First Trail Run of the Year

The high today was 51* F.  That may not sound very warm to some people, but after the bitter winter cold of January, it felt balmy!  The snow is melting everywhere and my yard is a nasty, muddy bog!

It felt so warm that I decided to go on a trail run instead of going to a treadmill at the gym.  The air was so crisp and the chill of the air was just right to keep me comfortable as I ran.

There is a point on the trail that was my 'push to' point.  You know, the destination I would push myself to make it to because it was really, really hard.  That point was the concession pavilion at Art Dye Park.  I got to that point today... and breezed right past it!  I had set a 45 minute timer on my iPod so I would know when to turn around and head home for a 90 minute workout.  The pavilion at Art Dye was only the 30 min. mark.  So, I kept going.  I ended up turning around a few minutes before my timer went off, though, because I realized I was losing daylight.  I didn't want to be jogging after dark in my black outfit (that ended up happening anyways, though).  It took much less time going home because it was all downhill returning and I was able to jog the whole way.  I need to adjust the timer to account for that.

There were a few spots on the trail that still had snow and slush on them, but I just walked over those patches carefully, then went on my way.  On the return (after the sun had gone down), some of the wet patches of trail were also icing up, so I had to watch out for that, too.  Still, I really had a good time and I just LOVE the view from the upper trail of the whole valley at sunset!

And I am Already Planning a Second One!

So, I haven't run the Thanksgiving Point half marathon yet, and I am already planning to run a second half marathon!!!  Yup!  The Utah Valley Half Marathon!  It sounds great!  It is in mid June.  That is a good time frame, because the first race is at the end of April.  That gives me good training time between the two races.  The course starts up in the canyon next to the Sundance turn off and is entirely downhill through the canyon, along the Provo river trail and down University Ave. to Provo Town Centre Mall.  There are no turns.  My brother, Erik is going to run this one, so I decided to join him.  Bill says he might do this one, too.

So, I really need to get busy training... and get myself some new running shoes!

New Goal!

I have decided to enter the Thanksgiving Point half marathon!

It will be held April 30th.  That gives me two and a half months to train.  I had intended to enter until I pulled my Achilles tendon.  I have had a hard time recovering from that, but today for the first time I felt that I had a shot at it again.  I did a 90 minute workout on a treadmill this evening and managed to go 7 miles in that time.  That would make a 3 hour half marathon (13.1 mi.) if I could maintain that speed the whole time (which is unrealistic at this time).  I need to improve on that, but it does not seem insurmountable. 

You see, the marathon organizers have posted on their web site that the race route would be maintained (police directing traffic, water stations manned, etc.) for 3 hours from the start of the race.  That means that I have to make sure I can finish the race within that time frame.  With 2 1/2 months of training, I am sure I can do that.  I have no intention of trying to win anything... I am not unrealistic about this.  I am still in really bad shape.

But it would feel really great to accomplish this, it is on my bucket list after all!

The Future of Communication and Other Technologies

I borrowed three 'piece 'o crap' compasses from one of the sixth grade teachers today to help round out my set (since I didn't quite have a full class set) for a project my fourth graders are working on with my student teacher (more about her in another post).  My students managed to break two of the three.

When I returned them and apologized, promising to buy new ones, he said not to worry about it.  He knew they were cheap and worthless and said that they never use them anyways.

Compasses are not used in classrooms anymore.  Rulers are rarely ever used, either.

I better hurry and order a new class set before the district warehouse stops carrying them!

Talking about the lack of compass and ruler use these days got us talking about other things that are dying out.  Another sixth grade teacher in the room with us said that e-mail is dying out in the 30 and under crowd.  They are using social networking sites and texting as their primary form of communication.  I thought about that and realized that it is true for the 'under 30' crowd at our house.  Helena checks her e-mail MAYBE twice a week, but checks Facebook daily and texts more than I care to count.  I don't know if Will even checks his e-mail at all.  He is on Facebook and texts, too.

Another technology that will be going the way of the cassette tape is the DVD/Blueray.  These days it is all about digital movies.  On sites like Vudu, you can either rent or purchase movies.  If you purchase, it saves that movie in your account for viewing whenever you choose.  A Vudu account is free.  Or, if you want, you can download it and store it on a hard drive of your own.  Like that terabyte drive gathering dust in the corner.  The funny thing is, you need an Internet & Vudu capable platform in order for this to work.  Our platform?  The bluray player.  Oh, the irony.

And, of course, Netflix and others (like Vudu) have replaced the brick and mortar 'video' rental store.  I won't even do RedBox because it is too inconvenient to have to return the movie!

How about the computer?  Some people are saying that tablets are the future.  Forget laptops.  You say you hate to type on tablets?  Wireless keyboard using bluetooth technology.  I personally think that projected keyboards are way cool.

I do know that we will be seriously weighing the pros and cons of tablet vs. laptop for Helena's college computing needs.  And finding a WiFi integrated printer.

The future is amazing!

Healthy tip #2

Need to drink more water?  Exercise more.  It will get you craving WATER, not sugary stuff.

Oh, yeah!

My Evening Exercise

I went to the gym hoping for an hour on a treadmill.

No such luck.  The gym has 9 treadmills.  Eight of them were occupied and the ninth was out of commission.  Phooey!

So, I got on one of the cross country ski machines.  At least. that is what I call them.

OK, so they are called arc trainers.

I used to use them all the time, back when I thought that jogging was for anyone but me.  I have been on the treadmills ever since I saw the light, but now that my right Achilles tendon is giving me grief, the ski machine is just what I needed!  There is no extreme flex of that tendon and I still get a great, sweaty workout!  I didn't go the distance... only 2.25 mile an hour, oi!  But I still burned a healthy number of calories and went home feeling great!  I think I'll switch over to the ski machines for a month or two to give my tendon a chance to fully recover before going back to jogging.

Oh, the Irony of it!

Helena was selected as a Student of the Month at her high school!  She was chosen by her digital photo teacher because she tied with another boy for the highest test score on the standardized exam the state CTE department (Career and Tech. Ed) administers at the end of the course.

Here is why that is ironic...

That teacher flunked Helena for the first term!

Yup.  Helena lost that .25 credit.  She did get an 'A' for the second term, however.

You know, back in the day, the two terms averaged out and you received the .5 credit.  They don't do that anymore.  At least, not here.  Each term stands alone on the podium.  So, if you flunk a term, you lose the credit.

I don't want to steal Helena's thunder.  I think it is fantastic that she was selected for this recognition, and the prize of a reserved prime parking spot for the month is awesome, too!

But, let me talk about that 'F' for a moment, and what it signifies.

I check the kids grades once a week.  They earn $ for 'A's' and I pay weekly.

Her first term grade in digital photo was a 'B' all the way through the term... until the final week.  You see, the teacher sat on her grading and did not get 'caught up' until just before the end of the term.  That is when both she and I found out that Helena had not been turning in her assignments!

Don't get me wrong.  Of course it was Helena's fault for not doing the work.

But how can this teacher call herself an educator and student mentor if she doesn't even know that she has a failing student?!  How can I know to intervene in my daughter's life with all the stuff a mom is supposed to do if I don't have up to date information from the school?

Which just got me thinking off on a tangent.  How did we all survive before online grades?!  My parents only ever saw my grades at mid-term and term end.

Anyways.  This is just part of the overall problems I have with the high school here.  I have gone to parent/teacher conferences and found that only 3 of her 8 teachers were actually there to conference.  I have had teachers admit to me that they aren't sure who my daughter is because they can't remember all of their students by name.  OK, fine.  I get that.  I do have 1,100 students of my own, after all, and I can't remember them all by name either.  But don't you think you should know my daughter by name since she is currently struggling in your class?

You are probably wondering why I don't go screaming down to the administration about how things were handled in term 1 such that my daughter was 'allowed' to fail.  Well, 1) it is ultimately Helena's fault that she failed the term.  The teacher wasn't a very good teacher, but it was Helena's job to get the work in.  2) And, more importantly, this is the only digital photo teacher at the school and Helena has signed up for the Advanced Photo class with her next year.  On the teacher's recommendation.  No sense making an enemy of someone who will be in a position of power over Helena's grades in her senior year!

Single Parent Weekends

From time to time, Bill has an opportunity to go off on mountain biking weekends with other like minded biking buddies.  This time it was with his physical therapist/biking buddy, Russ.

They went to St. George for the weekend.  The costs were minimal since Russ has a camper trailer.  Food and gas were the only expenses.  They left Friday evening, rode in the warm southern Utah climate all day Saturday, and drove back this morning; getting home at 8:00 am Sunday morning in order to make it to church.  In fact, when Bill got home this morning, everyone was still asleep!  He had to come knock on our bedroom window to wake me so I could let him in.

(Here is a HUGE secret about security at our house... there is none.  I don't even know where the house keys are.  The only time all house doors are locked is when we are all asleep in our beds.  The back door is never locked if the family is gone.  Even when we were on vacation!  The neighbor boy needed to get in to feed the cats, after all.  Theory: if lawbreakers want my stuff bad enough, they will pick the lock, or break a window.  And, if they want it that bad, they can have it!  I only lock the door when we are home and defenselessly sleeping.)

Apparently, Russ' wife was not too pleased with him for going off on a guys weekend.  In fact, most of the wives give their husbands a really hard time about it.

I don't.

I figure, he wants to go.  If I threw a fit, he would stay.  But he would still be wishing he was there.  Resentment might build up.  Is it really such a big deal?  No.

And really, in Russ' case, he is going in for prostate cancer surgery in two weeks.  I think if I was his wife I'd be telling him to go, since it will be his last chance before a long recovery!

Anyways, I also kind of look forward to having the kids to myself for the weekend.  I usually try to find something fun for us to do together.  This time it was some shopping, eating out, late night movie watching (with Will), and home manicures (with Helena).  Helena spent some of the weekend off with her friends, as well.

Another reason to like my single parent weekends?  I like having the bed to myself.

I know that sounds really weird.  I sleep better when I am alone in the bed.  When Bill is gone, I play quiet music or background noises while I sleep.  I wish I could do it all the time, but it would bug Bill.  This time, I was wishing it was summer, so I put on a custom made 'white noise' soundtrack of crickets, automatic sprinklers, and a distant train whistle.  Then I read a summery novel all night long.

That is another thing.  I can never go to bed on time when Bill is gone!  When he is here, I go to bed between 10 and 11 pm.  When he is gone I usually hit the sack somewhere around 3 am.

Now, it wasn't all fun and games around here!  I spent the lion's share of Saturday 'helping' Will clean and disinfect his bedroom.  You may know how that goes if you have ever had a teen aged boy who doesn't mind a mess.  BLEH!  We (pronounced 'I') filled two kitchen garbage sacks with trash, and two more with all the clothes he had out grown.  Man!  He has too many clothes!  Well, not anymore.  Now he is in desperate need of skinny boy jeans.  It is next to impossible to find 28 x 32 jeans!

And I don't want to gross you out, so I won't tell you why it was necessary to bleach mop his floor.

Anyways, I think it was a highly successful weekend for everyone, and now we are heading over to Kirsten and Paul's house for a Super Bowl party!  WOO HOO!

Swear Jar Update

It has been a week.

There is only one quarter in the jar.

There has been a noted absence of swear words in the house.

SWEET!!!

Blanket Policies and Dishonest Hygiene

So.  About a week ago, Will started complaining of a painful vibration in his front tooth when he plays higher notes on his baritone.  It is the tooth that is almost all crown.  I set up a dentist appointment to see if we could find out what was going on.

The tooth under the crown is dying.  The dentist said it is not uncommon for the tooth to die, even years later, when it experiences a blunt force trauma; as his did back when he was 11.  Now, three years later, it is dying.  Grrr!

Will is scheduled for a root canal next Tuesday.  In the meantime, the dentist gave him an antibiotic to reduce the infection and inflammation so the vibration will lessen and the root canal can go more smoothly.  Apparently the vibration is from fluid buildup where the nerve is dying.

The problem?  The antibiotic he prescribed is supposed to be taken 4 time a day.  That means he really should be taking one at lunch time... at school.

The school has a VERY strict no-drugs policy.  No drugs on the student, that is.  He cannot simply keep the pill with him and take it at lunch.  No.  He has to leave it in the office WITH a signed doctors note, or I can go to the school at lunch time and give it to him.

We don't have a signed doctors note (or dentist, in this case).  I work, so I will not be coming in to give him his pill, either.  PHOOEY!

I understand the need to keep students from peddling illegal and/or prescription meds to each other.  I do.  But is seems that this blanket policy is more trouble than it is worth.  Especially since the more savvy students simply don't tell the office that they have their Midol (or whatever) in their pocket/purse/backpack.  Laws about unreasonable search and seizure protect them as long as they don't advertise to the world what is in their backpack.  Helena keeps a small pharmaceutical in her backpack to deal with chronic allergies, PMS, and the random cold. 

So, do I wish Will had kept his antibiotics to himself and not told the office about it?  You bet! 

Now, about dishonest Hygiene.  You were probably wondering what in the world that might be?

I am talking about stealing tampons!

The ladies room at work has a cupboard in it that teachers use for storing their tampons in during their cycle.  I always bring enough (in a Ziploc baggy with my name on it) to make it through the week.

I always run out before the end of the week.  Today, I discovered that someone had taken my LAST tampon and thrown away the baggy with my name on it!  REALLY?!?!  Are we adults here, or junior high students?!  I commented on it to a couple of friends who were in the bathroom with me and they quickly came to my rescue, each offering me one of theirs.  But, they also mentioned that they face the same problem of disappearing supplies.  I ended up mentioning it to the head secretary and she said she would send out an e-mail to all the female faculty reminding them to bring their own supplies.

Double phooey and a Harumph!

All's well...

... that ends well!

When I got home from work yesterday, I called several times for Pepper while I was checking on the dogs' food and water.  I heard a faint 'meow' and instantly remembered the time he got himself stuck in a tree!  Oooh!  I was worried he had spent last night's agonizing cold up a tree.  But, no, after calling and hearing him several more times, I saw him running up our driveway, crying for me!  He ran right up to me to be picked up and brought inside for some cuddling and pampering.  He had a slight motor oil scent clinging to him, so I guess he found a place to weather the night in a neighbor's carport.

I am so glad he heard me and came running, because last night was even colder than the night before!  With the wind chill it was down to -20* F.

-20!!!!!

Once Pepper was settled in, it was time for Helena and I to focus on her senior year registration.  I had spent the afternoon on Skyward researching the correct name for each of the classes she wanted and making sure I knew how to run this year's version of the process.  I had no troubles with accessing the system.

Right at 3:30 we tried to log in.  Um.  Right.

Every senior-to-be tried to log in at 3:30.  The system crashed.

We managed to get in, but it was taking 5 minutes just to load each successive page.  Grrr!  I made the mistake of thinking that maybe it was just my pc laptop that was struggling (after all, I had no troubles on my mac earlier), so we logged back out and tried to sign in on the mac.  Bad idea.  Now we couldn't get back in at all!

Meanwhile, Helena logged into Facebook to vent her frustrations and found a LOT of other students venting about the very same thing!  The servers couldn't handle the load.

Helena and I finally got back into the system (on the pc... apparently Internet Explorer was more successful than Firefox) and finished the painful process of registration.

All in all, it took an hour and 15 minutes to process 5-10 minutes worth of registration and she was fortunate enough to get all of her preferred classes.  Apparently, many of her friends were not so lucky.

So, what is she taking in her final year of high school?

Seminary
Philosophy
AP Euro History
AP Art History
Honors English
US History
Advanced Photo
Government & Citizenship
Symphonic Orchestra
Foods 1

You will notice that there is not a single math or science class.  Most people recommend taking both math and science in your final year, because colleges like to see it.  However, we decided that the risks outweighed the benefits, in this case.  Helena has struggled so much in maths and sciences that it would not necessarily reflect well for colleges to have it continue to destroy her GPA.

Now it is time to start preparing for Will's registration!

Jonah Day

I have had a terrible day, and it is not yet 9 in the morning!

AURGH!!!

This morning, while getting ready for the day, we discovered that Pepper is missing!  He must have managed to sneak out the door sometime yesterday and hasn't been seen since.  Bill has a bad habit of not shutting doors completely behind himself, particularly if he knows he will be going back through the door again shortly.  Unfortunately, the cats will sometimes take advantage of that and get out.  I don't mind that much if Tigger sneaks out, because he returns quickly and rarely spends more than an hour outside before wanting to be let back in.  Pepper is a different story.  If he sneaks out, he doesn't come back until it is dark out.

Since no one noticed he was gone last night, that means he spent the night out in the coldest weather we have had all month!  The low was 0* F.

I am so frustrated because he is my favorite pet.  I tolerate the dogs for the kids' sakes, and I like  Tigger.  But I love Pepper.  He is my playful Siamese crossed kitty-at-heart cat.  I hope he is okay and that he comes home today.

Meanwhile, when Helena left for school this morning, she accidentally shut the back door on Demi's tail.  Demi is one of the dogs.  They are mini-daschunds and get under foot constantly.  Bill inspected her tail and found that no bones were broken, but there is a wound on the tip that bled all over my kitchen while he was trying to get her to hold still so he could look at it.  So, I had to bleach mop the kitchen in the middle of my morning routine.

The extra events this morning prevented me from having breakfast.  I took a protein bar and a glass of milk in the car to eat on my way to work.  A bump in the road splashed milk all down the front of my coat.  Grrr!

Hopefully the rest of my day will go better and I REALLY HOPE Pepper is okay and comes home soon!