Overwhelming

Well, I skipped a couple weeks of the ol' blog here. I'm sure many of you were wondering what had happened to me. I can tell you that I am doing all right and I will try to get back in a regular habit of posting once a weekend.

There has been a lot of excitement for Brooke and I lately. We are just about to close on our first home. It's a lovely 2 story out in the Morningside area of Sioux City. We are so excited about it that we hae already obtained a puppy to go with the house. His name is Luigi. He's a mut of a dog that looks an aweful lot like a collie.

School is really kicking now and I have been swamped with work. I'm really thankful for the weekend. This weekend will be filled up with our big garage sale, though, so it won't be very relaxing.

Well, I better get back to work. I'll try to have something more important to say next week.

Labor Day is over and back to the mines we go.

Well, working in education is a bit like mining. You get up each morning not knowing whether you're going to spend the whole day banging away and not see much result for it, or if you might just happen to strike upon an incredible vein of riches that stretch deep into the heart of the mind you're working with. Alright, it's a bit of a stretch, but whatever it takes to keep my going, right?

So this has been an eventful week here in Iowa. i am working with some really wonderful students at North Middle School and every day is a surprise and a joy. This last Tuesday we had an open house for parents of our students and I was really pleased to see so many people coming down to my room to find me. It was actually a bit of a shock since I'm just a lowly teacher of a non-core exploratory class.

A couple of weeks ago Sunday we were out looking for houses, and we found one we think might just work for us. We are pretty excited about the prospect of buying our first home, but it's pretty intimidating as well. If we do wind up in the house, I'll try to get some pictures up.

Speaking of pictures, I'm sorry I'm not better with them. That software is just something I'm not totally comfortable with, and I have to admit that part of it is just that I don't know what looks great in a picture. I thought I knew, but some of the pictures I take, other people seem to think are not so wonderful.

I hope you are all well and that our paths will cross again soon.

One week in the books

Well, the first week of teaching at North Middle School is done. I must say, I had a good week. I am tired, I am still feeling a bit out of place, I am only slightly nervous, and I am extraordinarily excited.

I have wonderful colleagues. I should probably ask them how much I should say about them here in my blog, but for now just believe me when I say that I simply could not do my job without all the support and encouragement I have received from the staff of NMS.

So, outside of work, I have also been enjoying life. I can't get over how great it was to see my family in the last couple of weeks. In very exciting news, I have a cousin-in-law who just got engaged, and we are all pleased as punch. Her sister is also going away for her first big year in C-O-L-L-E-G-E. Let's hope she won't be forced to wear a beanie like Marta her freshman year. Actually, beanies are kind of in right now, it could be cool.

Tonight, I played a little Rock Band. It had been awhile. That game can really make a room rock!

I know this blog post has been terribly exciting, but hey, if you're still following this, what more could you expect?

Love and peace to anyone who reads this thing, by the way.

What It's All About

My answer to that question for today is: Family!

I have recently been spending a lot of time with my family and I am pleased to report that they are all still as wonderful as I remember them to be. Last week I was in Arkansas at my parents' new house (which is lovely) and I got to spend lots of time with my parents, my older brother, John, and Irena, his extraordinary girlfriend. During that time we also had a fun day filled with cousins, aunts, uncles, and cousins' kids from my mom's side of the family. The most unique time last week, though, was when aunts, uncles, cousins, and the like were gathered from both my mom's and dad's side of the family for a boisterous dinner at Bucca de Beppo in Kansas City. It was amazing to see everyone there.

There were lots of pictures taken of these events, so hopefully some will be finding their way online soon.

This week I will be returning to school at North Middle School here in Sioux City. I am excited to be teaching computer classes along with one section of geography concerning Africa. I'll try to let you all in on the trials and thrills of working with 13-16 year old students, so keep on checking back once in awhile!

The Electric Car

Last summer, my father-in-law bought a new "car". This car is special because it never has to visit a gas station. This car can plug in to any standard outlet and will get you about 40 miles on a charge. It will travel at about 40 miles an hour, faster if you're on a good hill. This seems really ahead of its time right now because so few people have ever seen an all electric car. People have been told that electric cars have a limited range, take a long time to charge, aren't durable, and will never work.

Last night, I saw a film entitled "Who Killed the Electric Car?" I recommend everyone check out this movie because it introduces the EV-1. This car, released and recalled by GM during the late 1990s could go 80 miles an hour, had amazing pickup, could travel 100 miles on a charge, charged in about 1 hour, and was really sexy to boot!

This film was one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. I suppose it made me look forward to the future of plug-in hybrids, but it makes me very angry that no one got the chance to buy these vehicles.

Well, that's enough of a diatribe for now, but you might want to check out this website for more information:

http://www.pluginamerica.org

Family and Friends

Well, the weekend is at a close and I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine. I got to spend some quality time with family and friends during a concert downtown, two birthday dinners, and some good old fashioned Frisbee tossing in my buddy's back yard.

After all that fun, I am ready to return to a little bit of thinking and reflecting on what my room will be like next year at North Middle School. Actually, it's not really my room in the building I'm thinking about, it's more the virtual "classroom" I would like to create where students, parents, and I can interact to effect student learning, behavior, and relationships. I think having a blog like this is a good first step. Maybe I will create a second blog so that I can more fully separate my personal and professional life, but for the summer, I think one is enough.

Being Connected

Monday and Tuesday of this last week I went to a conference in Storm Lake, IA entitled "Teaching with Technology". The conference obviously dealt with how we can use technology to better effect in the teaching profession. There were a few things there that really got me thinking, and it is definitely one of the reasons I am starting this blog. I'm going to just list a few things I thought were really great from the conference along with some brief reflection on the experience.

Favorite quote:
"No one ever bought a 3/4 inch drill bit because they wanted a 3/4 inch drill bit. They bought it because they wanted a 3/4 inch hole." - Doug Johnson's dad.

This quote explains how technology SHOULD be used in our lives. These are tools, they should make things we already do easier, and make possible some things we could not do on our own. I have been guilty many times of looking at new gadgets and wanting them just for the sake of having them. I am hopeful that I can get beyond that and see the possibilities for what I do have and understand how new tools can help me to be a better teacher, friend, husband, son, and person in general.

Favorite Session:
Dr. Z's presentation of technology tools and gadgets.
This presentation was given by one of my professors at the University of Northern Iowa and basically detailed a large number of awesome tools for teachers, techies, and everyone else. Check out his blog @ drzreflects.blogspot.com.

This was the session that got me looking at tech tools in a fun way and got me excited to go home and start blogging, keeping up my facebook page, and thinking about how to use these tools and ideas in the classroom and in my own life.

Anyway, this was a pretty awesome conference and I am hoping it happens again next year so I can go again.

Welcome!

This is not technically my first blog post, but it is my first one at this location. I hope that this journal will be a place where I can reflect on my work, my hobbies, and my life in a way that will be constructive for myself and others.

If you want to know more about me, look me up on Facebook.

I'll be back soon to talk about some of my summer experiences.