sucker Lick My Battery 5-3 - 4th place overall
Congrats Red Sox on winning the World Series, they could definitely be set up for a nice run the next few years with all the talent on that team. And a fun football matchup this weekend with Colts and Patriots squaring off, what a hype fest! Plus the Bulls tipped off last night, not a great beginning but they should be pretty good this season. I sure hope they don't trade for the rapist-prima donna Kobe.
Finally, I'll leave with a limerick, which have gone missing in recent posts. This one is particularly timely:
There was a young damsel named Carole
Who liked to play stud for apparel.
Her opponents straight flush
Brought a maidenly blush,
And a hasty trip home in a barrel.
Until next time,
Ace
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Downswing
I'm on the downswing. I am almost 2/3 of the way through this semester already. Holy smokes it is flying! My clinical experiences continue and have been a source of encouragement. I spent last Friday and will spend the next 4 Fridays at my middle school. The good news is that it is only about 15 minutes from my house whereas my high school was over an hour away. The better news is that I am loving it so far. The program is more organized. I am with 5 different teachers throughout the day so that I am getting a fuller experience. And I'm really enjoying the kids. They just seem nicer than the high schoolers I ran into and are eager to participate (and please!). I have to say that was a real upper. I am really not caring much for the seminars all of us prospective teachers sit through for 2 hours on Monday afternoons that accompany the clinical experience but those are only a few weeks away from being over. Maybe they are valuable for the undergrads but it is feeling like a major waste of time to me.
My "teaching writing" class is going well. I have identified grammar as a major weakness I need to improve upon. It's amazing how the philosophy on teaching grammar has changed. In fact, a lot of the theory is saying that you should only teach it pretty moderately, as opposed to all the drilling and exercises I did growing up. In spite of that, I still need to bone up on that area so I am a credible resource for my kids. And when I most needed it, my professor told me she thought I was going to be an excellent teacher. Whether she's blowing smoke or not, it felt good to hear.
Shakespeare continues. I'm through 2 of the 7 plays I need to read and I've just started MacBeth. I basically have a play per week the rest of the semester (which is beginning of December). It's going to be a grind but I definitely think it's doable. This full semester is a lot longer than that short, intense summer semester I just completed. Grueling.
I'm coming to a crossroads. I need to enroll in classes for next semester soon. I'm strongly considering stretching the rest of my course work over another year so that I student teach in Fall '09 instead of Fall '08. The reasons are primarily financial. The better half has not been able to get any kind of regularity from her desired occupation and is now looking in other directions. I've taken up a "second" job doing something I love but is not a reliable source of income. But the problem is, I'm pretty close to finishing up and I really like the people with whom I'm taking my coursework. I'm thinking I may go ahead with my classes next semester and then work towards adding classes for another endorsement, giving me the ability to teach more than English. I'm thinking that either business (not sure of the market for that in middle school) or technology might be directions I head in for my endorsement. We'll see.
Less deep and much more fun. My favorite band is having a record release party in Orlando in February. We're considering taking the kids and incorporating it into a Disney trip. Also hoping to go to Vegas with the fellas at some point in the spring, hopefully over my spring break. And finally, taking the kids to New York to visit both major league ballparks that are closing at the end of next season. So, lots of very cool stuff coming up.
Even more fun! Congrats M&J on finding out about baby #2 on the way, very exciting! And also to D&L, who have gone through hell and now heaven to finally have their first on the way. Life is about to change my friends.
Not so much fun but encouraging thoughts and wishes to Ken, who suffered a stroke recently but is whipping it's backside by all accounts.
And on my own suicide watch, I'm going to try to run a 10k in a couple of weeks. I've not run nearly as much as I should but am trying to get up to speed in time. It'll be close.
Fantasy Football Update:
Boom Kings 4-3, one game back, highest scorer in the league
Come on Sucker Lick My Battery 4-3, 5th out of 10 teams. Now is the time for a hot streak.
Nice Guy Dick Taters 4-3, 4th out of 10 teams.
The good news is I've got a shot at the playoffs in all 3 leagues. I'd settle for making it in 2 of the 3.
And I continue to pwn my poker league. After doing very poorly in the first tourney, I've since finished 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 2nd. The last 2 seconds were tough because I felt I should have won. In the first I lost with Ace King suited to pocket queens (ok, maybe I shouldn't have won but I easily could have with that hand). In the second, my pocket Aces that would have finished the tournament got beat by AT when the bozo caught his 2 outer on the river to catch up with me. I couldn't recover and it was over. So frustrating. I'm way ahead of the pack though and making a little scratch on the side.
OK, megapost complete.
Until next time.
Ace
My "teaching writing" class is going well. I have identified grammar as a major weakness I need to improve upon. It's amazing how the philosophy on teaching grammar has changed. In fact, a lot of the theory is saying that you should only teach it pretty moderately, as opposed to all the drilling and exercises I did growing up. In spite of that, I still need to bone up on that area so I am a credible resource for my kids. And when I most needed it, my professor told me she thought I was going to be an excellent teacher. Whether she's blowing smoke or not, it felt good to hear.
Shakespeare continues. I'm through 2 of the 7 plays I need to read and I've just started MacBeth. I basically have a play per week the rest of the semester (which is beginning of December). It's going to be a grind but I definitely think it's doable. This full semester is a lot longer than that short, intense summer semester I just completed. Grueling.
I'm coming to a crossroads. I need to enroll in classes for next semester soon. I'm strongly considering stretching the rest of my course work over another year so that I student teach in Fall '09 instead of Fall '08. The reasons are primarily financial. The better half has not been able to get any kind of regularity from her desired occupation and is now looking in other directions. I've taken up a "second" job doing something I love but is not a reliable source of income. But the problem is, I'm pretty close to finishing up and I really like the people with whom I'm taking my coursework. I'm thinking I may go ahead with my classes next semester and then work towards adding classes for another endorsement, giving me the ability to teach more than English. I'm thinking that either business (not sure of the market for that in middle school) or technology might be directions I head in for my endorsement. We'll see.
Less deep and much more fun. My favorite band is having a record release party in Orlando in February. We're considering taking the kids and incorporating it into a Disney trip. Also hoping to go to Vegas with the fellas at some point in the spring, hopefully over my spring break. And finally, taking the kids to New York to visit both major league ballparks that are closing at the end of next season. So, lots of very cool stuff coming up.
Even more fun! Congrats M&J on finding out about baby #2 on the way, very exciting! And also to D&L, who have gone through hell and now heaven to finally have their first on the way. Life is about to change my friends.
Not so much fun but encouraging thoughts and wishes to Ken, who suffered a stroke recently but is whipping it's backside by all accounts.
And on my own suicide watch, I'm going to try to run a 10k in a couple of weeks. I've not run nearly as much as I should but am trying to get up to speed in time. It'll be close.
Fantasy Football Update:
Boom Kings 4-3, one game back, highest scorer in the league
Come on Sucker Lick My Battery 4-3, 5th out of 10 teams. Now is the time for a hot streak.
Nice Guy Dick Taters 4-3, 4th out of 10 teams.
The good news is I've got a shot at the playoffs in all 3 leagues. I'd settle for making it in 2 of the 3.
And I continue to pwn my poker league. After doing very poorly in the first tourney, I've since finished 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 2nd. The last 2 seconds were tough because I felt I should have won. In the first I lost with Ace King suited to pocket queens (ok, maybe I shouldn't have won but I easily could have with that hand). In the second, my pocket Aces that would have finished the tournament got beat by AT when the bozo caught his 2 outer on the river to catch up with me. I couldn't recover and it was over. So frustrating. I'm way ahead of the pack though and making a little scratch on the side.
OK, megapost complete.
Until next time.
Ace
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Funny ha ha
This will be a brief post.
I just finished reading Hamlet so this joke particularly struck me.
Final Confession
Brittany was on her deathbed, with her husband Adam at her side.
She kept trying to tell him something, but he kept saying, "Shhhh, don't worry now darling, just rest."
"But honey," she whispered, "I need to make a confession before I die... I slept with your brother, your best friend, and your father."
"Don't worry about it, sweetie," replied Adam as he wiped the tears from Brittany's cheek, "I know. Why do you think I poisoned you?"
Stolen from Comedy Central.
FF Update
Boom Kings 4-2, 1 game back of first, highest scoring team in the league.
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery 3-3, 7th overall, 2 games back of first, not doing so hot
Nice Guy Dick Taters 4-2, 1 game back of two teams, tied with one other team
I also managed to get 3rd in both of my baseball leagues, not great but in the money!
I just finished reading Hamlet so this joke particularly struck me.
Final Confession
Brittany was on her deathbed, with her husband Adam at her side.
She kept trying to tell him something, but he kept saying, "Shhhh, don't worry now darling, just rest."
"But honey," she whispered, "I need to make a confession before I die... I slept with your brother, your best friend, and your father."
"Don't worry about it, sweetie," replied Adam as he wiped the tears from Brittany's cheek, "I know. Why do you think I poisoned you?"
Stolen from Comedy Central.
FF Update
Boom Kings 4-2, 1 game back of first, highest scoring team in the league.
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery 3-3, 7th overall, 2 games back of first, not doing so hot
Nice Guy Dick Taters 4-2, 1 game back of two teams, tied with one other team
I also managed to get 3rd in both of my baseball leagues, not great but in the money!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Drive by post
I wrote a poem this weekend for one of my classes. I liked it and thought I would share...
Pad pad pad
soft sound of
full grown chocolate dog
searching for perfect nap
Pad pad pad
furious pounding of
baby hands and knees
hearing daddy's voice
Pad pad pad
churning rooster tail of
powder and cinders grinded
by racing baserunner
Pad pad pad
friendly tapping of
knuckles on felt after
Aces fill up with sevens
Hope you enjoyed it!
Until next time.
Ace
Pad pad pad
soft sound of
full grown chocolate dog
searching for perfect nap
Pad pad pad
furious pounding of
baby hands and knees
hearing daddy's voice
Pad pad pad
churning rooster tail of
powder and cinders grinded
by racing baserunner
Pad pad pad
friendly tapping of
knuckles on felt after
Aces fill up with sevens
Hope you enjoyed it!
Until next time.
Ace
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Marching on
Tomorrow I finish up my clinical observations at a local high school, the culmination of 35 hours spent primarily with one English / reading teacher. It has been very interesting.
First, a bit about the school and classes. The school is a large one that has failed the No Child Left Behind standards for the last 6 years. There are a large number of students where they are more comfortable with Spanish than English. Additionally, there are a large number of students from poor households, where their parents immigrated from Mexico or Central America with around a 4th grade education. The specific classes I've been with are 3 reading classes, which are essentially remedial classes with many students that likely have undiagnosed learning disabilities or ADHD. There have also been 2 other classes that are English classes, with a slightly higher level of aptitude, although some of the same behavioral issues.
The teacher I have been with has taught for 33 years and reminds me of a grandmother. She's fairly small and while the students don't exactly run over her, she doesn't exactly have them eating out of the palm of her hand. This is the first year in several where she has not had all remedial reading students, so the English classes are a delight for her. My first several sessions were observing standardized testing, which wasn't very compelling. More recently, I've seen some lessons and learned a few things about various teaching strategies and tools. Overall, the teacher has been sort of unprepared, seemingly winging it since she has so much experience. But it hasn't made the greatest impression on me.
The issues with the kids have been really eye-opening. So much energy gets spent on playing cop that it is difficult to spend much time on instruction. This has been the most disappointing aspect for me. I'm definitely interested to see how my middle school experience, which I'll start in about 2 weeks, will compare to what I've seen at the high school. I also plan to talk to many of my friends who teach to get their insights as well. That said, I have turned in my student teaching application for next fall with a request to be placed in a middle school. I may change my mind ultimately as to what level I'd like to teach but that's where I'm leaning right now.
Otherwise, classes are moving ahead. Hard to believe I'm already 1/3 of the way through the term. One of my courses is really good, I think I'm going to enjoy the Shakespeare course also. Then I have my observation classes, which seem pretty useless besides the actual observations. We spend a couple hours in small groups or listening to presentations that I have not gotten much value out of so far. Hopefully this will improve. I also have a state test this weekend on my knowledge of the things English teachers should know. In seeing the practice test, I predict a spectacular failure on this. We'll see, but I'm not at all optimistic.
A bit of a downer post, to reflect my mood over the past week or so. But I keep fighting through it. Eventually we'll get back on the upswing.
Until next time.
Ace
First, a bit about the school and classes. The school is a large one that has failed the No Child Left Behind standards for the last 6 years. There are a large number of students where they are more comfortable with Spanish than English. Additionally, there are a large number of students from poor households, where their parents immigrated from Mexico or Central America with around a 4th grade education. The specific classes I've been with are 3 reading classes, which are essentially remedial classes with many students that likely have undiagnosed learning disabilities or ADHD. There have also been 2 other classes that are English classes, with a slightly higher level of aptitude, although some of the same behavioral issues.
The teacher I have been with has taught for 33 years and reminds me of a grandmother. She's fairly small and while the students don't exactly run over her, she doesn't exactly have them eating out of the palm of her hand. This is the first year in several where she has not had all remedial reading students, so the English classes are a delight for her. My first several sessions were observing standardized testing, which wasn't very compelling. More recently, I've seen some lessons and learned a few things about various teaching strategies and tools. Overall, the teacher has been sort of unprepared, seemingly winging it since she has so much experience. But it hasn't made the greatest impression on me.
The issues with the kids have been really eye-opening. So much energy gets spent on playing cop that it is difficult to spend much time on instruction. This has been the most disappointing aspect for me. I'm definitely interested to see how my middle school experience, which I'll start in about 2 weeks, will compare to what I've seen at the high school. I also plan to talk to many of my friends who teach to get their insights as well. That said, I have turned in my student teaching application for next fall with a request to be placed in a middle school. I may change my mind ultimately as to what level I'd like to teach but that's where I'm leaning right now.
Otherwise, classes are moving ahead. Hard to believe I'm already 1/3 of the way through the term. One of my courses is really good, I think I'm going to enjoy the Shakespeare course also. Then I have my observation classes, which seem pretty useless besides the actual observations. We spend a couple hours in small groups or listening to presentations that I have not gotten much value out of so far. Hopefully this will improve. I also have a state test this weekend on my knowledge of the things English teachers should know. In seeing the practice test, I predict a spectacular failure on this. We'll see, but I'm not at all optimistic.
A bit of a downer post, to reflect my mood over the past week or so. But I keep fighting through it. Eventually we'll get back on the upswing.
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Congrats!
Congrats to my friend from college "Tree" who gave birth to a gorgeous daughter Mallory over the weekend. I'm glad everyone's doing ok - her older sister will get the hang of having a sister around soon! Here's a link to pictures of the little beauty.
I'll be back soon to give an update of my own, including the conclusion of my clinical observations at the high school level.
Until next time.
Ace
I'll be back soon to give an update of my own, including the conclusion of my clinical observations at the high school level.
Until next time.
Ace
Monday, September 24, 2007
A little fun
In the midst of the chaos that is working, going to class, observing high school punks several times a week and trying to keep anything else afloat, I thought it would be fun to share one of my assignments with you.
At the beginning of one of my courses I started this fall, we were asked to provide a personal story we had written. I chose this one from this very blog, focusing specifically on the triathlon part of the post. Apparently, I am too long-winded to submit the whole thing!
After sharing the stories in class, we were asked to radically revise it. Given my self-professed love of the limerick, I chose to re-write the thing with a major twist. Here goes:
There once was a demonic spirit,
You wanted sympathy he wouldn’t hear it,
When looking for fun,
He found a swim, bike and run
And thought he would go and be near it.
He found an unsuspecting man
and hatched an insidious plan,
Satan’s powers were strong,
He’d make the swim seem so long
the person would barely be able to stand.
The plan was a rousing success
and the devil was fully impressed,
The results were so funny
that folks would pay money
to see him put forth another test.
Next he spied the man’s bike
And thought he could do what he liked
But it didn’t go quite as well
As all his plans made in Hell
So Satan would plot one last strike.
At last the man began to run
In God’s name he thinks this is fun?
He’s punished himself enough
No need to make it more rough
The old Devil believes he is done.
Enough for now, I'll report back later this work with more.
Until next time.
Ace
At the beginning of one of my courses I started this fall, we were asked to provide a personal story we had written. I chose this one from this very blog, focusing specifically on the triathlon part of the post. Apparently, I am too long-winded to submit the whole thing!
After sharing the stories in class, we were asked to radically revise it. Given my self-professed love of the limerick, I chose to re-write the thing with a major twist. Here goes:
There once was a demonic spirit,
You wanted sympathy he wouldn’t hear it,
When looking for fun,
He found a swim, bike and run
And thought he would go and be near it.
He found an unsuspecting man
and hatched an insidious plan,
Satan’s powers were strong,
He’d make the swim seem so long
the person would barely be able to stand.
The plan was a rousing success
and the devil was fully impressed,
The results were so funny
that folks would pay money
to see him put forth another test.
Next he spied the man’s bike
And thought he could do what he liked
But it didn’t go quite as well
As all his plans made in Hell
So Satan would plot one last strike.
At last the man began to run
In God’s name he thinks this is fun?
He’s punished himself enough
No need to make it more rough
The old Devil believes he is done.
Enough for now, I'll report back later this work with more.
Until next time.
Ace
Thursday, September 20, 2007
I'm a glutton
Apparently, in my quest to absolutely destroy myself, I've decided I need another class this semester. So, here I go, signed up for a Shakespeare class. The smart thing is that I signed up about 3 weeks late so I'm already way behind! Yipppeeee! So, this course entails reading 8 plays and doing some papers and other assorted craziness. It should be good since I haven't done a ton of work with the ole bard. Unfortunately, I'll just be cramming my way through it. It looks like it's going to be that way for the next year until I get to my student teaching. My application for student teaching is due tomorrow even though I don't actually start until next fall - pretty crazy.
My other coursework is going ok. I have begun my work at a local high school, assisting a teacher who has 3 remedial reading classes and 2 English classes. It is quite a difficult challenge for this teacher, I don't know how she does it. So far the only thing they have done since I've been there is standardized testing so I'm hoping to actually see some classroom instruction in the next couple weeks. Then I'll be on to my middle school, which fortunately is very close to my home. The high school is about an hour away so it'll be nice to have something so close.
I'm definitely starting to get a taste for it and it's more than just the romantic visions one conjures up before attempting a new task. I do see it as a noble undertaking though and think that my early impressions, while a little scary, are galvanizing my resolve to take this direction.
Other assorted news and notes:
Congrats to K & R who have discovered they will be having a little girl in January. It will be their third, welcome to the madness.
Our own little guy is now officially walking, taking his first steps last week. Lock up the women and children!
Schooling is going well for our other 2 monkeys after some early trepidation.
Fantasy update - it looks like I wrapped up 3rd in both baseball leagues. That should turn out to be profitable! Back to reality in football as I went 1-2 this past week, although the taters are the highest scoring team in the league. Here are current records:
Boom Kings 1-1
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery 1-1
Nice Guy Dick-Taters 2-0
Off to see 3:10 to Yuma tonight, I'm very psyched to check this film out as a big fan of most of the modern westerns.
Until next time.
Ace
My other coursework is going ok. I have begun my work at a local high school, assisting a teacher who has 3 remedial reading classes and 2 English classes. It is quite a difficult challenge for this teacher, I don't know how she does it. So far the only thing they have done since I've been there is standardized testing so I'm hoping to actually see some classroom instruction in the next couple weeks. Then I'll be on to my middle school, which fortunately is very close to my home. The high school is about an hour away so it'll be nice to have something so close.
I'm definitely starting to get a taste for it and it's more than just the romantic visions one conjures up before attempting a new task. I do see it as a noble undertaking though and think that my early impressions, while a little scary, are galvanizing my resolve to take this direction.
Other assorted news and notes:
Congrats to K & R who have discovered they will be having a little girl in January. It will be their third, welcome to the madness.
Our own little guy is now officially walking, taking his first steps last week. Lock up the women and children!
Schooling is going well for our other 2 monkeys after some early trepidation.
Fantasy update - it looks like I wrapped up 3rd in both baseball leagues. That should turn out to be profitable! Back to reality in football as I went 1-2 this past week, although the taters are the highest scoring team in the league. Here are current records:
Boom Kings 1-1
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery 1-1
Nice Guy Dick-Taters 2-0
Off to see 3:10 to Yuma tonight, I'm very psyched to check this film out as a big fan of most of the modern westerns.
Until next time.
Ace
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Quickie (as opposed to?)
Just a quick update:
Happy day after b-day to the better half. The mid-week occurrence of the bday sort of put a damper on things but I at least made dinnner and scored a french silk pie from baker's square. This past weekend we went to Chinatown in Chicago to celebrate. We ate until we could eat no more! The better half continues to amaze with the stamina for doing all of the things that somehow amazingly get done. It's fun to look back and see how our lives and relationship have changed over time. Ah, but that is fodder for another more thoughtful post.
School is heating up. I begin my first in-class experience this week, visiting a local high school and assisting the teacher and spending some time tutoring in the library. Hopefully I don't get too nervous and throw up on any kids.
I am working on an interesting project that will have to be done this weekend, writing a response to one of my own blog entries. I will post the results here but I think it is going to be fun, if not a little too self-centered. But hey, it's a school assignment so I didn't really have much of a choice.
I am expecting to spend most of my waking time working on my various school assignments, projects, readings, student teaching applications, state tests, yada yada yada. That said, expect more quick posts like this with an occasional longer and more serious post.
And very importantly, fantasy football update:
Boom Kings, 1-0
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery, 1-0
Nice Guy-Dick Taters, 1-0
Those are my 3 teams in my 3 different leagues. One of the most fun things is to come up with the team names. Off to a blazing start, I'm first or second highest scorer in all 3 leagues so it was definitely a great beginning to the year. Let's see if we can keep it up!
Until next time.
Ace.
Happy day after b-day to the better half. The mid-week occurrence of the bday sort of put a damper on things but I at least made dinnner and scored a french silk pie from baker's square. This past weekend we went to Chinatown in Chicago to celebrate. We ate until we could eat no more! The better half continues to amaze with the stamina for doing all of the things that somehow amazingly get done. It's fun to look back and see how our lives and relationship have changed over time. Ah, but that is fodder for another more thoughtful post.
School is heating up. I begin my first in-class experience this week, visiting a local high school and assisting the teacher and spending some time tutoring in the library. Hopefully I don't get too nervous and throw up on any kids.
I am working on an interesting project that will have to be done this weekend, writing a response to one of my own blog entries. I will post the results here but I think it is going to be fun, if not a little too self-centered. But hey, it's a school assignment so I didn't really have much of a choice.
I am expecting to spend most of my waking time working on my various school assignments, projects, readings, student teaching applications, state tests, yada yada yada. That said, expect more quick posts like this with an occasional longer and more serious post.
And very importantly, fantasy football update:
Boom Kings, 1-0
Come On Sucker Lick My Battery, 1-0
Nice Guy-Dick Taters, 1-0
Those are my 3 teams in my 3 different leagues. One of the most fun things is to come up with the team names. Off to a blazing start, I'm first or second highest scorer in all 3 leagues so it was definitely a great beginning to the year. Let's see if we can keep it up!
Until next time.
Ace.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Geek alert!!!!
"We interrupt this broadcast for an emergency broadcast message"
I promised a little lighter post for my next one. Well folks, here it is. I'm going to share something that many of my readers know. However, this bombshell could keep me from reaching office someday. OK, maybe not. But, here it is: My name is Ace, and I'm a fantasy sports geek. Most of you already knew I was about the nerdiest character around but this probably seals some sort of all-time dork award. It really is kind of embarrassing and something I certainly don't try to bring up when not around my fellow geeks. But I have to admit, it is one of the most fun activities I participate in and has really made me a more involved sports fan.
I've always been a big sports fan, which is really strange since no one else in my family ever really has been more than a VERY casual fan of anything unless they were dragged into it by me (I'm still quite proud of having gotten the better half both Jordan and A-Rod jerseys, that A-Rod Mariners teal number is sweet!). But I have very vivid memories of watching baseball on TV by myself as a 2nd grader. Strangely, it is one of my earliest memories. That morphed into collecting sports cards (another geeky although fairly typical hobby for youngsters) and I was hooked from there. At various times, I've been more into various sports (Jordan era Bulls being my favorite of all time) but the current and probably most lasting favorite is Major League Baseball. Part of this is due to my participation in fantasy leagues.
For those unaware, fantasy sports basically consist of a group of people getting together and "drafting" teams, by taking turns picking players until everyone has a set number of players. Then, the performance of the players you've drafted is compiled and compared to how other teams are doing. The team that does best wins. This is a very simple explanation and it certainly gets way more involved depending on the sport, number of teams and various league formats. Usually each team ponies up an entry fee to get into the league and the top few teams win the entry fees at the end of the season. Perhaps as important for some are the bragging rights you win. This industry has exploded over the last 10 years or so and you always see headlines in the news talking about the billions of dollars of worker productivity lost due to employees wasting time on fantasy sports (I can't wait to see the dollar figure on productivity lost due to blogging!).
Anyhow, I first got a taste of fantasy sports in high school but really got hooked in college. I currently participate in 2 fantasy baseball leagues with the same groups of people each year. These are grueling as you have to follow baseball pretty closely to be successful - and the baseball season is very LONG. This year, I am in 3 fantasy football leagues and 3 other football "pools" or contests. With the football season starting tonight, I'm very excited to get started and have the typical pre-season optimism that accompanies each season. I generally have been pretty successful in the baseball and football leagues I've been in, moreso in baseball. All in all, it's a lot of fun and gives a good excuse for more closely following the various sports. In one league I got the top pick and feel like I've put together quite a good squad.
So, I'll probably keep a running tally of how I do each week in my blog entries, just to jinx myself and display my ineptitude in front of the masses.
And finally, a shout out to the Appalachian State fans out there, I was very happy to see Michigan get bounced last weekend! I actually know several alums from Appy State and was thinking of them when the big win occurred.
"Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast"
Until next time.
Ace
I promised a little lighter post for my next one. Well folks, here it is. I'm going to share something that many of my readers know. However, this bombshell could keep me from reaching office someday. OK, maybe not. But, here it is: My name is Ace, and I'm a fantasy sports geek. Most of you already knew I was about the nerdiest character around but this probably seals some sort of all-time dork award. It really is kind of embarrassing and something I certainly don't try to bring up when not around my fellow geeks. But I have to admit, it is one of the most fun activities I participate in and has really made me a more involved sports fan.
I've always been a big sports fan, which is really strange since no one else in my family ever really has been more than a VERY casual fan of anything unless they were dragged into it by me (I'm still quite proud of having gotten the better half both Jordan and A-Rod jerseys, that A-Rod Mariners teal number is sweet!). But I have very vivid memories of watching baseball on TV by myself as a 2nd grader. Strangely, it is one of my earliest memories. That morphed into collecting sports cards (another geeky although fairly typical hobby for youngsters) and I was hooked from there. At various times, I've been more into various sports (Jordan era Bulls being my favorite of all time) but the current and probably most lasting favorite is Major League Baseball. Part of this is due to my participation in fantasy leagues.
For those unaware, fantasy sports basically consist of a group of people getting together and "drafting" teams, by taking turns picking players until everyone has a set number of players. Then, the performance of the players you've drafted is compiled and compared to how other teams are doing. The team that does best wins. This is a very simple explanation and it certainly gets way more involved depending on the sport, number of teams and various league formats. Usually each team ponies up an entry fee to get into the league and the top few teams win the entry fees at the end of the season. Perhaps as important for some are the bragging rights you win. This industry has exploded over the last 10 years or so and you always see headlines in the news talking about the billions of dollars of worker productivity lost due to employees wasting time on fantasy sports (I can't wait to see the dollar figure on productivity lost due to blogging!).
Anyhow, I first got a taste of fantasy sports in high school but really got hooked in college. I currently participate in 2 fantasy baseball leagues with the same groups of people each year. These are grueling as you have to follow baseball pretty closely to be successful - and the baseball season is very LONG. This year, I am in 3 fantasy football leagues and 3 other football "pools" or contests. With the football season starting tonight, I'm very excited to get started and have the typical pre-season optimism that accompanies each season. I generally have been pretty successful in the baseball and football leagues I've been in, moreso in baseball. All in all, it's a lot of fun and gives a good excuse for more closely following the various sports. In one league I got the top pick and feel like I've put together quite a good squad.
So, I'll probably keep a running tally of how I do each week in my blog entries, just to jinx myself and display my ineptitude in front of the masses.
And finally, a shout out to the Appalachian State fans out there, I was very happy to see Michigan get bounced last weekend! I actually know several alums from Appy State and was thinking of them when the big win occurred.
"Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast"
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Time Marches On
It's been an interesting week with a confluence of life and school putting me in a rather reflective mood.
School - I started my semester and have experienced orientation to the middle school where I will serve my clinical hours this semester (my high school orientation is not until next week). Logistically, the place is only about 15 minutes from home, which should be great. The pep talk from the coordinating teachers at the school was interesting, leading me to think a lot about whether I would prefer teaching at the middle school level instead of high school. I still have plenty of time to make the decision but a part of me thinks that I would like middle or perhaps even elementary school quite a bit. I've always been able to relate well to kids in that age group, perhaps because my mentality is generally that of about a 4th grader. I've been stuck in Beavis mode for the last 20 years.
My other class this semester has me doing a lot of reading about challenges faced in the classroom. Between my clinical orientation and this reading, my idyllic and romantic vision of the inspired teacher-student relationship is being revised. I am realizing that there are going to be some terribly difficult challenges ahead. This is extremely scary but I also believe that my talents will allow me to make an impact. Time will tell, I suppose, but in the meantime, I need to continue working hard to start to build a comfort level in this brand new arena.
I will very quickly have an opportunity to put some of this theory into practice. At the moment, I'm swimming in choppy waters with no life jacket. I'm certain I'll persevere. But I can't help but notice the nagging feeling in my head that I'm acknowledging myself as a failure for throwing in the towel on the corporate career. I'm probably a little too proud of myself in most things, my career being no exception, so this feeling of admission is making me uncomfortable. But I'll keep these feelings of failure reserved to their little corner in my mind, allowing them to come out on occasion when I feel the need to revel in my melancholy.
Life - Emotional times in the household. The oldest took her first trip to school on the school bus last Friday in the first day of kindergarten. I will not lie, the eyes were a bit misty on Mom & Dad. But I will say, the process was made easier by her excitement. When the bus rounded the corner, she jumped up and down excitedly and ran to me to give a big hug. The kid has no idea how much love there is for her in this house, no matter how many times we say it.
At the same time, the middle rascal started pre-school today. At times I wonder if she gets short shrift since we've already experienced these things with her older sister. But she seems to be handling day 1 like a champ. I think it helps that she has visited this school dozens of times in trips to drop off & pick up her older sister. It will be very good for her to start to develop her own set of school experiences instead of only having her sister's experiences to share. Of course, we're amazed at how far along she is in her learning, benefiting positively from having an older sister where she can sort of "tag along" in the learning experience. I suppose it is that way for many younger siblings.
I'm going to stop here before I get into full-blown whiner mode. And I promise to have some more fun content for the next post.
Until next time.
Ace
School - I started my semester and have experienced orientation to the middle school where I will serve my clinical hours this semester (my high school orientation is not until next week). Logistically, the place is only about 15 minutes from home, which should be great. The pep talk from the coordinating teachers at the school was interesting, leading me to think a lot about whether I would prefer teaching at the middle school level instead of high school. I still have plenty of time to make the decision but a part of me thinks that I would like middle or perhaps even elementary school quite a bit. I've always been able to relate well to kids in that age group, perhaps because my mentality is generally that of about a 4th grader. I've been stuck in Beavis mode for the last 20 years.
My other class this semester has me doing a lot of reading about challenges faced in the classroom. Between my clinical orientation and this reading, my idyllic and romantic vision of the inspired teacher-student relationship is being revised. I am realizing that there are going to be some terribly difficult challenges ahead. This is extremely scary but I also believe that my talents will allow me to make an impact. Time will tell, I suppose, but in the meantime, I need to continue working hard to start to build a comfort level in this brand new arena.
I will very quickly have an opportunity to put some of this theory into practice. At the moment, I'm swimming in choppy waters with no life jacket. I'm certain I'll persevere. But I can't help but notice the nagging feeling in my head that I'm acknowledging myself as a failure for throwing in the towel on the corporate career. I'm probably a little too proud of myself in most things, my career being no exception, so this feeling of admission is making me uncomfortable. But I'll keep these feelings of failure reserved to their little corner in my mind, allowing them to come out on occasion when I feel the need to revel in my melancholy.
Life - Emotional times in the household. The oldest took her first trip to school on the school bus last Friday in the first day of kindergarten. I will not lie, the eyes were a bit misty on Mom & Dad. But I will say, the process was made easier by her excitement. When the bus rounded the corner, she jumped up and down excitedly and ran to me to give a big hug. The kid has no idea how much love there is for her in this house, no matter how many times we say it.
At the same time, the middle rascal started pre-school today. At times I wonder if she gets short shrift since we've already experienced these things with her older sister. But she seems to be handling day 1 like a champ. I think it helps that she has visited this school dozens of times in trips to drop off & pick up her older sister. It will be very good for her to start to develop her own set of school experiences instead of only having her sister's experiences to share. Of course, we're amazed at how far along she is in her learning, benefiting positively from having an older sister where she can sort of "tag along" in the learning experience. I suppose it is that way for many younger siblings.
I'm going to stop here before I get into full-blown whiner mode. And I promise to have some more fun content for the next post.
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Major accomplishment
One of the biggest anxieties I have related to "my grand project" of moving into a teaching job is the financial component. As mentioned, I will have to quit my job to student teach and then will take a pretty large pay cut in becoming a teacher, somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% or more. Jinkee Scoob!
As a result, the better half is going to have to go back to work, after being out of the workforce for more than 5 years. Needless to say, this would be an extremely nerve-wracking and emotional situation for anyone. However, I am extremely proud to report that the return has started, with a job working as a notarized signing agent, working with people signing paperwork related to real estate closings. It's a very flexible job, which is critical. Anyhow, the first one happened last week and went off without a hitch (other than having to travel to meet with clients in the very heavy rain we experienced in the area that night). I know the better half was quite anxious over the whole affair but as I expected, it was handled flawlessly. Now the trick will be to keep up a steady stream of this to build up a bit of a war chest as we approach the day where I terminate employment.
First day of class went off last night. I have a LOT of work in store for me. Thankfully, I will only actually be on campus and in class one night a week, which will be a nice change. But I know I will need to spend a ton of time on homework. 3 classes again this semester, 2 of which are clinical studies where most of my work is actually spent in school's observing and speaking with teachers. The other is a class about teaching English and how to write. I'm particularly excited for this course. The teacher seems very good and has a great depth of knowledge. Despite the fact I'm taking 3 classes, it's actually only 6 credit hours. I'm toying with the idea of adding a lit class but probably will not since work will be very busy this fall.
Finally, on the fun front, have listened to a lot of new music lately on XM. I've heard some stuff I like from The Kooks, Death Cab for Cutie, Nada Surf and others I can't really think of right now.
Lastly, I share a birthday with Fidel Castro - who knew?
As a result, the better half is going to have to go back to work, after being out of the workforce for more than 5 years. Needless to say, this would be an extremely nerve-wracking and emotional situation for anyone. However, I am extremely proud to report that the return has started, with a job working as a notarized signing agent, working with people signing paperwork related to real estate closings. It's a very flexible job, which is critical. Anyhow, the first one happened last week and went off without a hitch (other than having to travel to meet with clients in the very heavy rain we experienced in the area that night). I know the better half was quite anxious over the whole affair but as I expected, it was handled flawlessly. Now the trick will be to keep up a steady stream of this to build up a bit of a war chest as we approach the day where I terminate employment.
First day of class went off last night. I have a LOT of work in store for me. Thankfully, I will only actually be on campus and in class one night a week, which will be a nice change. But I know I will need to spend a ton of time on homework. 3 classes again this semester, 2 of which are clinical studies where most of my work is actually spent in school's observing and speaking with teachers. The other is a class about teaching English and how to write. I'm particularly excited for this course. The teacher seems very good and has a great depth of knowledge. Despite the fact I'm taking 3 classes, it's actually only 6 credit hours. I'm toying with the idea of adding a lit class but probably will not since work will be very busy this fall.
Finally, on the fun front, have listened to a lot of new music lately on XM. I've heard some stuff I like from The Kooks, Death Cab for Cutie, Nada Surf and others I can't really think of right now.
Lastly, I share a birthday with Fidel Castro - who knew?
Monday, August 27, 2007
She doesn't mention the word addiction
I came across an extremely interesting and thought provoking article today. It's the story of a baseball player, although not really a story about baseball. His name is Josh Hamilton and when he was drafted by a major league team, he was very highly thought of, signing a multi-million dollar contract coming out of high school. You can read the article for details on his story but it really is amazing.
I've always been interested in the topic of addiction as it has impacted many family members and friends. What causes people to become addicted, particularly to drugs and alcohol? I guess that takes us back to the whole nature vs nurture debate, of which I know little. My experience of addictive behavior has been mostly as a somewhat removed observer, meaning I've never actually lived with someone addicted to drugs or alcohol. To me, that means I've never really witnessed closely the behavior of one of these addicts. With that perspective in mind, my observations of nature vs nurture has been somewhere in the middle, although I have seen the nurture aspect play a much stronger role in the equation. Most of the people that I have seen become addicted have come from homes that had an abusive parent or a home that was fairly turbulent (ie, divorce, moving frequently, etc). I guess where it gets more difficult for me is that there are plenty of people in those situations that don't fall prey to addiction.
I personally feel like I could have potentially become addicted as I have the sort of personality where I really become obsessed with certain things, I call it my "manic nature". But I just never went that way for whatever reason. I guess it was Nancy Reagan, she told me to just say no :-)
As far as school, it is getting more and more real by the minute. Classes start tonight for fall semester. I have to get my student teaching application in by mid-September. I have to take a couple of state tests in the next few months, the first of which I have perused and have absolutely no idea how I'm going to pass. I have orientation later this week at the junior high where I will spend 5 days this semester (and another orientation in the next couple weeks at the high school where I will do the same).
It's all systems go folks!!!!
Until next time.
Ace
I've always been interested in the topic of addiction as it has impacted many family members and friends. What causes people to become addicted, particularly to drugs and alcohol? I guess that takes us back to the whole nature vs nurture debate, of which I know little. My experience of addictive behavior has been mostly as a somewhat removed observer, meaning I've never actually lived with someone addicted to drugs or alcohol. To me, that means I've never really witnessed closely the behavior of one of these addicts. With that perspective in mind, my observations of nature vs nurture has been somewhere in the middle, although I have seen the nurture aspect play a much stronger role in the equation. Most of the people that I have seen become addicted have come from homes that had an abusive parent or a home that was fairly turbulent (ie, divorce, moving frequently, etc). I guess where it gets more difficult for me is that there are plenty of people in those situations that don't fall prey to addiction.
I personally feel like I could have potentially become addicted as I have the sort of personality where I really become obsessed with certain things, I call it my "manic nature". But I just never went that way for whatever reason. I guess it was Nancy Reagan, she told me to just say no :-)
As far as school, it is getting more and more real by the minute. Classes start tonight for fall semester. I have to get my student teaching application in by mid-September. I have to take a couple of state tests in the next few months, the first of which I have perused and have absolutely no idea how I'm going to pass. I have orientation later this week at the junior high where I will spend 5 days this semester (and another orientation in the next couple weeks at the high school where I will do the same).
It's all systems go folks!!!!
Until next time.
Ace
Monday, August 20, 2007
Back to the front
Yes, I was grunting the Metallica song when I wrote that title.
It's been busy since my last post so I'll bore you with some day to day details.
Wednesday found me headed out to the sunshine state for a butt-kicking at the hands of a very unhappy client. Our 4 hour flight turned into 5 1/2 hours as the flight had to be diverted around a storm between here and there. You haven't lived until you've spent 5 1/2 hours crammed into an airplane baby! A time when being tall is no fun. And knowing we were going into a situation where we were getting beat up made the delay worse, as it caused us to be about 1/2 hour late for the meeting. Ugh! All in all though, the meeting was fine, despite a few sharp words here and there and some tap dancing done by yours truly.
I was travelling with 2 colleagues from home and our initial plan was to have dinner with our client after the meeting. However, the client cancelled on us and we were on our own to hit San Fran. If I were by myself, I'm sure I would have headed up to Mendocino county, which is a couple of hours away. But, I didn't want to drag people up there with me, nor could I figure out a good way to ditch them. So, I wound up going to dinner with them on Fisherman's Wharf, a very touristy area of SF. That aside, the restaurant we went to was right on the water, a bit of a dive but the food was great! The place was called Scoma's and I highly recommend it. It's a little pricey but that's to be expected in such a touristy area.
Back home and had a fun weekend - saw Die Hard on Friday night. The movie is absolutely unbelievable (just like the others in the franchise) and a heck of a lot of fun (also like the others in the franchise). The bad guy in the movie is the dude that was the bad guy in The Girl Next Door and he's pretty good. The movie is pretty formulaic overall but it was pretty much exactly what was expected. Kevin Smith has a funny cameo and the "cool" kid from the Mac commercials, who also does a pretty good job. Fun movie.
It was a rainy weekend here so spent a lot of time indoors - including a friend's party Saturday night, a visit from some good friends who live a few hours away Sunday am, a kid's b-day party Sunday afternoon and then a concert Sunday night.
The concert was to see Crowded House, a big favorite of the better half's. She loved them growing up so I got the tix. We didn't realize there would be two opening bands plus the headliner. We also didn't realize that although the tix said showtime 7:30, that really was doors open at 7:30. First band went on at around 9. They were a group from LA called 16 Frames. They sounded a bit like a mix between Train, older Matchbox 20 and Maroon 5. Please do not ever listen to this band or buy anything of theirs. The lead singer had some strange inkling that he could murder Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and get away with it. Sick, just plain downright sick. The rhythm section was pretty good but other than that, the lead singer's annoying personality on stage was quite off-putting to me.
Second opening act was a guy named Liam Finn, he is the son of Crowded House's lead singer Neil Finn. Vocally, he sounded much like his dad. But his act was one of the most unique I've ever seen. He was on stage by himself, which doesn't seem that unusual. So, he starts playing his gee-tar and puts it down, with the rhythm he was playing still going. He apparently had some pedal or something that allowed him to record what he was playing and replay it in a loop. He puts the guitar down and picks up the bass, laying down a bassline and looping it in as well. Then he moves to the drums and plays those as well. It was quite the novelty and pretty cool. But, he did it during every song and it kind of lost it's appeal after a while. However, he is very musically talented, although lyrically challenged. Fun overall, if coming off a little full of himself.
Crowded House came out and played for nearly 2 hours, with 2 encores and encompassed their many hits. They are one of those bands that a lot of casual fans might not realize had a slew of hits in the late 80's through late 90's. Don't Dream It's Over is probably their biggest song but they had several others including Locked Out, Always Bring the Weather With You, Better Be Home Soon, Fall at Your Feet and Something So Strong. It was fun to hear all these songs and a good time overall. Only problem was getting home at 2 am on a school night, ugh! Oh, the other problem, the lead singer has Richard Marx hair - whoa, not good! But the guy has a great voice, is a talented musician and is good with interacting with the band onstage and the crowd, leading to an excellent show.
On the school front, I have 2 meetings later this week that start off the new semester, with classes starting a week from today. Wow, that 2 1/2 week break went fast!
Until next time.
Ace
It's been busy since my last post so I'll bore you with some day to day details.
Wednesday found me headed out to the sunshine state for a butt-kicking at the hands of a very unhappy client. Our 4 hour flight turned into 5 1/2 hours as the flight had to be diverted around a storm between here and there. You haven't lived until you've spent 5 1/2 hours crammed into an airplane baby! A time when being tall is no fun. And knowing we were going into a situation where we were getting beat up made the delay worse, as it caused us to be about 1/2 hour late for the meeting. Ugh! All in all though, the meeting was fine, despite a few sharp words here and there and some tap dancing done by yours truly.
I was travelling with 2 colleagues from home and our initial plan was to have dinner with our client after the meeting. However, the client cancelled on us and we were on our own to hit San Fran. If I were by myself, I'm sure I would have headed up to Mendocino county, which is a couple of hours away. But, I didn't want to drag people up there with me, nor could I figure out a good way to ditch them. So, I wound up going to dinner with them on Fisherman's Wharf, a very touristy area of SF. That aside, the restaurant we went to was right on the water, a bit of a dive but the food was great! The place was called Scoma's and I highly recommend it. It's a little pricey but that's to be expected in such a touristy area.
Back home and had a fun weekend - saw Die Hard on Friday night. The movie is absolutely unbelievable (just like the others in the franchise) and a heck of a lot of fun (also like the others in the franchise). The bad guy in the movie is the dude that was the bad guy in The Girl Next Door and he's pretty good. The movie is pretty formulaic overall but it was pretty much exactly what was expected. Kevin Smith has a funny cameo and the "cool" kid from the Mac commercials, who also does a pretty good job. Fun movie.
It was a rainy weekend here so spent a lot of time indoors - including a friend's party Saturday night, a visit from some good friends who live a few hours away Sunday am, a kid's b-day party Sunday afternoon and then a concert Sunday night.
The concert was to see Crowded House, a big favorite of the better half's. She loved them growing up so I got the tix. We didn't realize there would be two opening bands plus the headliner. We also didn't realize that although the tix said showtime 7:30, that really was doors open at 7:30. First band went on at around 9. They were a group from LA called 16 Frames. They sounded a bit like a mix between Train, older Matchbox 20 and Maroon 5. Please do not ever listen to this band or buy anything of theirs. The lead singer had some strange inkling that he could murder Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and get away with it. Sick, just plain downright sick. The rhythm section was pretty good but other than that, the lead singer's annoying personality on stage was quite off-putting to me.
Second opening act was a guy named Liam Finn, he is the son of Crowded House's lead singer Neil Finn. Vocally, he sounded much like his dad. But his act was one of the most unique I've ever seen. He was on stage by himself, which doesn't seem that unusual. So, he starts playing his gee-tar and puts it down, with the rhythm he was playing still going. He apparently had some pedal or something that allowed him to record what he was playing and replay it in a loop. He puts the guitar down and picks up the bass, laying down a bassline and looping it in as well. Then he moves to the drums and plays those as well. It was quite the novelty and pretty cool. But, he did it during every song and it kind of lost it's appeal after a while. However, he is very musically talented, although lyrically challenged. Fun overall, if coming off a little full of himself.
Crowded House came out and played for nearly 2 hours, with 2 encores and encompassed their many hits. They are one of those bands that a lot of casual fans might not realize had a slew of hits in the late 80's through late 90's. Don't Dream It's Over is probably their biggest song but they had several others including Locked Out, Always Bring the Weather With You, Better Be Home Soon, Fall at Your Feet and Something So Strong. It was fun to hear all these songs and a good time overall. Only problem was getting home at 2 am on a school night, ugh! Oh, the other problem, the lead singer has Richard Marx hair - whoa, not good! But the guy has a great voice, is a talented musician and is good with interacting with the band onstage and the crowd, leading to an excellent show.
On the school front, I have 2 meetings later this week that start off the new semester, with classes starting a week from today. Wow, that 2 1/2 week break went fast!
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Submit
With the click of a button last Thursday I finished my last final of the semester, an online dazzler that took WAY too long but I was simply happy to finish it. It was for my junior college lit class. This was a bizarre class in that the teacher graded assignments once, just before mid-term. Basically, she graded a paper we wrote and gave us credit for submitting assignments due up to that point. That was all, so headed into the final I had very little idea of where I stood. I logged in today and found high A's on everything so good to go there. I also checked over the weekend and nailed a 94% on my stats final to secure the A, was right on the border of A/B headed in. I didn't feel great going into the final but felt pretty good afterwards. So, 2 A's in the book.
This left my only grad level class, a course on research. It was actually a valuable class and pretty enjoyable. The teacher's grading scale seemed to go only from B+++ to A---. Since all my scores were in that range and there was a large factor set aside for class participation (which I was very active in), I expected to get an A. Bummed to find a B when I logged in and checked today. Not earth shattering but since I'm required to have a B average to get into the program I want, I was hoping to give myself a little wiggle room. Not to mention keep alive the possibility of a 4.0 in the program. Oh well, I'll survive I suppose.
I was also dismayed to learn that my break from class is only 2 weeks long! For some reason, in my head I thought there was a 3 - 4 week break. Oh well.
All in all, taking stock of where I am 10 weeks after re-entering school with mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation, I'm pretty happy with where I am. Undoubtedly the semester I just experienced is going to be one of the most hectic given my schedule of full time work, class 4 nights a week plus another one. Plus it was my first one back in a long time, which was a little nerve-wracking as well. Thankfully it was a short semester which made it a little more bearable.
On the negative side, I'm one semester closer to the point in time where I'm going to have to quit my job and live off savings and whatever other income we've got coming in at the time. That is really starting to weigh much more heavily on me. Efforts to get the better half's gig going have not been very fruitful to this point. And of course, there's just the "Oh my God what am I doing?" factor. But I'm trying to stay on an even keel with these things.
As for next semester, looks like 3 classes, 2 of which are clinicals, where I will be in the classroom for a few days at a high school and a few at junior high. On top of that there are various seminars from current teachers to attend. The third is a course about teaching English, which I'm pretty interested to get into as these will be good glimpses into the profession ahead of me.
Heading to San Francisco for work tomorrow to visit a client. SF (actually just north of there) may be my favorite place on Earth. Unfortunately, I won't really have much time to enjoy it as I'm in Wednesday and back out first thing Thursday am. At the very least I'll get a nice (and free!) meal out of the deal and may head to a casino afterwards. Work is starting to enter busy season so I'm a little nervous about how that is going to play out. But, I think I'll have much less classroom time so hopefully it'll be manageable.
Not the most fun post in the world but some thoughts I've been wanting to distill out into a posting.
One little bit of fun - went with a few others to see Bourne Ultimatum Friday night. It was similar to the other 2 Bourne movies in that it was action packed, fairly realistic (as compared to any Bruckheimer or Bond flick) and just a helluva lot of fun. I'm told they may do another one but that Damon may not be interested. I'm glad to hear that, I like him in general and don't really want to see him get too tied to a single role. This weekend I may get to see the newest Die Hard, which I've really been wanting to check out. I'll report back my results!
Until next time.
Ace
This left my only grad level class, a course on research. It was actually a valuable class and pretty enjoyable. The teacher's grading scale seemed to go only from B+++ to A---. Since all my scores were in that range and there was a large factor set aside for class participation (which I was very active in), I expected to get an A. Bummed to find a B when I logged in and checked today. Not earth shattering but since I'm required to have a B average to get into the program I want, I was hoping to give myself a little wiggle room. Not to mention keep alive the possibility of a 4.0 in the program. Oh well, I'll survive I suppose.
I was also dismayed to learn that my break from class is only 2 weeks long! For some reason, in my head I thought there was a 3 - 4 week break. Oh well.
All in all, taking stock of where I am 10 weeks after re-entering school with mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation, I'm pretty happy with where I am. Undoubtedly the semester I just experienced is going to be one of the most hectic given my schedule of full time work, class 4 nights a week plus another one. Plus it was my first one back in a long time, which was a little nerve-wracking as well. Thankfully it was a short semester which made it a little more bearable.
On the negative side, I'm one semester closer to the point in time where I'm going to have to quit my job and live off savings and whatever other income we've got coming in at the time. That is really starting to weigh much more heavily on me. Efforts to get the better half's gig going have not been very fruitful to this point. And of course, there's just the "Oh my God what am I doing?" factor. But I'm trying to stay on an even keel with these things.
As for next semester, looks like 3 classes, 2 of which are clinicals, where I will be in the classroom for a few days at a high school and a few at junior high. On top of that there are various seminars from current teachers to attend. The third is a course about teaching English, which I'm pretty interested to get into as these will be good glimpses into the profession ahead of me.
Heading to San Francisco for work tomorrow to visit a client. SF (actually just north of there) may be my favorite place on Earth. Unfortunately, I won't really have much time to enjoy it as I'm in Wednesday and back out first thing Thursday am. At the very least I'll get a nice (and free!) meal out of the deal and may head to a casino afterwards. Work is starting to enter busy season so I'm a little nervous about how that is going to play out. But, I think I'll have much less classroom time so hopefully it'll be manageable.
Not the most fun post in the world but some thoughts I've been wanting to distill out into a posting.
One little bit of fun - went with a few others to see Bourne Ultimatum Friday night. It was similar to the other 2 Bourne movies in that it was action packed, fairly realistic (as compared to any Bruckheimer or Bond flick) and just a helluva lot of fun. I'm told they may do another one but that Damon may not be interested. I'm glad to hear that, I like him in general and don't really want to see him get too tied to a single role. This weekend I may get to see the newest Die Hard, which I've really been wanting to check out. I'll report back my results!
Until next time.
Ace
Friday, August 10, 2007
Dodging Johnny and Going Under
Last weekend was a bit of a crazy one. Allow ole Ace to spin a tale or two that I hope will bring at least a chuckle.
I took last Friday off from work for a much needed day of fun and frivolity. Stop 1 on the Tour of Fun was a trip to historic Wrigley Field, to see my team the Mets take on the Cubbies. And, since I'm a glutton for punishment, I brought along 3 of my Cub fan friends. This undoubtedly assured me that the Mets would get annihilated in this game. Day started early with a trip to Irish Oak for lunch, a tasty little Irish bar less than a block from the game. We got off to an inauspicious beginning when the waitress began taking our order, I looked over at one friend and said "Lady's first". The waitress replied then that I should go ahead. oooooooo, burn! After a couple frosty beverages and a delightful corned beef sandwiches, we were on our way to the game.
Now let me tell you about Wrigley's bleachers. For quite some time, there has been a reputation of being the hip, party spot to be in the ballpark, filled with handsome lads and lovely lasses. Sounds like the place to be right? Well, I'm sure it was that way at one time but now it is a pretty big mix of the above mentioned hipsters and a collection of other people wanting to be around that group. My only request to my crew was I didn't want to be sitting next to old women or shirtless old guys, which seems to happen to me every time I go.
So we go in nice and early and get some pretty solid seats in the right center field section. Since the bleachers are first come first served, it makes sense to get in pretty early. I'll be damned if right in front of me sits a very grouchy older lady, who asked me not to put my foot on the bleacher. OK, now maybe the bottom of my shoe isn't the cleanest thing in the world, but people WALK ON THE BLEACHERS ALL THE TIME!!!! I told her to calm down but beyond that didn't get too grouchy back with her, which turns out to be a good thing. Why you ask? Well, fast forward about 4 or 5 innings into the game.
3 dudes come and sit down in an area that has enough open space for maybe 1.5 people. They are 2 rows in front of me, 1 row in front of grouchy lady. They are your typical spam-tastic young twentysomethings equipped with the cool gear of nipple rings and tattoos. They are likely overserved although really they weren't too out of control. For some reason, one of the guys takes a small plastic bag like you get at the supermarket and chucks it onto the field in the middle of the game. Security is over in an instant and point out the guys friend and tells him he is getting kicked out. Everyone around starts pointing out the dude who actually did it and the whole trio gets run out of the park by security. Everyone chats about it in our section for a little bit and then get back to watching the game.
About five minutes later, the main security guy comes up behind me and tells me I'm being ejected because someone 4 rows back said that I was the one who actually threw the thing on the field. Of course I objected as did my colleagues but he didn't really seem to buy it, the guy's blood was running hot. But then the grouchy lady stepped up and told the guy that she saw the other dude throw it and that I definitely didn't do it. At this point the guy settled down and basically just disappeared and we watched the rest of the game in peace. Very bizarre happening but the lady could have totally sold me out so that was cool she stepped up. This allowed me to witness an exciting victory by the Mets in the 9th inning in the 10000 degree heat.
After the game, since we're gluttons for punishment, 3 of us jumped in the car and drove down to Indianapolis to see a Seven Mary Three concert. This was a pretty fun show because one of the band's super fans was seeing them for the 100th time - wow! That's dedication. Despite the venue set up being weird with tables attached to the front area of the stage, it was a pretty good show. We were literally right next to the speakers and I was closest to them so I'm pretty sure I lost about 40% of my ability to hear. There were a couple of show highlights, especially the playing of Flagship Eleanor and the band bringing up the aforementioned superfan on stage, giving her some cool gifts and generally just proving they are a good group of guys. Back home after the show and I rolled in around 4 am, crikey I'm too old to be doing this.
Speaking of old, I decided to do a triathlon that occurred last Sunday. For the uninitiated, a triathlon consists of swimming, followed by biking, followed by running. Who the hell thought up this thing? And who are the numbskulls who participate? This intrepid reporter wanted to find out. So, I wisely chose to do absolutely no biking or swimming training and a modest amount of running, primarily due to my busy school schedule. Let me tell you a bit about my swimming skills, I like to describe it like this: I could probably save myself from drowning, but don't count on me being able to save anyone else. Luckily, this is a very short triathlon consisting of a 250m swim, 6 mile bike and 2 mile run. I start in the water and am doing ok, we have to do 5 trips down the lane and back. So I make it down and back once and I'm ok, but on the way back down for lap 2, my arms just get tired as all hell. I start to really struggle and am doing my best just to make it all the way down. Great, 30% of the way there and I am DONE.
Well, I'll not pretend that it was pretty. For part of it I just did a little back stroke to give my arms a rest and took a short breather at each turn. It was ugly, where you get the sympathy encouragement from onlookers and fellow competitors, or as one of my friends like to say, "it's like watching a monkey try to f* a football". It was actually so ridiculous it was kind of funny, overall I was 102 out of 117 in the swim.
But I struggled through it, jumped out of the water and made my way to the bike. Luckily, since I was pretty much done with my arms, the bike was uneventful. I wasn't flying but was ok, finished 88th out of 117 and moved on to the running. Now I'm not professional runner but I usually do OK. But getting off the bike and starting to run felt like lifting 100 pound lead weights every step of the way. I am happy to say that I did not walk once during the run, unlike many of my colleagues and finished 55th out of 117 in that portion, doing slow 9:40 miles.
So, all told, I finished in under an hour, which wasn't the end of the world. One of my neighbors does several triathlons a year and finished almost 2 minutes behind me! Oh, did I forget to mention that he got a flat tire on his bike about halfway through the 6 mile bike and had to run it the rest of the way through the course? Lol, yeah, he's pretty good!
Anyhow, it was a fun experience and I'll probably do it again next year. But I will spend a LOT of time training before doing it again, that swim was a horrible thing. And I believe that is enough blogging today for ole Ace!
Until next time.
Ace
I took last Friday off from work for a much needed day of fun and frivolity. Stop 1 on the Tour of Fun was a trip to historic Wrigley Field, to see my team the Mets take on the Cubbies. And, since I'm a glutton for punishment, I brought along 3 of my Cub fan friends. This undoubtedly assured me that the Mets would get annihilated in this game. Day started early with a trip to Irish Oak for lunch, a tasty little Irish bar less than a block from the game. We got off to an inauspicious beginning when the waitress began taking our order, I looked over at one friend and said "Lady's first". The waitress replied then that I should go ahead. oooooooo, burn! After a couple frosty beverages and a delightful corned beef sandwiches, we were on our way to the game.
Now let me tell you about Wrigley's bleachers. For quite some time, there has been a reputation of being the hip, party spot to be in the ballpark, filled with handsome lads and lovely lasses. Sounds like the place to be right? Well, I'm sure it was that way at one time but now it is a pretty big mix of the above mentioned hipsters and a collection of other people wanting to be around that group. My only request to my crew was I didn't want to be sitting next to old women or shirtless old guys, which seems to happen to me every time I go.
So we go in nice and early and get some pretty solid seats in the right center field section. Since the bleachers are first come first served, it makes sense to get in pretty early. I'll be damned if right in front of me sits a very grouchy older lady, who asked me not to put my foot on the bleacher. OK, now maybe the bottom of my shoe isn't the cleanest thing in the world, but people WALK ON THE BLEACHERS ALL THE TIME!!!! I told her to calm down but beyond that didn't get too grouchy back with her, which turns out to be a good thing. Why you ask? Well, fast forward about 4 or 5 innings into the game.
3 dudes come and sit down in an area that has enough open space for maybe 1.5 people. They are 2 rows in front of me, 1 row in front of grouchy lady. They are your typical spam-tastic young twentysomethings equipped with the cool gear of nipple rings and tattoos. They are likely overserved although really they weren't too out of control. For some reason, one of the guys takes a small plastic bag like you get at the supermarket and chucks it onto the field in the middle of the game. Security is over in an instant and point out the guys friend and tells him he is getting kicked out. Everyone around starts pointing out the dude who actually did it and the whole trio gets run out of the park by security. Everyone chats about it in our section for a little bit and then get back to watching the game.
About five minutes later, the main security guy comes up behind me and tells me I'm being ejected because someone 4 rows back said that I was the one who actually threw the thing on the field. Of course I objected as did my colleagues but he didn't really seem to buy it, the guy's blood was running hot. But then the grouchy lady stepped up and told the guy that she saw the other dude throw it and that I definitely didn't do it. At this point the guy settled down and basically just disappeared and we watched the rest of the game in peace. Very bizarre happening but the lady could have totally sold me out so that was cool she stepped up. This allowed me to witness an exciting victory by the Mets in the 9th inning in the 10000 degree heat.
After the game, since we're gluttons for punishment, 3 of us jumped in the car and drove down to Indianapolis to see a Seven Mary Three concert. This was a pretty fun show because one of the band's super fans was seeing them for the 100th time - wow! That's dedication. Despite the venue set up being weird with tables attached to the front area of the stage, it was a pretty good show. We were literally right next to the speakers and I was closest to them so I'm pretty sure I lost about 40% of my ability to hear. There were a couple of show highlights, especially the playing of Flagship Eleanor and the band bringing up the aforementioned superfan on stage, giving her some cool gifts and generally just proving they are a good group of guys. Back home after the show and I rolled in around 4 am, crikey I'm too old to be doing this.
Speaking of old, I decided to do a triathlon that occurred last Sunday. For the uninitiated, a triathlon consists of swimming, followed by biking, followed by running. Who the hell thought up this thing? And who are the numbskulls who participate? This intrepid reporter wanted to find out. So, I wisely chose to do absolutely no biking or swimming training and a modest amount of running, primarily due to my busy school schedule. Let me tell you a bit about my swimming skills, I like to describe it like this: I could probably save myself from drowning, but don't count on me being able to save anyone else. Luckily, this is a very short triathlon consisting of a 250m swim, 6 mile bike and 2 mile run. I start in the water and am doing ok, we have to do 5 trips down the lane and back. So I make it down and back once and I'm ok, but on the way back down for lap 2, my arms just get tired as all hell. I start to really struggle and am doing my best just to make it all the way down. Great, 30% of the way there and I am DONE.
Well, I'll not pretend that it was pretty. For part of it I just did a little back stroke to give my arms a rest and took a short breather at each turn. It was ugly, where you get the sympathy encouragement from onlookers and fellow competitors, or as one of my friends like to say, "it's like watching a monkey try to f* a football". It was actually so ridiculous it was kind of funny, overall I was 102 out of 117 in the swim.
But I struggled through it, jumped out of the water and made my way to the bike. Luckily, since I was pretty much done with my arms, the bike was uneventful. I wasn't flying but was ok, finished 88th out of 117 and moved on to the running. Now I'm not professional runner but I usually do OK. But getting off the bike and starting to run felt like lifting 100 pound lead weights every step of the way. I am happy to say that I did not walk once during the run, unlike many of my colleagues and finished 55th out of 117 in that portion, doing slow 9:40 miles.
So, all told, I finished in under an hour, which wasn't the end of the world. One of my neighbors does several triathlons a year and finished almost 2 minutes behind me! Oh, did I forget to mention that he got a flat tire on his bike about halfway through the 6 mile bike and had to run it the rest of the way through the course? Lol, yeah, he's pretty good!
Anyhow, it was a fun experience and I'll probably do it again next year. But I will spend a LOT of time training before doing it again, that swim was a horrible thing. And I believe that is enough blogging today for ole Ace!
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Cel-e-brate good times!
There is much cause for celebration today!
First, I am about 48 hours from being done with semester number one in this grand project of mine. I'm looking at this as a big milestone and willing to celebrate. Granted, in the next 2 days I still have to write a paper and take two finals but those are minor details. I think I should be okay on those areas. Perhaps I'll wax philosophic about this achievement in the coming weeks.
But on to bigger and more significant things to celebrate. One of my very good friends recently has suffered through a major health scare. I'll not go into the details but there was definitely a chance of terminal illness being involved. However, word came down yesterday that he was going to be okay after a short recovery period. Greater news could not be had.
Several years ago, another good friend of mine lost his best friend to cancer (pancreatic or liver I believe). The guy was around the age of 34 when he died. And in the last year or so, a former boss of mine was lost to pancreatic cancer around the age of 45 or so. And another good friend suffered from but survived a bout with testicular cancer around the age of 30. It's definitely scary just how prevalent these types of diseases are, especially amongst age groups very close to my own. It shakes you from your reverie of invincibility to say the least.
All of these scenarios were weighing greatly on my mind as my friend went in for doctor visits and tests. What a great relief to find no cause for concern. So dear reader, when you read this, make a point to tell a friend or loved one how much you care for them. For we never know when all that we assume will be snatched away in an instant. Or at least just have a drink in their honor!
There is no good segue from this topic so I will say that there has been a lot going on in the last week, including brushes with the law, my own near drowning and an encounter with deafness in just one ear. Kids, in the business they call that a tease. I'll be back to post more post-finals!
Until next time.
Ace
First, I am about 48 hours from being done with semester number one in this grand project of mine. I'm looking at this as a big milestone and willing to celebrate. Granted, in the next 2 days I still have to write a paper and take two finals but those are minor details. I think I should be okay on those areas. Perhaps I'll wax philosophic about this achievement in the coming weeks.
But on to bigger and more significant things to celebrate. One of my very good friends recently has suffered through a major health scare. I'll not go into the details but there was definitely a chance of terminal illness being involved. However, word came down yesterday that he was going to be okay after a short recovery period. Greater news could not be had.
Several years ago, another good friend of mine lost his best friend to cancer (pancreatic or liver I believe). The guy was around the age of 34 when he died. And in the last year or so, a former boss of mine was lost to pancreatic cancer around the age of 45 or so. And another good friend suffered from but survived a bout with testicular cancer around the age of 30. It's definitely scary just how prevalent these types of diseases are, especially amongst age groups very close to my own. It shakes you from your reverie of invincibility to say the least.
All of these scenarios were weighing greatly on my mind as my friend went in for doctor visits and tests. What a great relief to find no cause for concern. So dear reader, when you read this, make a point to tell a friend or loved one how much you care for them. For we never know when all that we assume will be snatched away in an instant. Or at least just have a drink in their honor!
There is no good segue from this topic so I will say that there has been a lot going on in the last week, including brushes with the law, my own near drowning and an encounter with deafness in just one ear. Kids, in the business they call that a tease. I'll be back to post more post-finals!
Until next time.
Ace
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Newark Alone
Your dusky Ohio moon shines on me
Musty and dense, closing in
A daily crisis, I surmise
From the frantic, piercing look in your eyes
Hillbilly warfare summoning me
Alluring and repulsing, cater to me.
Time will never catch you, never hold you
in its grip
I want to catch you, feel you, know you,
Such a strange town
Your glowing lights deceive you
Shine through your invisible soul
Peel away that which clearly reveals you
Detracts from the battered whole.
She's so cosmopolitan, out of place
Walking ever so close, I cannot see her face
What of you at this strange hour
Do you belong here alone, alone?
Pay me no mind
Musty and dense, closing in
A daily crisis, I surmise
From the frantic, piercing look in your eyes
Hillbilly warfare summoning me
Alluring and repulsing, cater to me.
Time will never catch you, never hold you
in its grip
I want to catch you, feel you, know you,
Such a strange town
Your glowing lights deceive you
Shine through your invisible soul
Peel away that which clearly reveals you
Detracts from the battered whole.
She's so cosmopolitan, out of place
Walking ever so close, I cannot see her face
What of you at this strange hour
Do you belong here alone, alone?
Pay me no mind
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
What about your friends?
Yeah, I was singing that old TLC song in my head when I wrote that title. That's just sick and wrong. But that Chili girl sure was hot, in fact, she probably still is.
Anywho, I've been thinking a lot lately about friends and friendship in general. I've got several friends going through some pretty big things in their life right now and it's made me stop to think about how we all go through phases with our friends. And I started to make a sort of connected list in my head of the people I've been closest to as friends in my life. It is actually kind of a fun and amusing exercise but I also am tinged with sadness.
For example, I had one person that I considered a very close friend. We met at a point in our lives where we had lots of free time and spent a great deal of time together. We did all sorts of things but primarily the typical things guys do in their spare time, sports, video games, etc. He got a girlfriend and it all changed. We didn't spend that much time together but that didn't really bother me all that much. He essentially moved in with her (although he still kept his own place) and gave me her number to call him there. However, any attempt to call him there was met with great rudeness on her part and if he wasn't there, I sincerely doubt he got any messages. I told him about this but her behavior never changed. I don't believe I ever spent any time with the two of them; in fact, I don't think I ever saw her after they got together (I knew of who she was previous to their relationship). My friend often complained about her and often said he was on the verge of breaking it off with her.
Of course, they got engaged. Strangely, I was asked to be in the wedding party, despite being absolutely convinced that she hated me. When my friend asked me, I told him I couldn't do it. I said that I just couldn't believe that his wife to be wanted me in her wedding party. It was a pretty brief discussion and that's all I really remember about it. To be honest, I think I've only spoken to him once or twice since, once in person, and it was pretty awkward. The wedding went ahead and they are still married.
I really regret having turned down the invitation to be in the wedding party and feel like I turned my back on my friend. And I miss having the guy as a friend, we share a lot of common interests and always had a pretty good time hanging out. I really think it didn't show much class to turn him down and regret having done it. I've often thought about reaching out to him to talk about it but just haven't pulled the trigger. I've even thought of just getting in touch and try to re-establish a relationship without really addressing the whole history. I don't know, maybe I will someday. At this point, it's been many, many years since the whole thing took place, maybe time has healed the old wound.
Anyhow, I also think about WHY I'm friends with certain people. A lot of the people I stay in contact with regularly are people I attended college with. Some of these are funny, they are completely just reminiscences of times gone by - there is one guy where we never talk about anything except what happened in college. Sort of strange. On the other hand, I probably spend more time with a friend that is a neighbor of mine than anyone else. We've gotten to be good friends over a lot of things, poker, sports, helping each other around the house with projects, that sort of thing. It's definitely easier to build that kind of friendship since you just have to step outside the house to meet up! And some of the other people I consider among my closest friends I rarely see or talk to at all. It's all quite a strange, tangled web. But I've always been someone who valued my friendships greatly, in many cases being able to count on friends far more than others like the family. But usually I'm friends with them because I enjoy their company and we share some sort of common interest. I suppose that's the case with most of us.
But then, I've always had sort of a strange tendency to have some VERY strange friends. For example, for a while in high school, one of the guys I hung out with was a sort of fringe outcast loner type of guy. For a few months, we were inseperable and I'm still not sure why. There were a couple guys in college that NO ONE could stand that for some reason were quite friendly to me and I wound up spending a decent amount of time with. I like to think that it's due to my openmindedness and great decency but I always was able to find common ground with these folks. But it's more likely due to some selfish convenience that I'm not allowing myself to admit.
Anyhow, enough of my narcissistic psycho-babble, I'm going to the Cubs/Mets game Friday and off to a concert several hours away afterwards. I can't wait, despite the extreme heat that is expected. I may even get crazy and go to the casino after all of this! We'll see, in the meantime, I've got a math quiz tonight and about 6 reading projects to finish in the several days. I definitely have a strong shot at straight As for this semester so I really want to buckle down and lock it in.
And a warning for my next blog entry, I will likely post an original poem. My ability to take myself far too seriously apparently knows no bounds! But all my reading has gotten me fired up to do some writing again, a much deserted habit of mine.
Until next time.
Ace
Anywho, I've been thinking a lot lately about friends and friendship in general. I've got several friends going through some pretty big things in their life right now and it's made me stop to think about how we all go through phases with our friends. And I started to make a sort of connected list in my head of the people I've been closest to as friends in my life. It is actually kind of a fun and amusing exercise but I also am tinged with sadness.
For example, I had one person that I considered a very close friend. We met at a point in our lives where we had lots of free time and spent a great deal of time together. We did all sorts of things but primarily the typical things guys do in their spare time, sports, video games, etc. He got a girlfriend and it all changed. We didn't spend that much time together but that didn't really bother me all that much. He essentially moved in with her (although he still kept his own place) and gave me her number to call him there. However, any attempt to call him there was met with great rudeness on her part and if he wasn't there, I sincerely doubt he got any messages. I told him about this but her behavior never changed. I don't believe I ever spent any time with the two of them; in fact, I don't think I ever saw her after they got together (I knew of who she was previous to their relationship). My friend often complained about her and often said he was on the verge of breaking it off with her.
Of course, they got engaged. Strangely, I was asked to be in the wedding party, despite being absolutely convinced that she hated me. When my friend asked me, I told him I couldn't do it. I said that I just couldn't believe that his wife to be wanted me in her wedding party. It was a pretty brief discussion and that's all I really remember about it. To be honest, I think I've only spoken to him once or twice since, once in person, and it was pretty awkward. The wedding went ahead and they are still married.
I really regret having turned down the invitation to be in the wedding party and feel like I turned my back on my friend. And I miss having the guy as a friend, we share a lot of common interests and always had a pretty good time hanging out. I really think it didn't show much class to turn him down and regret having done it. I've often thought about reaching out to him to talk about it but just haven't pulled the trigger. I've even thought of just getting in touch and try to re-establish a relationship without really addressing the whole history. I don't know, maybe I will someday. At this point, it's been many, many years since the whole thing took place, maybe time has healed the old wound.
Anyhow, I also think about WHY I'm friends with certain people. A lot of the people I stay in contact with regularly are people I attended college with. Some of these are funny, they are completely just reminiscences of times gone by - there is one guy where we never talk about anything except what happened in college. Sort of strange. On the other hand, I probably spend more time with a friend that is a neighbor of mine than anyone else. We've gotten to be good friends over a lot of things, poker, sports, helping each other around the house with projects, that sort of thing. It's definitely easier to build that kind of friendship since you just have to step outside the house to meet up! And some of the other people I consider among my closest friends I rarely see or talk to at all. It's all quite a strange, tangled web. But I've always been someone who valued my friendships greatly, in many cases being able to count on friends far more than others like the family. But usually I'm friends with them because I enjoy their company and we share some sort of common interest. I suppose that's the case with most of us.
But then, I've always had sort of a strange tendency to have some VERY strange friends. For example, for a while in high school, one of the guys I hung out with was a sort of fringe outcast loner type of guy. For a few months, we were inseperable and I'm still not sure why. There were a couple guys in college that NO ONE could stand that for some reason were quite friendly to me and I wound up spending a decent amount of time with. I like to think that it's due to my openmindedness and great decency but I always was able to find common ground with these folks. But it's more likely due to some selfish convenience that I'm not allowing myself to admit.
Anyhow, enough of my narcissistic psycho-babble, I'm going to the Cubs/Mets game Friday and off to a concert several hours away afterwards. I can't wait, despite the extreme heat that is expected. I may even get crazy and go to the casino after all of this! We'll see, in the meantime, I've got a math quiz tonight and about 6 reading projects to finish in the several days. I definitely have a strong shot at straight As for this semester so I really want to buckle down and lock it in.
And a warning for my next blog entry, I will likely post an original poem. My ability to take myself far too seriously apparently knows no bounds! But all my reading has gotten me fired up to do some writing again, a much deserted habit of mine.
Until next time.
Ace
Monday, July 30, 2007
Update and The Poker King
Well, time sure does fly when you're having fun. Since our last occasion to check in with one another, I have been quite the busy bee. I completed my last big research project in my grad class, leaving just one small assignment due tomorrow. I'm almost done with it so I think I'm in good shape there. I've also taken a math exam, which I will get the grade tonight. And I've actually gotten back on the train in my online lit class. I believe I can't get caught up this week on that class. Fortunately, the teacher doesn't have due dates for the assignments as long as they are done by the end of the semester. So, with a little reading and writing in that class, I'll be in good shape for these last 2 weeks of class. With one paper and one final left, I'm definitely seeing the end as near.
On a related note, I begin what are called clinical studies in the fall at 2 schools. Basically, all prospective teachers are required to spend 35 hours in a junior high and 35 hours in a high school in preparation for a teaching career and before beginning student teaching. I received my assigned schools in the mail last week. I'm getting excited as this next step is definitely going to let me get a better grasp on the whole teaching experience. Apparently, one of the things I'll need to do is assist some of the students who are having difficulty. We'll see how that goes.
NOTE: The rest of this blog entry will be very poker specific. As a disclaimer, if you aren't interested in poker, you may find this boring or difficult to understand.
As I mentioned towards the end of my last entry, I entered a Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament that weekend. In fact, I participate in a "poker league", where a season consists of 9 tournaments. You receive "points" based on how high you finish and how many people you knock out of each tournament. At the end of the season, the person with the most points is the champion of the league. In addition, the winner of each of the 9 tournaments and the one person with the most points who did not win a tourney all get free entry into a tournament with a prize pool collected during the season from everyone's entry fees.
This is my 2nd season in the league. Last year, I did ok, I won one tournament, cashed in 2 or 3 others. I finished in the top 10, which I was pretty happy with since I played very poorly in my first couple of tourneys. So far this year, we've had 2 tourneys headed into this most recent one. I finished very poorly in the first one, 23rd out of 30. Too much bluffing at bad times. In the second one, I did better, finishing in the money, 3rd out of 20. This moved me up from 23rd in the standings to 7th. I had been playing a lot of online tourneys of roughly the same number of people to try and prepare myself better for the league. Unfortunately, with school, I had very few chances to play headed into our 3rd tourney.
There were only 18 players in tourney 3, although the buy-in had been boosted a little bit, making for a nice prize pool. I sat at a table that had very few of the best players, I was please with my draw. I had volunteered to deal, which really took away from my concentration a bit, not sure if I will do that again. So, I didn't play very many hands in the early going. One notable hand, with the blinds at 50/100, one of my very good friends raised to 500 in late position. On the button, I re-raised to 1300 with pocket Jacks. He thought long and hard and finally laid down, telling me later he had AQ. Unfortunately for him, he would bust shortly thereafter, having received AQ 3 times and not winning with any of them.
Shortly after, I picked up pocket Kings (no spades) in late position. There were 2 limpers in ahead of me and I raised to 600. I had one caller. The flop came down Jack high with two spades. Limper checked to me and I bet out 800 into a pot of about 1500. He calls. I was definitely worried about the flush draw at this point. Turn is a spade. Uh-oh. He checks again and I fire another 1200 into the pot. He goes into the tank and ultimately lays down. He tells me later he had the Ace of spades and would have been playing for the draw. With this pot, I move into chip leader position at the table heading into our first break.
One of the biggest hands of the night came a short while later. The hand folded around to me in the small blind, where I look down and see AK of diamonds. With blinds at 100/200, I raise to 800. The guy in the big blind has just slightly less chips than me, we were #1 & #2 at the table. He calls me. The flop comes down QJT rainbow - BINGO, Ace has broadway!!!! I am first to act and trying to figure out how I want to play it. While I'm thinking about it, the other guy in the pot pushes all in out of turn. While he could have been trying to trick me, I think he just made an honest mistake. I insta-call and he turns over QT, for 2 pair. I dodge another Q or T and now have a massive chipstack. I don't really have any other memorable hands until we get to the final table, 9 players.
Going into the final table, I am about 3rd or 4th in chips. Top 4 finishers are getting paid. We have a few short stacks, several of whom get knocked out pretty quickly. I don't play any hands for a very long time, the cards are quite dead and I'm trying to be patient. In fact, by the time we get down to 6 players, I'm still about 4th but the top 3 are way ahead. The rest of us are pretty close. #6 gets knocked out and we are down to 5. The next person out doesn't win any money, the rest do, the dreaded "bubble" position. We played for probably around an hour and a half in this position. At one point, I became the person with the least chips, the "short stack". One of the big stacks raises and I push all in with pocket 9's. He calls and shows AQ. My nines hold up and I am out of short stack position and in pretty good shape.
Next notable hand - I'm in the small blind with K4 of clubs. The flop comes down with a King in it and 2 clubs. I bet out, she calls. Turn is a blank, we both check. The river is a club, giving the flush. I check, she bets, and I push all in. She calls, I win and we are off the bubble, in the money. I stayed out of trouble for a little while and then finally a big hand happens and we are down to 2. When we get heads up, the chip leader has about a 3 1/2 to 1 chip lead on me, leaving me as a pretty big underdog. However, I like to think I'm pretty good at heads up play and think I can win it.
I scrapped around for a while and got short a few times but eventually battled back to make it about even. I look down at ATs. At this point, we both have about 7 big blinds in chips. So I push all in. He thinks for a little bit and calls. He turns over K9, a kind of loose call. My AT holds up and I now have every chip on the table except 1. In fact, other guy has so few chips, he's automatically all in. He doubles up on the first hand, hitting a 3 outer on the river. Second hand, I have him dominated and he hits his off card, doubling up again. He's now up to 4000, but I still have 36,000. He's automatically all in again and rivers me to double up to 8000. I really don't want this to keep going! I'll be damned if he didn't double up again to 16,000. At this point, he doesn't automatically have to go all in. One more double up and we've got a match again. He decides to go all in and I call with K6o. My cards hold up and I finally win!
It was a battle but I finally won out. I was pretty happy with my play, especially once we got heads up. I earned a seat into the freeroll at the end of the year and also took over first place in the league standings. Woohooo!
Until next time.
Ace
On a related note, I begin what are called clinical studies in the fall at 2 schools. Basically, all prospective teachers are required to spend 35 hours in a junior high and 35 hours in a high school in preparation for a teaching career and before beginning student teaching. I received my assigned schools in the mail last week. I'm getting excited as this next step is definitely going to let me get a better grasp on the whole teaching experience. Apparently, one of the things I'll need to do is assist some of the students who are having difficulty. We'll see how that goes.
NOTE: The rest of this blog entry will be very poker specific. As a disclaimer, if you aren't interested in poker, you may find this boring or difficult to understand.
As I mentioned towards the end of my last entry, I entered a Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament that weekend. In fact, I participate in a "poker league", where a season consists of 9 tournaments. You receive "points" based on how high you finish and how many people you knock out of each tournament. At the end of the season, the person with the most points is the champion of the league. In addition, the winner of each of the 9 tournaments and the one person with the most points who did not win a tourney all get free entry into a tournament with a prize pool collected during the season from everyone's entry fees.
This is my 2nd season in the league. Last year, I did ok, I won one tournament, cashed in 2 or 3 others. I finished in the top 10, which I was pretty happy with since I played very poorly in my first couple of tourneys. So far this year, we've had 2 tourneys headed into this most recent one. I finished very poorly in the first one, 23rd out of 30. Too much bluffing at bad times. In the second one, I did better, finishing in the money, 3rd out of 20. This moved me up from 23rd in the standings to 7th. I had been playing a lot of online tourneys of roughly the same number of people to try and prepare myself better for the league. Unfortunately, with school, I had very few chances to play headed into our 3rd tourney.
There were only 18 players in tourney 3, although the buy-in had been boosted a little bit, making for a nice prize pool. I sat at a table that had very few of the best players, I was please with my draw. I had volunteered to deal, which really took away from my concentration a bit, not sure if I will do that again. So, I didn't play very many hands in the early going. One notable hand, with the blinds at 50/100, one of my very good friends raised to 500 in late position. On the button, I re-raised to 1300 with pocket Jacks. He thought long and hard and finally laid down, telling me later he had AQ. Unfortunately for him, he would bust shortly thereafter, having received AQ 3 times and not winning with any of them.
Shortly after, I picked up pocket Kings (no spades) in late position. There were 2 limpers in ahead of me and I raised to 600. I had one caller. The flop came down Jack high with two spades. Limper checked to me and I bet out 800 into a pot of about 1500. He calls. I was definitely worried about the flush draw at this point. Turn is a spade. Uh-oh. He checks again and I fire another 1200 into the pot. He goes into the tank and ultimately lays down. He tells me later he had the Ace of spades and would have been playing for the draw. With this pot, I move into chip leader position at the table heading into our first break.
One of the biggest hands of the night came a short while later. The hand folded around to me in the small blind, where I look down and see AK of diamonds. With blinds at 100/200, I raise to 800. The guy in the big blind has just slightly less chips than me, we were #1 & #2 at the table. He calls me. The flop comes down QJT rainbow - BINGO, Ace has broadway!!!! I am first to act and trying to figure out how I want to play it. While I'm thinking about it, the other guy in the pot pushes all in out of turn. While he could have been trying to trick me, I think he just made an honest mistake. I insta-call and he turns over QT, for 2 pair. I dodge another Q or T and now have a massive chipstack. I don't really have any other memorable hands until we get to the final table, 9 players.
Going into the final table, I am about 3rd or 4th in chips. Top 4 finishers are getting paid. We have a few short stacks, several of whom get knocked out pretty quickly. I don't play any hands for a very long time, the cards are quite dead and I'm trying to be patient. In fact, by the time we get down to 6 players, I'm still about 4th but the top 3 are way ahead. The rest of us are pretty close. #6 gets knocked out and we are down to 5. The next person out doesn't win any money, the rest do, the dreaded "bubble" position. We played for probably around an hour and a half in this position. At one point, I became the person with the least chips, the "short stack". One of the big stacks raises and I push all in with pocket 9's. He calls and shows AQ. My nines hold up and I am out of short stack position and in pretty good shape.
Next notable hand - I'm in the small blind with K4 of clubs. The flop comes down with a King in it and 2 clubs. I bet out, she calls. Turn is a blank, we both check. The river is a club, giving the flush. I check, she bets, and I push all in. She calls, I win and we are off the bubble, in the money. I stayed out of trouble for a little while and then finally a big hand happens and we are down to 2. When we get heads up, the chip leader has about a 3 1/2 to 1 chip lead on me, leaving me as a pretty big underdog. However, I like to think I'm pretty good at heads up play and think I can win it.
I scrapped around for a while and got short a few times but eventually battled back to make it about even. I look down at ATs. At this point, we both have about 7 big blinds in chips. So I push all in. He thinks for a little bit and calls. He turns over K9, a kind of loose call. My AT holds up and I now have every chip on the table except 1. In fact, other guy has so few chips, he's automatically all in. He doubles up on the first hand, hitting a 3 outer on the river. Second hand, I have him dominated and he hits his off card, doubling up again. He's now up to 4000, but I still have 36,000. He's automatically all in again and rivers me to double up to 8000. I really don't want this to keep going! I'll be damned if he didn't double up again to 16,000. At this point, he doesn't automatically have to go all in. One more double up and we've got a match again. He decides to go all in and I call with K6o. My cards hold up and I finally win!
It was a battle but I finally won out. I was pretty happy with my play, especially once we got heads up. I earned a seat into the freeroll at the end of the year and also took over first place in the league standings. Woohooo!
Until next time.
Ace
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Random Musings and a Limerick
Thought I'd provide a quick update on things.
After tonight, I have 5 weeks in the books in my eight week semester. Thanks to the wonders and teachings of my stats class, I think that puts me about 62.5% of the way done with the semester. But, truth be told, one of my classes essentially ends a week early so I've got to be damn near 65% or so - woooohoooo! I have a big project due Tuesday and should be able to keep up from there.
A few observations: I never used crib notes before to skip reading but that has turned out to be essential for my lit class. I have been able to skip a couple readings and still keep up by using the crib notes (or sparknotes, as they are known online). Feels a little weird and I'm a little guilted about it but I suspect I'll get over it :-)
Our home has been taken over by Harry Potter mania. The better half checked out the movie last weekend and is getting the book tomorrow. A town nearby gets nuts and decorates their entire downtown like the town where the books are set. People are in costume and it all leads up to the opening of the doors to the bookstore at midnight where people get the newly released book. It's really kinda like a Star Trek convention or something similar, not that I've ever been to either actually. Anywho, if I wake up with a lightning bolt on my forehead, babe, you'll know what happened.
Musical notes - the better half is journeying to see Rocco DeLuca this weekend. I'm looking fwd to hearing about it.
I'm really digging Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's. Very catchy little ditty, although I suspect I may not quite be in their target demo.
Smashing Pumpkins - holy smokes! great new CD, I will review it here shortly. Good to have them back (at least those who most likely played their own instruments).
Possibly the worst song I've ever heard - The Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors. Man this song sucks. Heard it a couple times on XM and just couldn't take it any more.
Other - big poker tourney this weekend, my first social event since weekend before 4th of July. Looking forward to a good performance, I'm high in the standings in this poker league on the strength of a 3rd place finish in our last event.
And I've signed up for a triathlon, takes place in a couple weeks. Someone who participated previously said it's very easy as far as triathlons go so I'm hoping it will be good. I've done a pretty mediocre job of staying on top of the running since class has started so this will keep me motivated.
OK, enough of my nonsense. Bring on the limerick!!!!
After tonight, I have 5 weeks in the books in my eight week semester. Thanks to the wonders and teachings of my stats class, I think that puts me about 62.5% of the way done with the semester. But, truth be told, one of my classes essentially ends a week early so I've got to be damn near 65% or so - woooohoooo! I have a big project due Tuesday and should be able to keep up from there.
A few observations: I never used crib notes before to skip reading but that has turned out to be essential for my lit class. I have been able to skip a couple readings and still keep up by using the crib notes (or sparknotes, as they are known online). Feels a little weird and I'm a little guilted about it but I suspect I'll get over it :-)
Our home has been taken over by Harry Potter mania. The better half checked out the movie last weekend and is getting the book tomorrow. A town nearby gets nuts and decorates their entire downtown like the town where the books are set. People are in costume and it all leads up to the opening of the doors to the bookstore at midnight where people get the newly released book. It's really kinda like a Star Trek convention or something similar, not that I've ever been to either actually. Anywho, if I wake up with a lightning bolt on my forehead, babe, you'll know what happened.
Musical notes - the better half is journeying to see Rocco DeLuca this weekend. I'm looking fwd to hearing about it.
I'm really digging Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's. Very catchy little ditty, although I suspect I may not quite be in their target demo.
Smashing Pumpkins - holy smokes! great new CD, I will review it here shortly. Good to have them back (at least those who most likely played their own instruments).
Possibly the worst song I've ever heard - The Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors. Man this song sucks. Heard it a couple times on XM and just couldn't take it any more.
Other - big poker tourney this weekend, my first social event since weekend before 4th of July. Looking forward to a good performance, I'm high in the standings in this poker league on the strength of a 3rd place finish in our last event.
And I've signed up for a triathlon, takes place in a couple weeks. Someone who participated previously said it's very easy as far as triathlons go so I'm hoping it will be good. I've done a pretty mediocre job of staying on top of the running since class has started so this will keep me motivated.
OK, enough of my nonsense. Bring on the limerick!!!!
Said Miss Farrow, on one of her larks,
'Sex is more fun in bed than in parks.
You feel more at ease;
Your butt doesn't freeze
And passers-by don't make remarks.'
Until next time.
Ace
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Something in the water - parenting tips
So I received news recently that one couple that my family is close with is expecting their first child - congrats to the Ps! Undoubtedly, this will be a dramatically life changing event, teaching much of patience, selflessness and even more about unconditional love than you've ever fathomed. I am aware of at least 5 other couples who are also expecting, some their first, others #2, etc. I suppose that is to be expected in the age demographic I tread in but damn, you all have been getting freaky! Anyhow, as a public service, I'd like to offer some parental advice. I believe that these tips can be applied to first time or repeat offenders.
My tips are best presented through the use of a true story of the better half and I.
Our first child was born 42 minutes after parental admission to the hospital. All the literature warned that the first generally takes the longest to deliver. In our case, boy were they right!
Our second was due and we knew we were getting close to D-day. The arrangement was for my mom to watch the first while we went to the hospital for delivery of the second. Our friend Danielle was our emergency backup as my mom lives about 2 1/2 hours away. Overnight, we received signs indicating that the time was near. We called mom at about 6:30 in the morning. She would get ready and head on up as soon as possible. We called the doctor and were given specific instructions: When the contractions are 5 minutes or less apart and last 60 seconds, head to the hospital. Sounds simple enough.
Tip 1: Question everything! This 5 minutes apart business above seems like sage advice. Perhaps we should not have taken it as such a black and white edict.
So, while we wait, we pop on the movie Love Actually and hang out, the pre-birth bliss settling over our idealic suburban homestead. Oh, except for every time there was a contraction, when there was a lot of grunting, screaming and writhing. The contractions are getting closer but still around 8 or 9 minutes apart. Mom is still at least an hour and a half away. Time to call in the cavalry, Danielle to the rescue.
Tip 2: Be conservative when enacting your emergency plan. If you think you should set the emergency plan in motion, you probably should have called a good half hour or so ago.
Danielle is about 20 minutes away from our house when the call is made. We should still have plenty of time. While we await her arrival, we start packing up our 2 week old vehicle bought in anticipation of the familial expansion. All of the clothes for mom and baby are safely packed away along with all the other things needed at the hospital. And, just in case, I put a towel down over the seat where expecting mom would be sitting.
Tip 3: Whether you think you need it or not, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS put the towel down over mom's seat.
Well, lookie there, in those 20 minutes, contractions went from being 8 minutes apart to about 4, wow, the wonder of nature at work. Guess we better hustle to the hospital, luckily the contractions aren't a minute long, so we should be OK, right? There was a lot of pain in those contractions so I drove as fast as humanly possible. The hospital is about 30 or 35 minutes from the house.
I was going as fast as I could and ticking people off left and right. One woman actually drove slowly on purpose to prevent me from moving ahead. We should have just pulled her over and had the baby in her car! Anyhow, as we are approaching the hospital, we're getting VERY close to baby time. This next tip is perhaps the most important.
Tip 4: When driving to the hospital with a baby seconds away from popping out, do NOT under any circumstances ask the expecting mother for directions. I can't stress this enough.
It appears that under pressure I may have lost a bit of my wits but luckily was able to remember exactly which way to go. We are now about 4 or 5 blocks from the hospital and I am told that the baby's head is free of it's 9 month home. While I am not sure if this is true or not, I'm not going to stop to find out. Hit the gas!!!
We are now in the turn lane to the hospital and the impatient little brat makes a full descent from the tummy region. Whoa!!!!!!!!!! No crying, (from baby that is, mom is pretty close to crying, if not in full tears), which is kind of scary. I whip the vehicle into the ER ambulance drop off area and jump out of the car. The following discussion ensues:
Me: "My wife just had a baby!"
EMT type dudes: "How far apart are the contractions?"
Me: "No, she just had the baby!"
EMT type dudes: (all hell breaks loose)
At this point, the heavens open and doctors, nurses, EMTs and other very medical looking people start streaming towards our vehicle from every possible region of the hospital. Our OB/GYN and her posse come from one direction, the ER folks from another and everything is in capable hands. The umbilical cord was literally cut in the front seat of our vehicle. While the better half is certainly still in pain and feeling weak, all would ultimately be OK. Not only that, but she gained a reputation around the hospital as "Car mom", as she discovered from the maintenance dude who came in to fix the TV in her hospital room a day later. I personally prefer her self-christened nickname of "the human water slide".
We considered naming the baby after the vehicle she was born in but ultimately decided against it. When providing info later for the birth certificate, the hospital admin asked us approximately where on our trip was the baby born - I think the cert actually has an intersection name on it IIRC. My attempts to get an endorsement deal out of Honda have fallen on deaf ears. My letter stating it "was roomy enough to have a baby in" apparently wasn't a good tagline.
Tip 5: Leave plenty of time to get to the hospital. In fact, you might even want to go a little early.
All's well that end's well. But it was definitely a scary experience that makes me get a little antsy just talking about.
Until next time.
Ace
My tips are best presented through the use of a true story of the better half and I.
Our first child was born 42 minutes after parental admission to the hospital. All the literature warned that the first generally takes the longest to deliver. In our case, boy were they right!
Our second was due and we knew we were getting close to D-day. The arrangement was for my mom to watch the first while we went to the hospital for delivery of the second. Our friend Danielle was our emergency backup as my mom lives about 2 1/2 hours away. Overnight, we received signs indicating that the time was near. We called mom at about 6:30 in the morning. She would get ready and head on up as soon as possible. We called the doctor and were given specific instructions: When the contractions are 5 minutes or less apart and last 60 seconds, head to the hospital. Sounds simple enough.
Tip 1: Question everything! This 5 minutes apart business above seems like sage advice. Perhaps we should not have taken it as such a black and white edict.
So, while we wait, we pop on the movie Love Actually and hang out, the pre-birth bliss settling over our idealic suburban homestead. Oh, except for every time there was a contraction, when there was a lot of grunting, screaming and writhing. The contractions are getting closer but still around 8 or 9 minutes apart. Mom is still at least an hour and a half away. Time to call in the cavalry, Danielle to the rescue.
Tip 2: Be conservative when enacting your emergency plan. If you think you should set the emergency plan in motion, you probably should have called a good half hour or so ago.
Danielle is about 20 minutes away from our house when the call is made. We should still have plenty of time. While we await her arrival, we start packing up our 2 week old vehicle bought in anticipation of the familial expansion. All of the clothes for mom and baby are safely packed away along with all the other things needed at the hospital. And, just in case, I put a towel down over the seat where expecting mom would be sitting.
Tip 3: Whether you think you need it or not, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS put the towel down over mom's seat.
Well, lookie there, in those 20 minutes, contractions went from being 8 minutes apart to about 4, wow, the wonder of nature at work. Guess we better hustle to the hospital, luckily the contractions aren't a minute long, so we should be OK, right? There was a lot of pain in those contractions so I drove as fast as humanly possible. The hospital is about 30 or 35 minutes from the house.
I was going as fast as I could and ticking people off left and right. One woman actually drove slowly on purpose to prevent me from moving ahead. We should have just pulled her over and had the baby in her car! Anyhow, as we are approaching the hospital, we're getting VERY close to baby time. This next tip is perhaps the most important.
Tip 4: When driving to the hospital with a baby seconds away from popping out, do NOT under any circumstances ask the expecting mother for directions. I can't stress this enough.
It appears that under pressure I may have lost a bit of my wits but luckily was able to remember exactly which way to go. We are now about 4 or 5 blocks from the hospital and I am told that the baby's head is free of it's 9 month home. While I am not sure if this is true or not, I'm not going to stop to find out. Hit the gas!!!
We are now in the turn lane to the hospital and the impatient little brat makes a full descent from the tummy region. Whoa!!!!!!!!!! No crying, (from baby that is, mom is pretty close to crying, if not in full tears), which is kind of scary. I whip the vehicle into the ER ambulance drop off area and jump out of the car. The following discussion ensues:
Me: "My wife just had a baby!"
EMT type dudes: "How far apart are the contractions?"
Me: "No, she just had the baby!"
EMT type dudes: (all hell breaks loose)
At this point, the heavens open and doctors, nurses, EMTs and other very medical looking people start streaming towards our vehicle from every possible region of the hospital. Our OB/GYN and her posse come from one direction, the ER folks from another and everything is in capable hands. The umbilical cord was literally cut in the front seat of our vehicle. While the better half is certainly still in pain and feeling weak, all would ultimately be OK. Not only that, but she gained a reputation around the hospital as "Car mom", as she discovered from the maintenance dude who came in to fix the TV in her hospital room a day later. I personally prefer her self-christened nickname of "the human water slide".
We considered naming the baby after the vehicle she was born in but ultimately decided against it. When providing info later for the birth certificate, the hospital admin asked us approximately where on our trip was the baby born - I think the cert actually has an intersection name on it IIRC. My attempts to get an endorsement deal out of Honda have fallen on deaf ears. My letter stating it "was roomy enough to have a baby in" apparently wasn't a good tagline.
Tip 5: Leave plenty of time to get to the hospital. In fact, you might even want to go a little early.
All's well that end's well. But it was definitely a scary experience that makes me get a little antsy just talking about.
Until next time.
Ace
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