Enjoy a little island getaway
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Punczki Day
Happy Fat Tuesday.
A day to be fat and to indulge one last time before the Lenten fast. I'm surprised that not many people out here know what a punczki is. I never really realized it was a Polish/regional Michigan thing. I did see them at a few stores however. I did not eat one today which is okay. Aren't they like 2,000 calories any way? That's like a days worth of food in a doughnut. I started the new job this Monday and I like it so far. I work mostly with fourth and fifth graders with behavior problems. There are 2 teachers and two paras in the class. I've only worked two days and have already learned a lot about dealing with kids with behavior problems. I defintely have not had to encounter kids like this in my five years or schooling and it is a good learning experience for me. Right now I am splitting my time between 3-4 kids. Trevon, A.J. , Brandon, and Jacob.
Trevon and A.J. are two African American kids I get the pleasure of working with. They are great except they get off task and in trouble very easily. I haven't had any problems with them so far. I have special hand shakes with each of them that they think is the neatest thing. I told them every good day they have I'll add something on to it. They like calling me Mr. "Magic", my nickname in the classroom.
Brandon is latino and speaks a mutant form of English where he mumbles a few words you can understand and the rest sounds like he is talking with a jaw breaker in his mouth. He knows english very well according to his teachers and I guess is pretty smart. He hasn't had an eruption yet, but I guess one time he ran out of the school and 3 blocks away. The cops picked him up and he tried to kick the window out of the cop car. I haven't really had the opportunity to work with Brandon one-on-one much yet. I have have started to build a little positive rapport with him and look forward to getting to know his habits more.
Lastly there is Jacob. Jacob is a white fourth grader, and like most of these kids has a pretty rough homelife. I guess he doesn't get much sleep. He arrives at school very cranky and it takes him a while to work. In the past two days he has thrown 2 tables, rolled on the floor mumbling expletives, called me a "Shit-muncher" among other things and pretended to "Pop a cap in my honkey ass". I cannot believe the vocabulary this fourth grader has. It makes you wonder where he picks it up from. It has to be either television, music, or unfortunately, his parents. I guess his Mom is a real piece of work. Jacob is very interesting though. He will go off and then after he calms down, we will work on a math work sheet and he'll give me a high five after we complete it.
These kids are fascinating to me. You may think that this job would be very stressful but I am finding myself enjoying it. You have to take everything they say with a grain of salt and just basically do the best you can. I have no planning to do so I basically leave everything in the classroom. I realize some of these behaviors won't change and there is nothing you can really do except weather the storm and work on small imporvements day by day. I have the feeling that everyday will be a new adventure. I'm sure this job will provide me with plenty of stories and I think this will be a great place to share them.
Onto a different topic. We lost our opening game of our J.V. city tournament. It was a heartbreaker but in the end our kids just didn't come to play. Our point guard turned the ball over at least 10 times and played horrible. Overall, everybody played very uninspired basketball, which is uncharacteristic of us. It just looked like we didn't want to be there and usually when a team shows up like that they get beat. We got beat. Hopefully thevarsity will have better luck Saturday but we play against a team with supposidly the best player in the state of Nebraska.
I went to a Lincoln Stars hockey game on Saturday. They are a USHL team? Regardless the ticket was free and I ended up having a pretty good time.
Michigan lost a tough one to Iowa Sunday. I think Thursday verse Purdue will be do or die for our tournament hopes. My prediction might not come true.
Tigers play their first Spring game tomorrow against Atlanta.
Weather has started to turn these last couple days but I hear we are in for a wintery mix by the end of the week which is unfortunate. I got to wear shorts and sandals walking Emma today which was awesome.
That is about it for now. Take care everybody!
A day to be fat and to indulge one last time before the Lenten fast. I'm surprised that not many people out here know what a punczki is. I never really realized it was a Polish/regional Michigan thing. I did see them at a few stores however. I did not eat one today which is okay. Aren't they like 2,000 calories any way? That's like a days worth of food in a doughnut. I started the new job this Monday and I like it so far. I work mostly with fourth and fifth graders with behavior problems. There are 2 teachers and two paras in the class. I've only worked two days and have already learned a lot about dealing with kids with behavior problems. I defintely have not had to encounter kids like this in my five years or schooling and it is a good learning experience for me. Right now I am splitting my time between 3-4 kids. Trevon, A.J. , Brandon, and Jacob.
Trevon and A.J. are two African American kids I get the pleasure of working with. They are great except they get off task and in trouble very easily. I haven't had any problems with them so far. I have special hand shakes with each of them that they think is the neatest thing. I told them every good day they have I'll add something on to it. They like calling me Mr. "Magic", my nickname in the classroom.
Brandon is latino and speaks a mutant form of English where he mumbles a few words you can understand and the rest sounds like he is talking with a jaw breaker in his mouth. He knows english very well according to his teachers and I guess is pretty smart. He hasn't had an eruption yet, but I guess one time he ran out of the school and 3 blocks away. The cops picked him up and he tried to kick the window out of the cop car. I haven't really had the opportunity to work with Brandon one-on-one much yet. I have have started to build a little positive rapport with him and look forward to getting to know his habits more.
Lastly there is Jacob. Jacob is a white fourth grader, and like most of these kids has a pretty rough homelife. I guess he doesn't get much sleep. He arrives at school very cranky and it takes him a while to work. In the past two days he has thrown 2 tables, rolled on the floor mumbling expletives, called me a "Shit-muncher" among other things and pretended to "Pop a cap in my honkey ass". I cannot believe the vocabulary this fourth grader has. It makes you wonder where he picks it up from. It has to be either television, music, or unfortunately, his parents. I guess his Mom is a real piece of work. Jacob is very interesting though. He will go off and then after he calms down, we will work on a math work sheet and he'll give me a high five after we complete it.
These kids are fascinating to me. You may think that this job would be very stressful but I am finding myself enjoying it. You have to take everything they say with a grain of salt and just basically do the best you can. I have no planning to do so I basically leave everything in the classroom. I realize some of these behaviors won't change and there is nothing you can really do except weather the storm and work on small imporvements day by day. I have the feeling that everyday will be a new adventure. I'm sure this job will provide me with plenty of stories and I think this will be a great place to share them.
Onto a different topic. We lost our opening game of our J.V. city tournament. It was a heartbreaker but in the end our kids just didn't come to play. Our point guard turned the ball over at least 10 times and played horrible. Overall, everybody played very uninspired basketball, which is uncharacteristic of us. It just looked like we didn't want to be there and usually when a team shows up like that they get beat. We got beat. Hopefully thevarsity will have better luck Saturday but we play against a team with supposidly the best player in the state of Nebraska.
I went to a Lincoln Stars hockey game on Saturday. They are a USHL team? Regardless the ticket was free and I ended up having a pretty good time.
Michigan lost a tough one to Iowa Sunday. I think Thursday verse Purdue will be do or die for our tournament hopes. My prediction might not come true.
Tigers play their first Spring game tomorrow against Atlanta.
Weather has started to turn these last couple days but I hear we are in for a wintery mix by the end of the week which is unfortunate. I got to wear shorts and sandals walking Emma today which was awesome.
That is about it for now. Take care everybody!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Dog Days of Winter (I'm sick of it)
After being teased with a week of nice weather last week we got a snow storm on Friday which canceled school and made a mess of things again. I took a few pictures this weekend. Enjoy. I'm going to try and get some of Downtown Lincoln soon.
Monday, February 16, 2009
M.I.A.
Well,
It has been a long time and I'm not sure if anyone is still following this thing but if you are I guess I should fill you in on why I haven't posted in the last few weeks. First off, I blame technology, my computer has been on the "fritz"? lately. I'm not quite sure what is wrong with it but all I know is that I get about 5 minutes on it before it locks up and I have to reset it it. I'm sure many of you share my frustration with technology.
Anyways, I will not bore you with my bitching. Time to fill you in on what has been going on these past few weeks. I rejoined the basketball team a few weeks ago and we are preparing for the district tournament. It has been up and down, win one loose one sort of deal our last 4 games. It has been fun though and it definitely keeps me busy and my mind off of things. We had a snow storm last week which cancelled school and messed up the warm spell we were having. It was beautiful for about a week and now it is back to the melting slushy stage that everyone hates. Emma has been getting a bath just about every other day. She is a mud puppy. I let her out and she goes and rolls in the mud then I have to give her a bath. She hates it and I hate it. I can't wait until we dry out again and this mud is gone. I've been subbing pretty much everyday lately. I made a great connection at a middle school in the district and they have been setting me up with jobs these past few weeks. It has been nice working everyday but subbing is not always this consistant. With that in mind I applied for a paraeducator position a few weeks back and got a call for an interview at an elementary school. I had the interview today and aced it. They called me back about an hour later and offered me the job. It pays decent, seems like a great school to work at, and not to mention offers help with paying for some benefits. I accepted the job and it looks like I'll be sticking here a little longer until my next opportunity presents itself. I am excited to get into a new work place and meet some new people. I've gotten kind of complacent lately and need something new to spark my motivation. I think this job is it! Still not quite sure what the future holds with the actual teaching job but I'll figure that out in time. Right now I'm focused in on the smaller picture.
What else can I fill you in on? Valentine's Day (or should I say singles awareness day) was not too much fun. We had a basketball game 2 hours away and lost in overtime in a last second shot. I guess it was a heartbreaker kind of a day (literally). HA. My parents are in Cancun with my Aunt and Uncle and needless to say I am very jealous. I really miss the ocean. It always reminds me of my time in Australia when the ocean was no more than a few miute walk from my bedroom. I would not mind that at all right about now, along with some other things. This winter has run its course and I'm ready to be done with it. Speaking of Spring, the Tigers are gearing up for another year and needless to say I am very excited for that to begin. I don't think it can get any worse from last year. In fact 2009 was a horrible sports year thinking back on it aside from the Red Wings. I am glad it is over. Fire up Tiggies and lets hope our pitching can come through this year.
By the way, if anybody wants to get away for a little while I have a great air matress with your name on it. I know Lincoln, Nebraska doesn't seem like a great place to get away to, but I can gurantee you a pretty good time. I wish someone would come visit, but I guess I didn't pick the most appealing place for people to go out of their way to visit. (Nick, get your ass out here and pick up your truck and bring some people with you!) Which by the way, the truck has not been fixed yet. Still another week or two, the dealership found some more damage on it.
What else? I'll post some more pictures as soon as I get my other laptop on Wednesday. I've been screwing around with the camera a little bit. It is kind of fun. Well I'm about to go for a run. I'm going to try and start back up training for a half marathon. I got about half way there last time (8 miles) then figured that it got really boring running for 8 miles and quit. My goal this time is to just get back into shape as summer is only a coupleof months away and I have not been doing much lately. If I get to the 13 miles I get to it if not at least I'll be getting in a little better shape.
Couple of other random things to think about:
Michigan hoops is on the bubble. I have a good feeling for us winning out and making the tourney! Wishful thinking!
I've started watching a lot of Three Stooges reruns- They always remind me of Uncle Rob-I was thinking about him the other day and I'm sure we all (The Majkowski's) miss him from time to time. The episode where they do the Abbot and Costello routine, "Slowly I turned" had me cracking up
I need some new song suggestions- any are more than welcome.
I was happy with the Super Bowl, it was a close game and it was good fun to watch. I really didn't care who won as long as the game was close. The commercials sucked but The Office was hilarious afterwards. Boom Roasted.
I really want to go to a good concert this summer. If anybody comes across one let me know so we can start making plans.
I think A-Roid and all the other ball players that used steroids should be suspended for at least half of the season ( Pudge comes to mind).
How bad has Duke been lately? Wow!
Man vs. Food on Wednesdays on the Travel Channel is great entertainment. I suggest checking it out. Any other suggestions for television show or books is welcome. I haven't read a good book in a while.
Well I've run out of things to ramble about. Hope you are all doing well. I miss you guys! Catch you later and I'll return to more regular postings when my comp gets fixed. Cheers!
It has been a long time and I'm not sure if anyone is still following this thing but if you are I guess I should fill you in on why I haven't posted in the last few weeks. First off, I blame technology, my computer has been on the "fritz"? lately. I'm not quite sure what is wrong with it but all I know is that I get about 5 minutes on it before it locks up and I have to reset it it. I'm sure many of you share my frustration with technology.
Anyways, I will not bore you with my bitching. Time to fill you in on what has been going on these past few weeks. I rejoined the basketball team a few weeks ago and we are preparing for the district tournament. It has been up and down, win one loose one sort of deal our last 4 games. It has been fun though and it definitely keeps me busy and my mind off of things. We had a snow storm last week which cancelled school and messed up the warm spell we were having. It was beautiful for about a week and now it is back to the melting slushy stage that everyone hates. Emma has been getting a bath just about every other day. She is a mud puppy. I let her out and she goes and rolls in the mud then I have to give her a bath. She hates it and I hate it. I can't wait until we dry out again and this mud is gone. I've been subbing pretty much everyday lately. I made a great connection at a middle school in the district and they have been setting me up with jobs these past few weeks. It has been nice working everyday but subbing is not always this consistant. With that in mind I applied for a paraeducator position a few weeks back and got a call for an interview at an elementary school. I had the interview today and aced it. They called me back about an hour later and offered me the job. It pays decent, seems like a great school to work at, and not to mention offers help with paying for some benefits. I accepted the job and it looks like I'll be sticking here a little longer until my next opportunity presents itself. I am excited to get into a new work place and meet some new people. I've gotten kind of complacent lately and need something new to spark my motivation. I think this job is it! Still not quite sure what the future holds with the actual teaching job but I'll figure that out in time. Right now I'm focused in on the smaller picture.
What else can I fill you in on? Valentine's Day (or should I say singles awareness day) was not too much fun. We had a basketball game 2 hours away and lost in overtime in a last second shot. I guess it was a heartbreaker kind of a day (literally). HA. My parents are in Cancun with my Aunt and Uncle and needless to say I am very jealous. I really miss the ocean. It always reminds me of my time in Australia when the ocean was no more than a few miute walk from my bedroom. I would not mind that at all right about now, along with some other things. This winter has run its course and I'm ready to be done with it. Speaking of Spring, the Tigers are gearing up for another year and needless to say I am very excited for that to begin. I don't think it can get any worse from last year. In fact 2009 was a horrible sports year thinking back on it aside from the Red Wings. I am glad it is over. Fire up Tiggies and lets hope our pitching can come through this year.
By the way, if anybody wants to get away for a little while I have a great air matress with your name on it. I know Lincoln, Nebraska doesn't seem like a great place to get away to, but I can gurantee you a pretty good time. I wish someone would come visit, but I guess I didn't pick the most appealing place for people to go out of their way to visit. (Nick, get your ass out here and pick up your truck and bring some people with you!) Which by the way, the truck has not been fixed yet. Still another week or two, the dealership found some more damage on it.
What else? I'll post some more pictures as soon as I get my other laptop on Wednesday. I've been screwing around with the camera a little bit. It is kind of fun. Well I'm about to go for a run. I'm going to try and start back up training for a half marathon. I got about half way there last time (8 miles) then figured that it got really boring running for 8 miles and quit. My goal this time is to just get back into shape as summer is only a coupleof months away and I have not been doing much lately. If I get to the 13 miles I get to it if not at least I'll be getting in a little better shape.
Couple of other random things to think about:
Michigan hoops is on the bubble. I have a good feeling for us winning out and making the tourney! Wishful thinking!
I've started watching a lot of Three Stooges reruns- They always remind me of Uncle Rob-I was thinking about him the other day and I'm sure we all (The Majkowski's) miss him from time to time. The episode where they do the Abbot and Costello routine, "Slowly I turned" had me cracking up
I need some new song suggestions- any are more than welcome.
I was happy with the Super Bowl, it was a close game and it was good fun to watch. I really didn't care who won as long as the game was close. The commercials sucked but The Office was hilarious afterwards. Boom Roasted.
I really want to go to a good concert this summer. If anybody comes across one let me know so we can start making plans.
I think A-Roid and all the other ball players that used steroids should be suspended for at least half of the season ( Pudge comes to mind).
How bad has Duke been lately? Wow!
Man vs. Food on Wednesdays on the Travel Channel is great entertainment. I suggest checking it out. Any other suggestions for television show or books is welcome. I haven't read a good book in a while.
Well I've run out of things to ramble about. Hope you are all doing well. I miss you guys! Catch you later and I'll return to more regular postings when my comp gets fixed. Cheers!
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