Pat a teenager on the back

I'll be the first one to tell you, teaching high school in 2007 is by no means paradise. There are hard days, when the kids have bad attitudes, or they're tired, and there are days when I have a bad attitude.

But, on balance, the students I see every day are incredible. Not only are they dealing with seven different teachers who all think their class and their homework is the most important item on students' agendas, they're dealing with helicopter parents, some are dealing with parents who are almost completely oblivious to their children's needs. Some are seeing violence and drugs every day as if it's a part of "normal" life. Some are dealing with abuse, mental illness, a schedule packed more tightly than a can of sardines.

It's only been 10 years since I was in high school. So much has changed. Not once in my time at good ol' Shawnee Mission North, did we have to talk about lockdown drills and school shooters.

We will have a drill this week. School, for some students and teachers, is a battleground.

Even in the midst of all this, my yearbook and newspaper students continue to amaze me. They will go out and do work for no pay (and even less glamour and fame), and they'll stick around at all hours to accomplish it if they have to. While I don't like to be on super-tight deadlines and I wish that they would work a little faster the entire month, I have to say that I am constantly impressed by the teamwork they exhibit when it is crunch time.

Tonight, my yearbook staff was cranking out pages to beat a 176-page deadline that is next Monday. The students who came in to work really knocked one out of the park.

I'm so proud of them, and I can't wait to see their faces when they crack the spines on the books on July 28.

Speaking of another teenager I am immensely proud of - please, send good thoughts to my former student Steven Sewell. He is serving with the Marines in Iraq. He's been there a week, and I received an email tonight from him.

It's been one week

since I posted. A lot of stuff has happened in that one week.

32 people killed in Blacksburg, Va.

My beautiful students inducted into Quill and Scroll

Adam's mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer

The wind has been blowing about 50 miles an hour for two days

We completed 10 yearbook pages

We paid more than $1300 in taxes (thanks Uncle Sam)

I planted four new flowerbeds (small ones)

One of my former students left for Iraq

I attended a "sleepover"

I have officially finished the last class I have to take to become a "real" teacher

Newspaper staff completed their paper on deadline (with no major stress-outs for Bon, and no all-nighters for Bon)

4Q progress reports went out - that means there's only 20ish days of school left...

I guess after all of that, today was a nice day - I worked in and around the house, and I wasn't even grumpy while doing so. I even washed dishes (well, some of the dishes). Mindless chores helps process all of the flotsam in my brain at times like this.

I'd like to go start a new knitting project - so I will close for tonight. We talked about doing yard work tomorrow after school, so maybe I'll let you know how that goes.

I saw in the Target ad that they have an $88 Polaroid digital camera on sale. That might be just what the doctor ordered to make this here blog a tiny bit more visually interesting...

What did people do before cell phones?

Maybe I've spoken of this before. I have been in an airport at least two other times since starting this blog.

On my travels to Denver (which, surprisingly, I was able to do direct from ICT - no connectors) I noticed yet again how people are perpetually chatting, talking, marketing, scheduling, arguing, conferencing, you name it, on cell phones.

I know, I know, you're saying "So? What's new about this?"

Well, yes, you see folks in malls, in cars, at movie theatres (ughhh) on phones, or texting.

But at an airport gate, it is almost total saturation of cacophonous voices. Sure, there is a higher percentage of business travelers in airports, so they might need the constant connection a little more than others, but still. There had to have been a time where you just sucked it up and said, "I'm traveling all day tomorrow, but I'll call and check in as soon as I return/arrive." Your business or conversation just had to wait.

We all have such short digital leashes now. Gotta have the phone and internet handy or we start experiencing the shakes and cold sweats. I should have known that technology was starting to take us over when I saw an old friend, who drove the most prehistoric Toyota truck known to man, had gotten a cell phone. This is a guy who lived in the crappiest apartments, without cable TV, or even without TV at all, for most of our college existence.

I, too, am guilty of feeling the need for connection, don't get me wrong. But how much is too much? I thought I had lost my phone for the better part of a week last week, and I didn't go into cardiac arrest without it. Those who really needed me knew where to find me, and the 11 missed calls and texts that didn't, seemed to survive until the phone was located.

Incidentally, it was under the passenger seat of my car. Adam and I discovered it as we were driving to the mall to purchase a new phone. Serendipitously, I received a phone call, it rang, and Adam tracked it down. Thankfully, the battery hadn't run dead, or else we'd have shelled out $100 for phones that aren't really needed. Sure, I like the Krazrs and Razrs and Sidekicks and mmmmm...the iPhones, but I just don't need all that crap.

No snow in Denver

but I hear it was snowing pretty hard in Wichita earlier this afternoon. We were supposed to get 8-13 inches overnight last night and there wasn't anything on the ground this morning.

We spent the day in a workshop on InDesign. Intensive, but incredibly informational.

We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner (pretty good) and as Amy and I walked back to the hotel, we passed the "Front Porch Bar." They happened to have a sign out front that said "If your name is Amy or Andrea, you drink for free tonight." Being the avid fontophile and sign reader that I am, I noticed this right away. We went in, and Amy took advantage (just for one drink), and then we came back to the hotel to get the rest of our Maestro workshop loose ends wrapped up.

By the way, we've come up with a new name for the knitting store: KnitFaced.

No snow in Denver

but I hear it was snowing pretty hard in Wichita earlier this afternoon. We were supposed to get 8-13 inches overnight last night and there wasn't anything on the ground this morning.

We spent the day in a workshop on InDesign. Intensive, but incredibly informational.

We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner (pretty good) and as Amy and I walked back to the hotel, we passed the "Front Porch Bar." They happened to have a sign out front that said "If your name is Amy or Andrea, you drink for free tonight." Being the avid fontophile and sign reader that I am, I noticed this right away. We went in, and Amy took advantage (just for one drink), and then we came back to the hotel to get the rest of our Maestro workshop loose ends wrapped up.

By the way, we've come up with a new name for the knitting store: KnitFaced.

Rocky Mountain High

Greetings from Denver.

Today I climbed to the top of the Colorado State Capitol Rotunda. 200 steps, which doesn't seem like much, but at one mile high, it was pretty taxing.

Thank god I'm a runner, or else I really would have been feeling the pain.

Today was a great day - the maestro workshop went really well, and the weather was great until about 1:30 when it started snowing. It's not snowing right now, though, so we should be okay for getting back to Wichita on Saturday night.

We ate at the Denver Chophouse and Brewery, which is right next door to Coors Field. Great beer, AWE-some food, really good service.

Where have all the yarn stores gone?

I'm in Denver - can't find a yarn store.

Have to do some online searching.

Might have converted my friend Amy to knitting.

Yeah!