Ground control to Major Tom

Well, today's field trip pretty much went off without a hitch. No kids left behind - I think we can agree that's always a good thing.

The biggest problems we had were with the bus. Jeez, in the morning, it was 15 minutes late picking us up, and in the afternoon, 15 minutes late picking us up. Someone, somewhere, in their infinite wisdom, thought it would make sense if the driver did her regular morning route, and then picked us up after she dropped all the other kids off.

I know it's been a while since some of you have been in a high school circle drive at 7:30 a.m., so let me tell you - IT'S AN ABSOLUTE MESS. Don't you think the BUS company, of all people, would realize this as well? The poor driver - she sat in traffic in the circle drive for 15 minutes, waiting to get out so she could pull around and get us picked up.

Of course it's fun and exciting to be in a bigger city, bigger school district, etc., but I'm not gonna lie. I really appreciated the fact that, at Derby, I knew the folks who ran the bus barn by name and face. They worked for the district, not some outside corporation who does it on contract (similar to the Wichita schools setup).

The students all seemed pretty jazzed up when we left - sounds like they heard some cool things, and got re-excited for working on yearbook and newspaper. I know there are quite a few newspaper types who read this blog - so I just want you to know that any time you speak to students like that you've done a great thing. The kids won't usually let you know that while you're talking with them, but for weeks afterward, I hear "remember what so-and-so told us that day they were here?" It really does make an impression on the journalism students.

On the bus ride on the way up to Lawrence, one of the girls wrote a rap about BVHS publications. I'm going to ask her for special dispensation so I can post it to my blog later this week. The best part is - she's the most straight-laced, youth group, all-American white girl you'd ever meet. She even went to engineering camp at MU this summer, and she wrote a RAP today. It includes the line: "Chitty Chitty comin' up from Derby town, this is how we throw down."

Just a little preview for you. Like I said, I'll try to get a copy of the rest so y'all can see it.

TV note for tonight - Kid Nation, anyone? I think Greg's going to do something really stupid next week. I also think they went out to the most redneck, small towns they could find to dig up some of these kids. Maybe those were the only parents willing to give up their kids for money? To listen to some of the kids talk - yikes. I will say though, that there's a 14-year-old on the show that I wish was on one of my publications staffs. He's seems to really grasp the concept of "We're all in this together, and let's lift one another up instead of acting like jerks all the time."

Private Practice? I guess I liked it. I just think they're trying way too hard with the whole Addison-doesn't-know-what-the-hell-she-wants thing. Her speech at the end? "I thought I had a big finish. But I don't. No big finish." Is it not possible to make at least one of the women on PP or Grey's not be a complete bumbling idiot? I know we all have our flaws, but the little feminist in me says that it would be nice to see a strong, smart, successful woman, be just that. We need more Baileys!

Tuesday TV no man's land

and it's a good thing, too, since I've just spent the last four hours doing schoolwork.

I'm going on a field trip tomorrow with yearbook and newspaper kids, so I had to get the plans for my sub ready, get my presentation for the field trip/conference ready, burn a CD for someone, etc., etc.

Oh, yeah, and I had to help Adam out with his latest hare-brained scheme. I can't tell you what it is quite yet, but it involves cooking, shopping at the farmer's market and a video camera.

I just don't know that I would have had the willpower to accomplish all that I needed to do tonight with the temptation of TV hanging over my head.

It's been an incredibly stressful couple of days - my brain is buzzing with activity, constant commotion, etc. Sometimes, when I'm stressed, it literally feels like my brain is a wet sponge that can't soak up any more information, troubles, thoughts. That's what I felt like driving home tonight. Going over my list of things to do tonight, going over stuff for tomorrow, thinking, thinking, thinking. It's not that anything has been particularly hard, it's just been BUSY.

I think it's getting to be that time of year for teachers. You're completely entrenched, trying to keep up with grading, planning, being energetic and keeping kids engaged, and in my case, keeping the newspaper and yearbook staffs chugging along. I wish I was like Stretch Armstrong, so that as I get pulled in nine million directions, I would just keep getting more flexible.

Alas, I think I need a day at the spa...

Blogs are big time, baby.

So, TWICE tonight on new fall shows, a character made some sort of reference to blogs, like "That'll be on your blog tomorrow." or something along those lines.

If you didn't watch the new show "Big Bang Theory" you should add it to your DVR list - it was pretty cute. We laughed out loud multiple times.

That's about all I can muster tonight, guys. We ran seven miles after school today and here it is 9:08 and I'm pretty much falling asleep at the keys.

I think the fall is affecting me more than I expected. The days are getting shorter, and it makes me more tired. Stupid Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Buenas noches.

I know it's too hot to think of wool sweaters, but...

Okay, when it gets to be that time and you're swapping summer clothes out for winter clothes - I have a recycling proposition for any of you.

I'm in the market for some cast-off 100 percent wool sweaters. I re-washed the one I got from mom today, and it will be a purse by the end of the month, I hope. I'll probably take to trolling the thrift stores within the next few months, looking for CHEAP sweaters to experiment with.

If you pull a sweater out of your closet and it make you go: "What was I THINKING when I bought this thing?" don't take it to DAV, give it to DA-ME!

When I pulled the argyle sweater out today, the body of it looked like it MIGHT fit Kyle or Lauryn, one of my 2-year-old BFFs. It's definitely felted tightly enough to cut with scissors now.

New schmnew

Okay, people. Just because you rebroadcast the season finale with some "never before seen footage" doesn't mean you're broadcasting a NEW show.

These crafty network execs know exactly what they're doing. They know we're starved for some REAL TV, not re-runs and random crap, so get that fall season on the road. I actually thought (stupid, stupid girl) that "My Name is Earl" was new tonight.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. I guess I just have to wait one more week for the season openers - tonight was like a little warm up for the DVR.

We did, however, watch one new show last night - "Kid Nation." Did anyone else watch this, and will actually admit to it? I have to say, it reminded me of why I teach HIGH SCHOOL, not elementary kids. I don't think I could listen to 30 of their little voices all day long - some of the kids just seemed a little off.

Parents who read this blog - I guess each family got $5,000 for sending their kid off to the desert for 40 days? Anyone else heard that? Would you do that? I know five grand is a chunk of change, but that seems a little crass.

It's been one week (part deux)

I guess I've already used "It's been one week" as a title before, to document my blogging tardiness.

It is so windy here right now, it sounds like I'm typing this from a haunted house. There must be a storm blowing into town.

I just got home from the Sunflower Knit Guild meeting. Mom and I went to check it out. There were probably about 20-25 people there, from my age, up to Grandmotherly. It was interesting to see all of the projects people were knitting on. I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one out there with serious KRADD (Knitting Related ADD). Alas, I only had one project for show and tell, the infamous sweater vest. I did get to work on it for two whole hours, so I think I made some pretty serious progress tonight. My hope is that by this weekend, I'll be back to striping time.


It almost looks like a little mini-skirt, doesn't it? It's pretty lumpy and bumpy right now, but once it's knitted and blocked, I think it'll look pretty darn good.

The next item on my agenda is turning this 30-year-old wool sweater of my dad's (SHHH - don't tell him)...



into another felted purse. I think I need to wash it one more time to lock the fibers before I go cutting into the yarn. The plan is to get it nice and felted, and then cut it into pieces, using the sleeves for straps. I love the color scheme, so I think it will look pretty cool.

Livin's easy

How funny that Shep asked about the apartment life after my last post.

As I was trudging over to the mailbox this afternoon, I was thinking to myself, "Self, you need to write about how it is living in an apartment after owning a house all this time."

Overall, it's been all right. We're on the lower level, so no schlepping groceries up a flight of stairs. And, until the last two or three days, I haven't heard our upstairs neighbor at all. But, all of a sudden, it's like whoever lives up there gained 100 pounds, because I'm always hearing he/she walking around, opening their sliding glass deck door, etc. No loud music or TV noise, and no gettin' busy noise, so that's good.

I do ABSOLUTELY hate walking to the mailbox. I LOVE LOVE LOVE checking mail, but it's more fun checking it in our cool old school post box on our Holyoke house. It's not that it's too far, and I'm not lazy, I just hate the thought of it.

One thing that really annoys me about the other Dunes Dwellers is that three times now, people have asked me for the code to the clubhouse after hours.

Point for debate here: Would you give it or not?

I won't. How am I supposed to know that they actually live here? And, it's only six digits. The managers give it to each of us on a piece of paper. How hard is it to keep up with that? What if I let some "resident" in on Saturday, and then Sunday, when someone else goes in to use the gym, there's a crazy man who's been hiding in the bathroom overnight waiting to pounce?

Plus - there are computers in the building, and we can't even have free weights in the gym because some a-holes stole them all when they DID have free weights. This is why we can't have nice things. Luckily for us, treadmills and ellipticals and the weight system can't be carried out easily so they're still there.

I really like the property manager though, she gets things done. Did I already say that we got a brand-new refrigerator? Our old one was freezing stuff that was in the fridge, no matter what setting it was on, and the icemaker didn't work. Now we have one that does, at no cost to us (at least, no immediate cost to us).

Last but not least, we don't have to mow the lawn. I like yardwork, but Adam doesn't.

Crisp air

I used to think that I was a summer person. Once upon a time it was my favorite time of year.

But, I'm moving more in a fall direction. When I got in my car after school today it was 66 degrees outside. There was actually a chill in the air.

On the way home, I drove through a neighborhood and saw trees whose leaves have already turned red.

It's campfire weather. College football Saturdays weather. SWEATER weather! A knitter's dream.

We've got all the windows open at the apartment and it feels amazing.

It'll be so nice to do our long runs in this kind of weather instead of constant heat. Yesterday we ran 6, and by the end, I was pretty well exhausted - too much sun beating down.

Speaking of exercise, I've got to go do my strength workout now, before the Closer season finale starts at 8. Yes, I might be totally addicted to TV, but at least I'm not a total couch potato - all junk food no exercise...

Awww, man.

Okay, so now that I've been out of Wichita for six weeks, there's a knitting group forming? I. AM. SO. JEALOUS.

How come no one discovered how utterly relaxing and hip knitting was until AFTER I moved?

Too bad Thursday is a school night, or I just might have crashed the party.

I guess I'll just have to re-work Adam's sweater in solitude.

Sniff, sniff.

Maybe once the group gets off the ground, I could talk them into a knitting retreat in KC...

One "Halloween" = Five Romantic Comedies

Yep, that's how many chick flicks Adam will have to sit through to make up for me having to watch Rob Zombie's Halloween.

There were only about 10 people in the theatre, and four of those people were a mom and her three KIDS - ages looked to be about 4, 6 and 10.

Nothing like a Saturday afternoon flick about a psychopath to complete a family-friendly weekend.

If you want to destroy my sweater

So, here's Adam's sweater vest, before I pulled this thread as I walked away. When he tried it on, the gray strip was a little low, and I hadn't measured the front properly, so I frogged the whole deal and now I've started over. The deadline to finish is is school picture day, so I've got just under a month. I'll post progress so you can cheer me on.



I couldn't resist posting this photo of Gracie and her new perch, on Langton's chair. It's a perfect setup for her, because she's got a comfy spot, and she can see out of all the corner windows.

I didn't realize how much I would actually MISS her, until we visited last weekend. Damn this apartment and it's $150 a month pet rent. Langston seems to be taking good care of her, and I don't think he cusses her out any more than Adam ever did, so she's okay.

I gotta go. It's T-minus 20 minutes until Van Halen tickets go on sale on ticketmaster.com, and I've got to get them ordered for Jeff, Kat, Terry and I.

The weekend in pictures

Genevieve was happy to see Adam and Jill.

Thanks to Amy for this awesomely unflattering photo of me eating Blazin' wings.

Good thing Tori is so friggin' cute, or we'd have run her out of town on a rail for letting her parents dress her in that Auburn outfit.

Here's Jeff torturing Lauryn in the pool Sunday afternoon. If this was an audio clip, you'd hear Lauryn screaming bloody murder... She had her face buried in Mommy's arms.

A focus group of sorts...

So, the other day, in my J1 class, students did a comparison/contrast assignment concerning print and online newspapers. Of course, our samples are a little skewed, because the only paper we looked at was the Star, but some of their comments I found quite interesting.

At newspapers all over the country right now, people are talking about how to get and keep younger readers, who don’t grow up in the habit of reading papers like older generations did.

Take note, those in charge of big online pushes:
“Print for me is better, I like it because it’s delivered to my house everyday. I already know how to use it and know where everything is. It’s (print) easier to read and has better headlines.”

“I probably like the print version better because it’s easier to read and I feel more grown up reading an actual newspaper. I also like all of the color and organization of the print newspaper.”

“I like newspapers. I think the website has a lot more stuff to look at, but the newspaper is more fun. The huge headlines get my attention a lot more than those on the web.”

“I like the feeling of actual newspapers. Newspapers smell good. I think it’s also easier to find what you want in the print newspaper.”

“The internet is not organized in a way that makes me want to read it. Too many ads, too hard to find what I’m interested in.”

And, my favorite:
“I like the newspaper better because you can take it anywhere, touch it, burn it, eat it if you need to do so. Also, you can doodle on the pictures of people you don’t like.”

Obviously, I’ve only given you one side of the story, but the just over half of the students preferred print to online. What I think is interesting about this is that many of them said they find the paper version easier to navigate, and find what you want. Even with a search function on web pages?

I would tend to agree with them. Sure, you can find the top news stories, but if you want the FYI section or sports sections, or other feature content, sometimes they can be hard to find on many news websites.

I know this isn’t a journalism scholarly journal, but I also think that most people who read my blog either work at, have worked for or studied newspapers at some point in their life.




P.S. This is what I would look like if I was a character on the Simpsons. Adam did it the other night. Try it yourself: SimpsonizeMe.

Just when I thought I'd seen it all

Now people are selling the stripes in a parking lot?

Are you kidding me?

Nationwide Insurance is all over the parking lot at Oak Park Mall.

I love this photo

Here's a random photo I found while uploading images off my card the other night. It's Adam and my cousin Malachi, who is 2 years old. A couple of hams if I ever saw, eh?

Good Guys 13, Bad Guys 23

But, I'm really not THAT upset. K-State was the underdog going into this game, going into an SEC big house, not playing a patsy, they're going to get killed, yada yada yada.

You know what, for 54 minutes, they did just fine. Of course, I'd like to see the outcome and the last six minutes look a little different, but it was a good game. Did anyone else notice during the crowd shots that the guys were wearing shirts and ties and some of the girls were wearing formal dresses? To a football game? Adam says this is just "how they do it in the South." I'm sorry, but if it's 90 degrees outside, I'm not going to stand on metal bleachers in a taffeta dress. (Surprising, I know, for readers of this blog who know me well...)

We continue to assimilate our Canadian friends, Stacey and Eugene. Last night was the first night they've ever gone to a sports bar to watch college football.

BW3 was pretty fun - a good crowd of K-Staters was there cheering on the Cats, and our group included: Amy, me, Adam, Stacey, Eugene and their kids, our recently-transplanted-to-Wichita friends Stacey and Manny and their daughter, Langston, TK, Joshua. Of course there is photographic evidence, but it'll have to wait til we get back to KC.

I'm posting this from Langston's computer at the Holyoke Bureau, so no card reader. If I was a real blogger, I'd think to carry that crap with me everywhere I went...

After BW3, we headed over to Stacey and Eugene's and chilled out there for a while, to watch the end of the Tennessee game (Good Guys lost that one, too).

According to today's Eagle, BV football is ranked fourth in the state overall. Exciting times ahead? Maybe so.

We're heading over to Jeff and Kat's for a lunch and a swim before we go back to OP later today. Can't wait to see them and Lauryn. She's so cute - everytime I'm talking to Jeff or Kat on the phone, she hops on for a minute to say hi, and always says "Bye Jill I love you!" before she hands the phone back over to mom or pop.

I'm sure they'll be photos from this afternoon as well. I hope you all are enjoying your Labor Day weekend, not laboring!

Good Guys: 23, Bad Guys: 22

Is that not the biggest run-thru you've ever seen?

Quick update:

All is well in BV land since the Tigers beat the Indians of Manhattan last night. They squeaked by, but a win's a win.


Last night, I was hoping for the Manhattan team to lose, today, I'm hoping the OTHER team from Manhattan KICKS. SOME. ASS.

We're on our way to Doo-dah in just a few minutes. We'll be among the throngs at local sports bars watching big screens.

Our pick? Buffalo Wild Wings on Rock, for KSU and Tennessee games. See you there!

BTW, bookclubbers, what the hell is a GBV? Someone please enlighten me. Kay, thanks?