A little proud, I'll admit.

For all you Eagle employees out there:

So, I'm reading my J1 textbook, brushing up for tomorrow's classes (okay, planning kinda close to the last minute), and there's a graphic called "Media Worth Mentioning."

It's a list of the nation's best large newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, etc.), but then at the bottom it list four "smaller" papers that have acquired national reputations for excellence.

On the list? The "Eagle-Beacon" of Wichita. You better believe I'll be mentioning that tomorrow, since they all know I worked there...

Of course, I'll have to write the textbook authors (the edition was published in 2003) and tell them they need to double-check and/or update their facts. Just like all those folks in Western Kansas, they must not have gotten word that the "Beacon" was dropped...

"Come to Debbie Country"

Anybody name that movie? (There's a big hint near the end of this post, so read on, brothers and sisters).

•••

So, that uber-screener that spotted my camera at the Dave show nabbed one of my students as well, I guess. Poor girl had to go all the way back to her car, which she said was near the parking lot entrance, so I guess it was quite a haul.

If any of you come up to Sandstone before it closes, talk to me for the scoop on which line to go through...

•••

So, I totally bought all my back-to-school clothes at Kohl's (pretty much my new favorite store) and Target this year. I figured that given the area I am teaching in, I wouldn't have to worry about showing up at school dressed like one of my students - they wouldn't shop at discount stores...

Well, the other day, a girl did walk in wearing one of the shirts I bought. So, I guess that one'll stay in the closet and become "going out" clothes, instead of work clothes.

And, yes, I love the fact that I still get to go back to school shopping at 30.

•••

Tomorrow's the big day - Defending state champs taking on defending state champs. There's a big tailgate party from 5-7 p.m., too. I'll be interested to see what the atmosphere is like tomorrow.

•••

Just went and did my third cardio workout of the week, so I'm on track to complete this week of the challenge. I should have done it outside - the weather is great - but I waited too late. I didn't want to be out after dark.

We biked and lifted last night. Another thing I've noticed is the people around here sure do love their technical biking gear. EVERYONE wears the racing shirts (complete with wacky color schemes and all). It reminds me of that scene in "Singles" when Debbie gets all cycled out for her "Expect the Best" blind date.

All the little ants are marching

(photo by guest blogger Adam Chittum)

I'm SO not a deadline blogger. Guess it's a good thing I don't work for a daily anymore.

Adam and I went to the Dave Matthews concert last night at SANDSTONE (sorry, but I refuse to call is "Verizon Wireless Amphitheater"). Two teachers that I work with came along with us. I really did want to post the photos last night, but come on, it was a school night.

Who do you think I am? Superwoman? I think not. My butt's usually in bed by 9:30 on school nights, and we didn't get home from the show until right at midnight. It was bedtime for bonzo at that point.

The show was incredible, as expected. Dave took the stage about 8:20 and played for two and a half hours. There was an amazing full moon rising just to the right of the stage, and the weather was perfect.

The first two songs were off the "Crash" album, and the band proceeded to play a great mix of its stuff. They played enough jams to please the Adams of the crowd, and enough singles to please all the hipsters in attendance.

They closed the encore with "Ants Marching" off the "Under the Table and Dreaming" album, and boy, did it get the crowd going with the air drums.


Here, Manal (left) and Matt (center) show off their mad airdrumming skills during "Ants Marching." The guy on the right is a friend of Matt's but I only met him last night and I can't remember his name. (Police are saying alcohol might have been involved.)


Here's us before the show. The opening act, Umphrey's McGee was on stage. It's really too bad that so many people were there just to see Dave. Umphrey's is a great band, and they played a good little set. Unfortunately, by the time we got in and settled, we only got to see about 15 minutes.


I'm pretty sure this photo of Random Drunk Guy was taken about 10 seconds after he ralphed right there in the grass. That's arm's not around his back to show affection, folks. It's holding him upright.

There was a tiny bit of a snafu as we went through security. I was SURE that the frisking process would not have unearthed my tiny Digital Elph, but lo and behold, I went through the line with the most thorough screener, skilled in the art of detecting secret-good-for-sneaking-in-cameras pockets in backpacks. I thought I was going to have to go all the way back to the car. Damn. Damn damn.

Luckily, Adam was already inside the gate, so I just passed it through the fence to him, and got right back in the security line. The second time I went through (with a different screener) the lady didn't even LOOK in my bag. Gaahhh.

One last thing about the concert. Here's a lesson in bathroom line etiquette. To truly appreciate this story, you need to know that a beer cost $8 at the venue. I was about the 15th person in line, with 15 more people behind me, including a woman was superduper pregnant. Some other chick walked up to the line and announced: "I'll give you five bucks if you let me cut in line."

SOME JACKASS ACTUALLY LET HER DO IT AND TOOK THE FIVE BUCKS.

Shouldn't you pay EVERYONE behind that point in the line $5? AND, I'd at least ask for $8 so I could buy a freakin' drink.

You should have seen all the pissy women (who really had to, well, you know) in the line. It wasn't pretty.

Oops, 9:30. Time for bed.

It's a jungle out there

Today Adam and I ventured out for a KC date under $25. We spent the afternoon at the Zoo. It was very strange to go back to the zoo I haven't been to since I was about 15 or 16.

In fact, I think the last time I went to the KC Zoo (unless I shot something for the Star there, which I can't remember) was probably on a date with Todd back in the day (Hey Todd!).

There's a koala bear exhibit right now, so we decided we needed to go since they'll only be there until Labor Day weekend.

Overall, we had a great time, and the koalas were cute, but their exhibit was sorely disappointing. It was inside, behind glass, and there was about a three-foot wide walkway. Here's a lesson in zoo etiquette folks: You look for a few minutes, and MOVE ON when there are 75 people trying to cram into a tiny space.

I can't tell you how many sweaty arms brushed up against my sweaty arm, and I can't stand that feeling. If I don't know your name, I don't want to feel your arm on my arm!

I would say the best animals we saw were the elephants. They (well, one of them at least) were really putting on a show for the zoo guests.



He got down in the little pond they have for the elephants and swam and played, then he started reaching out of the water for grass, for a little tasty treat.

Here's Adam. There's a photo contest going on at the zoo right now, he's trying to win that. He shot a lot of photos with my 16-year-old Pentax K1000 and Vivitar zoom lens.


I think this bird really wanted us to read the information book.


Okay, you know that show, Meerkat Manor? Well, the TV promos make these things look huge, but they're just little tiny guys. They were pretty funny, too.


I am a total sucker for the sea lion show. See that blue fence in the bottom corner? I'm almost positive it's exactly like I remember it from childhood. I think that back then, they made them jump and get the crowd wet a little more than they did today. If I enter the photo contest, I might enter this one. But, the contest is for amateurs. TECHNICALLY that would be me these days, right?

No one pays me to shoot photos. But, Adam's argument is "So, if you played in the NFL but quit, then you could go back and play in college? I don't think so."







It was a great day - but by 4 p.m., I was ready to go. I don't mind the sounds of wild animals, but if I had to hear "Johnny STOP THAT!" or "GET OVER HERE" or some other variation of mom or dad yelling at a kid, I was going to need a cage of my own. We tried to time our walks so that we weren't in a big clump of people. One kid almost ran me down with a jogging stroller he was pushing that was about four times the size he was.

I've got to go. Time to wash off the nine layers of sunscreen.

JoCo - it's like a whole other country, er...I mean "county"

I'll get to some of the other differences in a moment, but the main difference between JoCo and SegCo that inspired this post is: HILLS! There are hills in Overland Park!

True, they're not mountains. Heck, they're not even Flint Hills or Gyp Hills, but dang it, when you go for a four-mile run, you start to notice hills.

We did our first "long run" training day today (four miles), and I can already tell it's a better workout (read: pretty much kicked my butt) trying to run in this area. In our College Hill days, usually there was only one hill I'd have to do on each run. Not so any more.

We got lucky this morning, though. We "slept in" til 9 a.m., and it was still only 81 degrees when we went for the run. It's so much more pleasant spending an hour outside when temps are in the 80s!

•••

Another difference between OP and Doodah? When you're walking through a parking lot, you see about 10 times more liberalish/environmentalist/Democrat/etc. bumper stickers than the "others."

Since I've moved here, in fact, I don't think I've seen ONE "It's a child not a choice", "Abortion stops a beating heart", etc., type of sticker. I mean NOT ONE. In Wichita, I'd see those about 50 times a day. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they are here, I just haven't seen any yet.

Of course, I've seen my fair share of "W" stickers, but it's refreshing to see Dennis Moore and John Kerry represented in parking lots as well.

•••

So, the other night, Adam and I were biking through the parking lot at the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead, and there were about 15 vehicles in the lot for some type of birthday party in one of the park's shelters. Of those 15, would you like to guess how many WERE NOT mini-vans or SUVs?

ONE. Yep, that's right. ONE.

•••

Well, I'd better get back to work on organizing our spare bedroom/office. I'd like to be able to post a photo soon that doesn't say "We just moved in and we're still trying to sort stuff."

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?