Westerburg High

Okay, how come stuff like this never happened while I was living in Wichita, in the same town as Kevin K., and Denise, or TK, who could have been the other members of my three-man team?!

Today, in Lawrence, there's a "World Series of Pop Culture"-esque tournament. It starts at 3, but you have to go early to take a qualifying test. AND, it's based on teams of three, so, alas, I cannot go it alone. Unfortunately, my husband doesn't share my pride at being a child of the 80s, and has therefore blocked out most of the decade. (I don't think he watched a lot of MTV back then, anyway - they never had cable.)

They're giving away prizes, but the item in the paper didn't specify what the prizes are.

Dammit.

Note to self: Must start making friends in the area quickly so that I can take advantage of the next opportunity that arises. I would totally be getting ready to drive to Lawrence right now if I had a team!

•••
Here's Adam and Joshua at our pool.


Last night, Joshua stayed with us. He's on his way back to Bethel from Georgia. We went out to eat in Westport - McCoy's Public House. I highly recommend it if you're in the area. They serve their own beers, and the menu is varied. We started with Lobster Spring Rolls, then Joshua and I each had a salad, and Adam had a buffalo burger.


McCoy's is pretty cool - they have a very large patio, and it's right in the middle of old Westport, so there's constantly people going by. If you like to people watch while you eat, it's a good spot. And, the temperature had gone down to a balmy (?) 93 degrees by 7 p.m., so we really weren't even sweating while sitting outside.

•••

Speaking of sweating being outside, we had a huge pep rally at the football stadium yesterday to welcome the freshmen. It had to have been 105 degrees, and we were all wearing BLACK BV T-shirts. You know that feeling like there's a bug crawling down your back, but it's actually a bead of sweat? Nail on the head, right there.

Even though it was hot as hell, it was really fun. The band performed, the dance team performed, and all the coaches introduced their teams.

The principal stepped out to speak, and when he did, the DJ played that song "This is why I'm hot." I was kinda thinking to myself "Uh, is he...? Did they...? Is someone playing a joke?"

The teachers got a good laugh out of that, but this is why I think he's such a great principal - he stepped out and said "I'M HOT BECAUSE I'M FIRED UP!" And went off on his spiel. ("Fired Up" is kind of like the catchphrase for BVHS.) I swear, that guy should be a motivational speaker - he gets the teachers excited about what they're doing, and all the kids respond to him as well. He's a great example of what being excited about your job does for everyone around you.

In two weeks, the BVHS football team (defending state champs - 5A) takes on the defending 6A state champs in our season opener. Other teachers are already saying "You might as well just stay there that Friday night unless you want to park 10 miles away - it will be packed."

•••

I've gotten a few e-mails from my Derby kiddoes. It's so weird that I'm going to school, and they're going to school, but we aren't seeing each other every day. It's definitely an adjustment.
I've already called my hours "blocks" (that's what they were at DHS), and I've almost slipped up and said "Panther Mentors" instead of "Tiger Mentors."

Day 1 of Marathon #2 Training

Adam and I did our first official training run for the marathon we're shooting for. It's in Jacksonville, Fla., on President's Day weekend next year. The run was fine, nice and easy, but jeez, it's tough to do anything when it's still 101 degrees out at 8 p.m.

•••

Today was freshman orientation, and tomorrow is the real deal - the first day of school. I'll be glad to get it over with, just to get over the mental hurdle.

We did a pretty cool thing this morning for the freshmen. BV is very much into building connections between students and the school and teachers. There was a red carpet as the students walked into the building, and then all the teachers lined each side of the hall the freshmen walked through. There was a lot of clapping, yelling, high fives, etc. Sure, it was a teeny bit dorky-seeming, but it was really fun, and I don't know about the freshmen, but it energized me for the morning.

They were so cute, trying not to make eye contact with us, trying their damnedest not to smile as they went through (because, after all, they didn't want to seem un-cool).

•••

The JillKat Challenge is moving quite nicely through week 2. I've done all my cardio workouts for this week, tomorrow comes strength training, Friday rest, Saturday strength training. I was happy to discover I dropped two pounds after week 1.

At this point, I'm just really hoping to make the workouts themselves habit. For example, I haven't been able to drag butt outta bed early in the mornings to work out yet, and I used to do that quite frequently. Maybe after this week ends, I can start my morning habit again. At least if I do it in the a.m., then it's done, there's no excuses for not doing at that time of the day, and I don't stew about it later in the day. Of course, with the Marathon training beginning, it makes getting the workouts in something more of a requirement...

Any Morning Motivator tips out there?

Closing in on the season finale

I have to know - do any of you watch "The Closer" on TNT?

Tonight's episode was awesome (as usual) but I went into a minor depression when the husky-voiced TNT announcer said "Only three episodes remain until the season finale of The Closer.

I'm pretty sure I've said this before - The accent Kyra Sedgwick (whom I love - have ever since "Singles" in the 11th grade) uses can be a little contrived, but I just love watching her flawed character and I love how Brenda's mind works when she's solving cases.

And, as an added bonus, tonight's ep was directed by her husband, Kevin Bacon (whom I have loved since "Footloose" in the third grade).

If you haven't been watching the show, you really should think about getting the season DVDs on Netflix or something and start today.

•••

T-minus two days til students return. Frosh orientation is Wednesday morning. Today, the entire staff (newbies and vets) all returned. Met some more folks, don't remember any more names. So far, the karma has been incredibly positive and contagious.

Updates

Here's our humble abode. We're the one on the lower left.


Here's my tiny purse, pre-felting. I did go ahead and felt it, but I haven't sewn the beads on yet, so you'll have to wait for the unveiling of the finished product.


Here's our living room. No, those aren't dirty clothes on the floor - they're T-shirts waiting to be made into a rug.

Don't believe me about the shirts? Here's the finished rug I made for my bathroom.

Today was a long day. I got up early and went to workout. It was hot, but at least it wasn't the middle of the hottest part of the day.

Then, we took our bikes to Shawnee to have a couple of tires repaired, then took our new laptop back to the Apple store. If I was typing this blog entry on the "old" new laptop, this sentence would have looked like this:

If I was typing this blg entry n the "ld" new laptp, this sentence wuld have lked like this.

For some reason, the "o" key just didn't want to work. Even exchange, thanks to Mike J., and the problem was solved.

We picked up the bikes, and rode over to Adam's new school tonight. Once it's not so hot, he'll be able to ride to school in about 10 minutes on the bike. Not too bad.

The new "Challenge"

Kat and I are embarking on a 10-week challenge. Some of you might have read about it on her blog already.

For the next 10 weeks, we have agreed to workout five days a week. Three cardio workouts and two strength training workouts. At the end of the 10 weeks, if we've done it, we get to reward ourselves with something. I think Kat is planning on a spa day at Healing Waters. That sounds pretty good to me too, although I haven't settled on one thing yet.

If you're wondering how the Chittum Challenge ended, well, not so great. I did lose 3 pound throughout, but then, the last three weeks (FHPW camp, moving and eating fast food for a week straight, and Bethany camp with the carbalicious buffet every meal) put those pounds right back on. Thank God the style now is shirts/dresses with empire waists! They actually look pretty good on me...

Today ends the first week. I've got to do a strength training, and I'll have successfully completed week one. I'm waffling between using the handweights I have and doing it in the apartment, or going over to the fitness room in the clubhouse. There's more options in the fitness room, but the two days I've used it already this week, there was no air-conditioning. The weather report, for those of you who aren't living in Kansas, is: IT'S FRIGGING HOT. Like, 105 degrees hot (yeah, thanks, Denise, I think you jinxed us). I survived the Fitness Room, but on Wednesday I got the bright idea to do a quick 45-minute walk/run outside. I walked 10, ran 12, then walked the rest.

Honestly, had I taken my cell phone with me, I would have called Adam to come and pick me up. I consumed an entire bottle of water on that excursion, and I still felt like I was going to pass out by the time I made it back to the apartment. Hopefully, the memory of that feeling will be enough to drag my butt out of bed IN THE MORNING this week for my workouts. Even if the "low" only gets down to 80, that's still a damn sight better than 105 in the shade.

Wish me luck.

Oh ma gawd

Who would have thought that when we moved to Overland Park/Johnson County/HoityToity central we would have been plagued by dis-connectedness for so friggin' long?

I'm back, baby! And it feels good!

I've completed my first week of new teacher orientation at BVHS. Lots and lots of meetings, but we also had a lot of time to work in our rooms. I'm not too overwhelmed...yet. Kids start back on Thursday, then on Friday, we have an all-school picnic and big Tiger kickoff. It sounds like a lot of fun. I'll be sure to post photos (of course, I'll be the only identifiable one!)

Wednesday night Adam and I and Dan and the boys took in a Royals game. Let's see, the Royals got pounded (surprise) and it was only about 957 degrees at game time. Luckily, the left field stands were in the shade, and there was a breeze for much of the game.

We are mostly settled in to the new place, still a few boxes, but I hope to have most of that remedied by Sunday. I'll put up some photos tomorrow. Right now, I'm not exactly sure where the card reader is and I don't have the attention span to search for it at the moment. You'd think I'd have gotten it all set up and ready to go while waiting for Internet. Not so much. Plus, it's really weird - the only light in this room right now is the desk lamp, so it's pretty dark. The two bedrooms do not have overhead lights at all. It's a BYOCF (Bring your own ceiling fan/light fixture) if you're so inclined type of deal.

So, I know you'll be waiting with baited breath for the photos, but I'll get some up tomorrow. Right now, I'm off to knit - it's getting time to seriously get to work on Adam's sweater vest so he can wear it when hell freezes over (I mean, when it's not 110).

Glad to be back, I hope I didn't lose a bunch of you in the transition!

Worlds of People Watching - this one's long, gotta catch up

I'm back in Manhattan AGAIN today. Love it here, but jeez, I'm tired of being on the road.

Adam and I went did the "Slide and Ride" (no crude jokes here - it's the official name) yesterday at Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun - two parks, one ticket. It was really the only true day of vacation we've had together since we got back from Georgia in June.

Rides we rode:

The Patriot (new, hadn't been on it before). You hang from that one, and it has tons of loops and corkscrews.

The Mamba (one of the world's tallest and fastest, according to WOF propaganda). Okay, funny story - this is the line we ended up being in for the longest amount of time. Not because there were tons of people there, but because a kid puked on the train RIGHT before we got in line. So, everyone had to get back off the ride, and the staff had to clean it up. Fun fact of the day? It takes four WOF "Ride Ambassadors" 20 minutes to clean up someone's sick. THEN, after that, when the line became 10 miles long, they decided to add a second train, which took about 10 minutes. The wait was totally worth it, though. The first drop on that coaster is freaking huge.

The Timberwolf

The Thunderhawk Sometime, when I'm not posting on the internet, ask me about this ride - the ride itself was great - the person next to me (not Adam), not so great. This one was also a ride I hadn't been on before.

Bamboozler

Fury of the Nile (longest line of the day - water rides and heat, you know)

Monsoon

We rode rides for about four hours, then went back out to the parking lot and had lunch at the car (a little WOF tailgating) then went back in and over to Oceans of Fun.

Oceans was great - except for the floorshow we got while sitting in the over-21 area of the park. Let me tell you a little story about something that isn't too pretty...

RECIPE FOR DATING DISASTER

Park opens at 10 am
Alcohol served starting at 10 am
Tons of middle aged people in tiny swimsuits (ASIDE: don't you people have jobs?!)
A handful of DRUNK and horny M.A.P.I.T.S.
Beer goggles

By 5 pm, two couples were LIVIN' IT UP in the pool. I'll just let you use your imagination as to what they were doing. It was like a train wreck. Adam and I amused ourselves by doing MST3K-style running commentary of what they were saying.

I totally wish I could have stealthily shot photos of them from our beach chairs. If I wasn't such a wuss about carrying my brand-new camera on scary thrill rides and at a WATER park, there would be photos of these yokels (only I would have blurred out their faces).

•••

Still waiting on the DSL tech to fix our home internet. Maybe I can have Adam take care of that today.

Phew. Gotta stop for a bit.