I'll take states that begin w/ "T" for 200

For my 2 week spring break this year I took a trip to see my parents who live in Tennessee. It was a great time and I even ended up going to Texas to see my brother Adam for a few days as well. It has been a great run, with far too many stories to tell, but here are some pics to light the way:

Sometimes Jamie gets easily excited...



I visited Beale St. in Memphis a couple of times during my time in Tennessay!


Jamie, Greg, & I hit all the hot spots there are at 3 in the afternoon on Beale...


What kind of a family outing would it be without plastic bubbles?


Adam and his girl, Maggie


Lindsay & I cheesing it up

Finnagan & George Washington

On Sunday I stopped at the pet store to get a 7 day feeder for my fish while I am gone and I ended up impulse buying some fish. I bought two cichlids that have lateral black stripes on them, and a little tint of yellow.

The best part of buying new fish is naming them. So my roommate Erin and I went out to dinner to discuss names for my new acquisitions. The two cichlids that I already have are Sid & Nancy (they're an old married couple). After much discussion and the dismissal of several names as profound as spoon, mustard, and abraham lincoln we came across the name Finnagan, and then a little later George Washington began to appeal to us also. Finnagan's full name is Finnagan B. Ginnagan and we also ended up naming my scum sucker, who had yet to be named, Pablo P. Casso (I know I'm a clever one).

Well here's a pic for all of you who are unable to meet them in person. From left to right they are Sid, Pablo, Finnagan & George.



Not pictured: Nancy
To view the pic in a larger format simply dbl. click (i think)

Ol' ssssssssssssssaint Louie

So tonight, I went to see the passion of Christ at St. John's Ellisville (near Saint Louie, Misery). You see my great friend Anna is student teaching at St. John's Ellisville and so I decided to stop by for an evening of fun on my way to my parents house in Tennessay.

The passion play was great... I've never seen so many people involved in a church play of this magnitudinal conquest. All of the children in the audience followed the pastors invitation to 'hiss' at satan during each of his unwelcome appearances on stage. I kept praying that the children were too short to notice satan lingering at the edge of the stage... alasssssssssssssssss their ssssatan sssssensorsssss were on full blassssst. It sounded as though a malfunctioning air conditioner was slowly eeking out all over the sanctuary.

At the very end of the play we saw Christ sitting on his throne wearing a gi-normously long robe. Allow me to define for you 'gi-normously long'... the robe extended at least 25 feet in front of him. Much like the train of the wedding gown worn by Princess Di, but as though he were wearing it backwards.

The pastor, in his final words, invited the children to talk to Jesus (the man in the gi-normously long robe) after the finale of the production. As a result the children could be seen taking pictures with Jesus on stage as though he were a young dark haired, white robed santa claus with his elves standing nearby wearing white robes and wings. Yes... children waited in line for a photo-op with Jesus. The entire scene was quite reminiscent of Dillard's come December. My friend Anna was struck with terror at the thought of trying to explain to her preschoolers come Monday that they had not in fact met the son of God in person. Talk about the need for counseling with today's youth.

i'm going to burn several down

so tonight my big plans, my huge plans, my monster sized plans are...

to sit in the computer lab at concordia and burn a plethora of cds. (plethora being approximately 35)

i have a student who has requested numerous different cds from my collection (16 to be exact, yes i have a slight problem saying no) and then there are several other cds that i am burning for my cooperating teacher so that when i leave the students will have something a little more interesting and cultured than just the beatles or... the beatles.

i am going to see if i can't find a computer lab where i can acquire at least 5 different computers so that the entire process will speed along, but we'll see how that goes.

Winding down...

I am now in my last week at Martin Luther High School. My upperclassman are just now figuring out that I am related to the other student teacher with the last name of Griffin that was here two years ago.

One of my students was commenting the other day about how funny she thought it was that her favorite two student teachers during her high school experience both had the same last name. That's when the light bulb went on...

Well, I am going to miss my students and my cooperating teacher, but let's not get too sappy about it. At least not yet, because it sounds like Friday's going to be a wicked good party day.

There's always a silver lining...

We are the champions... sort of

My wonderous VAC students took 2nd place over all in the regional competition yesterday! I am so proud of them. They get to go to state now, because they got second place, and perform their skit as well as do more onsite problems when they're there. Martin Luther only lost to the first place team by 4 points. I think that the score was somewhere near 124 to 128 or something like that.

Along with getting 2nd overall they also got 2nd place for the critical thinking section which includes their long-term and onsite projects. They only lost to the first place team in this section by 1 point. 1 measily point. My students also got 3rd place in the Quiz Bowl. 1st and 2nd place tied and my team was only shortly behind them.

I think that I am going to try to skip school at my second placement to accompany my high school students to state on April 15th. Hopefully it will all work out.

note to self: tomorrow watch the grass grow

12 of my students are participating in the Visual Arts Classic (VAC) which includes high school students from all over southern Wisconsin. They are competing in several different areas including: personal adornment (jewelry), ceramics, sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, video, & graphic design.

It has definitely been a stressful week with trying to throw everything together, especially having students that would outscore me on the procrastination scale.

The competition is tomorrow. When you think about sports competitions there are people doing active things like running, jumping, or playing a specific sport. These competitions are also usually accompanied by screaming fans that cheer on their favorite player or team. I would liken this art competition to a three hour long chess tournament match.

The students are all put into rooms based on the medium they will be using, and then they are given their onsite project to complete within the next 3 hours. There is no cheering... those working are quiet and concentrated, probably with headphones on. Those watching, if there are any, don't cheer and usually try not to make any noise so as not to disturb the creative process.

In my youth my parents would always come to every event that I participated in and alot of times they would bring with them a video camera so as to preserve those precious moments for a lifetime. This competition isn't really something that your parents come to videotape.

As a teacher I get to help by sitting in the printmaking room and making sure that none of the high schoolers say anything except,'can you pass me that pair of scissors' or 'so how about those brewers'. I can't wait...

the walking city

I had a grand ol' time in Boston this last weekend, and I wish that it could have lasted longer. Everywhere that I went in the city I walked, because I am too cheap (note also too broke) to pay for my transportation.

My hotel was 45 minutes from the convention center, so I had quite a doosy waiting for me every morning and every evening. Not to mention my friends who insisted on walking for hours at a time to scour the city in an attempt to find the Boston City Massacre.

The convention went well. I was only able to get in on a few sessions, and those that I did see I have to say were pretty good. I wasn't quite as impressed as two years ago, but it is kind of cool to be in the same room with 3,600 people who share your same profession. (even if a lot of them wear those crazy clothes and huge homemade earrings)

Needless to say by the end of the weekend my knees could no longer withstand even my getting up to buy a soda in the airport.

I am glad that I got out and experienced new things for me like... Boston, Air Tran's flight attendants and pretzels, as well as getting a taxi all by myself (ok I didn't actually get the taxi, the concierge did that, but I definitely rode in it all by myself, I am so a grown-up now.... right?)

Boston

This weekend I will be traveling to Boston for the NAEA (National Art Education Association) conference.
In other words it's a large get together for people who make their own clunky jewelry and wear clothes that should be outlawed because they are too full of patterns and colors that should have never been put together. If you don't believe you should stop in to one of these things, these people wear the craziest things. I have to admit it is a slight deterant for me going into the profession, but I have decided to barrel through.

Yesterday I had a sudden realization that I am not so street smart, so I don't know how I will make it around the city on my own. Hopefully I am only taken advantage of as far as cab fees and such are concerned. I have a good feeling though that at some point I will get lost or stranded, but that will only make for more interesting stories for this blog of mine. Come Monday I should have something interesting to put on here. Plus I am acquiring my new digital camera today so I am quite excited that I will be able to take pictures to put up on here and for my own collection.

We shall see you Monday!

gilmore guys

It really doesn't get any better than when Lorelai and Rory are together.

I must admit I do have a slight obsession with the show and for those of you who watch it, you know exactly why.

Reason #2-304
Logan... SO HOT, and witty and funny. I don't even remember the show before Logan came on it.

need I say more

Reason #503
Luke... such a teddy bear!


I could go on and on, but I think that I have definitely hit the most important points.