|
|
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
| |
5:26 pm - In Other News
|
I am still at work, because I have a student still at work.
He's one of my risk-avoidant students, and his absolute least favorite subject is writing. Not like anyone I know. Nope. Never met anyone who might understand his issues.
His skills are fairly low, but when I can pull work out of him, he learns what he needs to learn quickly enough. He wanted to finish a portfolio for level 6 writing (he's currently on level 4) over break, but hit one of those "It's never going to happen" moments, and hasn't wanted to work on it, since. Today, I was mean. I sat next to him and told him that I would not let him fail. And after showing him how much he'd done, and how close he was, I told him I expected him to get back to work. Now he's finishing his Works Cited page for his research paper on Harbor Seals. Tomorrow, he will finish his last paper for his level 6 writing portfolio - a step-by-step instruction piece on How To Make A Snowman.
Did I mention that I like my job?
Also. I've just added three students to my class (all new to the school, or returning from elsewhere after long absences), because of parent request.
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
5:10 pm - Sleeeeeeepy
|
|
Overslept, today, so no walking. Still made it to school on time, and had enough time to eat breakfast, but not enough time to walk. Managed a mile and a quarter, yesterday, before my ankle got complainy.
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
| |
4:11 pm - More Walking
|
Walked Monday - 2.4 miles.
Didn't walk, today, because my ankle was complaining, but I did lift. Mostly upper body and a little quad work.
Hopefully walking, tomorrow.
I'd like to get into a cycle of long walks M-W-F, and short, warm-up walks + lifting on Tuesday and Thursday. (And it'd be nice to walk on the weekend, too, but, er, it's hard enough to wake up, then.)
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Friday, January 8th, 2010
| |
5:45 pm - For my writer friends
|
|
| Thursday, January 7th, 2010
| |
1:14 pm - No Progress, today
|
I apparently blistered myself, yesterday. *hmph*
So. Blister + Ankle + Lack of Sleep + Lack of Motivation (probably because of the not sleeping well) = No Walking, today.
Tonight there will be sleep, and tomorrow there will be walking.
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
| |
7:38 am - Progress - more
|
The air-cast plan seems to have been a success.
I did wear it throughout the day, yesterday, too, for additional support, and I was back to pre-Monday ankle health.
Today I did 2 miles at 3.7 mph, and no increase in pain. Yay.
So, plan for the next couple weeks is to walk, mornings, with the air cast. And then we'll see about trying without it again.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
| |
7:13 am - Progress
|
I moved over the summer (swapped houses). If it hadn't taken almost 6 weeks for the paint I ordered to get here, I think things would have worked out really well, but it did, and so the last few days before I had to leave for the New Teacher Inservice (at which I was helping with the training) were crammed with getting boxes from there to here and cleaning enough that I wasn't embarrassed about the state I was leaving the other place.
By late September, I had things organized enough (including my sleep schedule) that I was able to do some walking in the morning on my treadmill.
Then I sprained my ankle. I am not used to spraining my ankle in such a way that it hurts for more than a week or two, so when I decided to get it looked at in Anchorage, I sort of handwaved at his suggestion that it would be 4 - 6 weeks, with the air cast, before I was able to start working on range of motion exercises. Well. He was almost right. It was a little more than 6 weeks, and the range of motion stuff still hurts if I push. The PT (the school's PT, who is one of my favorite people, ever, and who was nice enough to give me some strength and RoM exercises to do, despite it not being at all her responsibility) told me to push to the edge of pain, and not beyond, to keep wearing the brace outside (because ice + snow + unstable boardwalk does not make for a good surface for a sprained ankle), and to really avoid outside as much as possible, but to take the brace off, inside, to make the ankle start relearning its job.
Yesterday, I started back on the treadmill. I did it without the brace, yesterday, and while I didn't feel it while I was walking, the second I stopped, my ankle screamed at me, and kept complaining most of the day.
Undaunted (or maybe just a little daunted), I put the air cast back on, and walked again, today. I'm a little sore, but not like yesterday, so I think this is what I will do. Unless it starts to complain a lot more, later.
So. Tracking mileage for 2010:
2010/01/04 - 1.3 miles
2010/01/05 - 1.6 miles
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, January 1st, 2010
| |
2:22 am - It's 2010
|
|
| Saturday, December 12th, 2009
| |
10:31 pm - For Dr. Dorothy!
|
|
| Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
| |
10:33 pm - Boxes of Goodness!
|
My friends, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) silkimom and eyelessgame, send me care packages. They usually have wonderful goodies like notebook paper, pencils, candy, folders... random things every teacher needs.
They seem to have an uncanny ability to know exactly what I need. Last week, I was needing folders with the three-hole-punch bracket things. They were in the box, yesterday. Monday, I needed a scientific calculator. Today, there was one in the box! This morning, a student was lamenting not having a toothbrush since his younger sibling had, um, made his unusable. There was one in the box! And toothpaste!
I usually share the goodness with the teachers I like. It's fun for me to make other teachers happy, and they enjoy the goodies, except when I'm selfish, there's plenty to share.
But today was even better.
On Wednesday morning, I don't have students first period. It's nice. I can usually pull one of mine to work with one on one, or get stuff done in the computer lab that I don't otherwise have time to do. Today, I had a Care Package box to go through.
I dutifully distributed all but two of the superballs and a bunch of erasers and play money, and kept a bunch of things for me. Yesterday, I took the extra map-erasers (erasers with map-pictures on them, not erasers for erasing maps), and stood in the hall just before the first bell rang, and handed them out to anyone who could answer my question about which continent was pink, or which country was green. (Even if they could only answer after someone else told them.) That was a big hit. But I only had 2 extra superballs, and the bell had already rung.
So I went to the third grade classroom - in which the teacher was absent - and I asked the sub which student had been the best listener so far.
She did something wonderful, then. She said, making sure to speak loudly enough for all to hear, something for each one that he or she had done well, and then picked one.
So I called the one over, and as I gave her one of the two superballs, I told the class that I had one more, and I would come back at the end of the day, and that I would ask the teacher again about who had been the best listener. And I told them that I had /more/ prizes, and that if /everyone/ listened well, then the whole class would get a prize.
Now, the normal discipline plan for the school (Which - shhhhh, I don't use) is to put a student's name on the board if they do something 'wrong', and then they get a check mark the next time, and the next time, etc. And there are specific consequences for each of these stages.
Well! The sub changed that around. She put /everyone's/ name on the board. And every time they did something /well/, she put tally marks by their names. At the end of the day, the students ranged from 10 - 19 tally marks. While my students were in the Yup'ik classroom listening to the Elders speak, I went back to the third grade. The sub explained that it was loud, but EVERYONE was working! For a few minutes, I got to sit down and help a couple of boys with their math, and then the sub had everyone clean up and sit down. As a class, they counted the tally marks - counting the groups of fives and then switching to ones as appropriate. Then she wrote the totals next to each name. Everyone, she said, had done /very/ well.
I opened my care-package box and put it on the table, and then one at a time, I invited them to come up and pick a prize from the box. The other superball went first. Then the extra blow-up globe. And then the decks of playing cards and magnets and pencils, until everyone had a prize and they were ALL happy.
I don't think I am doing an adequate job of conveying just how wonderful this was.
It was wonderful. It was the sort of day that keeps me going, the sort of day that some of those kids will remember for a long time. All made possible because I got a care package of teacher supplies from a pair of wonderful friends in CA.
Thank you!
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
| |
7:16 pm - Home Again!
|
Despite several attempts by the weather and the planes to keep me from making it home, tonight, I am, in fact, home.
The cats seem to have forgiven me for being gone, and I will shortly eat dinner and then collapse.
I'm glad I only have to work two days, this week, because it feels really odd to be back. I don't feel quite here, yet.
Anyway. Home. Yay.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
| |
9:50 am - Post-Con Post
|
When I first had to miss Orycon, it was very sad, and I was a bit grumpy about it. And then my brain adjusted and said, "Well, was it really worth all the expense and stress of travel, anyway?" And so I missed two more. Really. That's /all/ I missed. Three. And yet, it feels like forever since I'd been to an Orycon.
And let me tell you - the answer to the question is YES!
YES, it most DEFINITELY is worth all the expense and stress of travel. And I still can't tell you why.
I spent a great majority of my time in the Art Show, hanging art, checking in artists, selling prints, taking down art, checking out artists... Lots of art show.
When I wasn't in the art show, I was in the dealer's room taking a few minutes to breathe and talk to Dorothy, or Alec, or Kore.
I managed two panels on Saturday, a brief visit with Elizabeth on Friday evening, and ALMOST enough Scott-time. I also hung out with Lubov (the artist GoH) and her SO, Craig, for a chunk of Friday night and Saturday evening. Very nice people. I hope they manage to come back, next year.
And despite spending the whole weekend running hither and thither, it was exactly the sort of relaxing, rejuvenating experience I needed.
I believe I shall endeavor to make Orycon attendance a regular thing, again.
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, November 27th, 2009
| |
8:56 am - So Nice.
|
I am so happy with this hotel.
I tell the server when I sit down that I have food allergies, and can't have gluten or soy, and she goes and checks the carton that the cream came in to see if it has mono- or diglycerides, and then starts to tell me what on the menu is not gluten-free, that isn't obvious (like the sausage).
I ordered an omelette, and she offered me gluten-free blueberry bread, and asked if I could eat their potato side. I asked if the potatoes were seasoned, and she said just with salt and pepper, so I said they sounded lovely. She went to place my order, but a minute later came back and told me that the potatoes weren't safe, but they had hash browns, which were, and would I like those.
Everything was good. Everything was safe.
It was so nice to not feel like a freak, to be able to eat food that tasted good, and to not be paranoid about my food.
I contrast this with the Sheraton in Anchorage, where they begrudgingly fed me an overcooked, unseasoned slab of steak, and some overcooked steamed vegetables for every meal (after everyone else had eaten), except when they incorrectly told me that I could eat what they were serving everyone else.
Yeah. I am SO happy with this hotel.
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
| |
7:40 pm - Companies I Dislike, Companies I Like
|
Alaska Digitel Sucks. Therefore, I do not have a cell phone for this trip.
Despite having paid through the end of August, and theoretically having 90 days in which to buy time again, they terminated my account on the 3rd of November. Because they suck, even though they haven't given away the number to someone else, they are unable to reactivate the old number, I would have to go to their physical office and have them give me a new number. Since they don't exist outside of Alaska, I can't do that.
I am considering the possibility of a GCI phone. It would work in Kotlik. This is both good and bad. I think the cheapest plan is $99/mo. If I find that is true, I will not get one. If I can get one for under $40/mo, I may.
I am also considering trying to pick up a tracfone for travel purposes. I'll look into it.
On the other hand!
The DoubleTree hotel does NOT suck! They are AWESOME!
I called after I made my reservations online to ask if their restaurant could accommodate my food allergies. Not only did they say they could, but they weren't at all thrown by the question, and they said they'd note it in my file.
I was all excited about this, and looking forward to my stay, but I lamented to friends that I wouldn't be able to eat the amazing cookies that they hand out when you check into the hotel. Only. When I got here and checked in, the nice lady behind the counter said, "There are some gluten-free cookies upstairs for you." And I sort of boggled and she said, "I just brought them up a little while ago." And I thanked her profusely - not just for the cookies, but for knowing that I needed gluten-free. She seemed sort of amused by my gratitude and noted that it was in my file.
When I went upstairs, I found a plate cookies with a note declaring them to be gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free cookies. And there was a glass of milk, carefully nestled in a tub of ice.
These people make me VERY happy.
Not only that, but the cookies are good! (Not as good as their regular ones, but darned good.)
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, November 19th, 2009
| |
1:51 pm - Quick!
|
I can go to Orycon if I leave here Tuesday morning and arrive in Portland Tuesday night.
I'll miss four days of work, altogether, Tuesday/Wednesday and Monday/Tuesday.
Poll #1487739 Orycon, Quick!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11Should I go?
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
| |
8:54 am - Decisions!
|
A friend just reminded me that Orycon exists, and that it's coming up, and that it's over Thanksgiving weekend, and thus in the realm of possibility that I could go. And then, I could easily be in Anchorage on the 30th and 1st and see Kit! But! But! But! Travel = Ick! And money. And soon! And planning.
So! Help!
Poll #1487214
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12Should I go to Orycon?
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, November 5th, 2009
| |
8:17 am - BLARG!
|
|
| Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
| |
1:22 pm - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
|
So. You may have seen the ads for Tonka Trucks which tell you what a wonderful toy it is for your little boy. This makes my head explode, so I decided to write them. Here's the exchange.
Me:
I would like to register my extreme displeasure with your recent advertising campaign for Chuck & Friends.
To advertise the toy as "for boys" only reinforces artificial gender roles and suggests that children should not be allowed to express curiosity or interest in a full range of experiences.
I strongly encourage you to change your voiceover from "boys" to "children", and to perhaps film a girl playing with the truck, as well.
Them:
Hi Aberdeen,
Thank you so much for your recent inquiry about our marketing strategy on Tonka. As the mother of a 3 and a half year old girl, I can certainly understand the fun and wonder when a little girl or little boy breaks "stereotype" and plays with non-traditional toys. My daughter is totally into Spiderman, and I LOVE IT!
As a family organization we are committed to finding exciting and appropriate play experiences for boys and girls of all ages, and if you log on to our website at www.hasbrotoyshop.com , I am sure you will find many toys that are both gender neutral as well as gender specific.
The gender specific toys help to build confidence and create wonderful bonding experiences amongst both parents of same sex children and amongst the children who they relate with most.
Specifically on Tonka, there are essentially two reasons why we choose to market Tonka to boys. In all of our research, the overwhelming majority of Tonka interest is with little boys. Further, we have scores of research that tell us about the psychological differences between boys and girls and how they play. In fact, there is some recent research that explains how this can actually be traced back to the actual biology and chemistry in the brain. This research proves to us that while there will be girls who defy these studies, the marketing is best targeted to boys and moms of little boys.
Thank again for your concern and interest, and I hope this letter helps to shed some light on our marketing strategy.
My Very Best,
Angie Salem
Director of Marketing, Tonka brand
Hasbro, Inc.
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
10:43 am - YAY!
|
|
| Saturday, August 8th, 2009
| |
10:13 am - Aaaaah.
|
Our New Teacher Inservice is being held at the Sheraton in Anchorage. The Sheraton is quite possibly the most expensive hotel in Anchorage. Maybe not, but it's darned close. As hotels go, the room is fine, they make you pay for your internet and your parking, and the restaurants are expensive. But it's clean and in generally good condition, which is better than a lot of the hotels here. And it's tall and downtown. (Personally, I prefer midtown, but I'm apparently strange.)
It also has a Spa. This one is called The Ice Spa (which is a deceptive name, because it's not at all cold!). I decided that I really really deserved to be treated to a massage after all the painting and moving and stressing I did, this summer, so I looked at their menu and picked the Lomi Lomi (a Hawaiian style massage that uses long strokes and is supposed to promote balance between the physical, mental, and spiritual). I also decided to add a 'Tranquil Soak' in their 'infinity tub'.
I think I will add a massage of some sort at this Spa to all of my Anchorage trips. It was rather amazing.
First, they lead you into the locker room, which is plush and warm and soft, and they give you a robe (which is plush and warm and soft). Wearing nothing but the robe, you then head for the lounge to wait. There you are offered fresh fruit, hot tea, juice, and lemony water, and one of any number of comfortable chairs or divans. Through the wall of windows, you can see the mountains, or you can watch the fire dance among the stones in the glassed in fireplace. Soft music plays with nature sounds interspersed, but it actually serves the purpose of being soothing.
After not too long, the masseur comes to lead you to your room. (Because I had the soak as part of my session, I had a big room right off the lounge, looking over the mountains.) The shades are drawn and the lights are dimmed, and the same music plays here as in the lounge. The masseur demonstrates the workings on the tub, and shows you where to place your robe if you want it to be warmed, and where to place it if you do not. He checks for your preferences about the room temperature and the table temperature, and then leaves so that you can get onto the bed.
He finishes filling the tub just as he's completing the massage and then covers you in warmed blankets while he goes to fetch a glass of lemony water. Then he leaves again, promising to knock on the door when you have about five minutes. But, he notes, there's no rush.
The infinity tub is about 5 feet long, 2 feet wide, and at least 18 inches deep. When I sat up, the water was just below my shoulders. It also continues to run. There's a drain that runs all the way around the main part of the tub, between the tub and the marble counter it's set into. And the water stays on. So the tub stays full to the very top the whole time, and you can adjust the temperature, so the water stays perfect the whole time. I had a 25 minute soak. I probably would have been good with 15 or 20, but I got out for a few minutes and just sat on the marble counter and watched the clouds move across the mountains.
There are two heated bathsheets waiting for you when you leave the tub, and the robe you wore coming in.
After, you are welcomed back into the lounge where there is more fruit and juice or tea or water, and you can stay as long as you like. I stayed a little, to drink some more water. (I suspect I was a little overheated.) Then back into the locker room, where there is a steam shower (which I did not use, but may, next time).
The whole thing was quite decadent, and exactly what I needed.
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|
11 (100.0%)