Hello blog - we meet again, yes I know it's been almost a year AGAIN since the last post. Honestly I forget about you and really there's nothing that exciting going on in my life. Let's recap 2010.
In February/March I taught my first "college-level" class on American Government and I taught the same course again in June.
May brought with it the annual 3-day trip for the Middle School where we went to Washington, DC. Being in DC again, made me very wistful of the 4 months that I spent there in college. I sometimes wish that I could live down there again and get a job somewhere in the federal government....hmm we'll see.
June brought the close of another school year and some tough emotions that went along with decisions the adminstration made, which I will not go into here because, well, you never know who may stumble upon this.
In July it was back to work at Andersen's Farmstand which I can honestly say is a very peaceful job. I truly look forward to working there in the summer. I love being able to be outside all day - even if it is in the rain and sometimes have to deal with picky/annoying customers. I had a marvelous time at the 1st of 3 weddings of the summer, Congratulations Keith and Kristina! Luckily the torrential downpour lasted only the morning and the sky cleared for the beautiful outdoor ceremony.
In July I was also able to travel to the LCMS National Youth Gathering in New Orleans, LA. It is truly AWESOME to see 25,000+ youth and their adult leaders gather together for a time of worship, reflection and service. I am truly blessed to have been a part of this Gathering for the 2nd time as a Community Life Builder and I look forward to being able to do it again in 2013 in San Antonio, TX.
August was a busy month with work at the stand and 2 weddings - Congratulations go out to Karl and Krista AND Andrea and Tom! I was then able to spend a couple of days visiting my roommate up at her summer place in Rhode Island - BEAUTIFUL weather!
September/October - okay this is where the boringness begins -back to the grind of school work.
November was filled with no completely full weeks of school (woot) and a visit from Bethany! Thank goodness the weather was more agreeable than her last visit. We visited the sites in the City and even got to see Lucille Ball's daughter - Luci Arnaz!
December was a time to get ready for Christmas and visits with the family.
I am looking forward to 2011. There are things in my life that I would like to change, but well I'm not ready to make a resolution about them yet. Partly because if I don't fulfill the resolution I feel guilty about it! 2011 will be a good year - there will be a new addition to our family in February with the birth of "Little Perez" to Jessica and Luis and the whole family is very much excited for this new little one to arrive.
Okay, that's it for the update. Maybe a resolution that I'll make for the year is to try and update this more frequently...haha we'll see!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Monday, March 8, 2010
A New Venture in Life
Wow, it's been over a year since I last posted in this blog. I knew I wouldn't keep it very current, but I didn't think that I would let a whole year lapse!
In two weeks I begin a new adventure in my life: part-time college professor. This just seems like a strange concept to me, but perhaps this opportunity is God's way of telling me that moving in the college world is what I'm meant to be doing. I am nervous on so many levels as time is ticking down to March 24th. First do I have enough material to cover a 4-hour class for 5 weeks? Am I well-versed enough in American government to actually have the ability to teach these students? Will my students have any respect for me or will they just think of me as some youngin' brought in to teach the course (it's an Adult-Ed. class-->all students over are 25+)?
As I begin on this journey I ask that you just keep me in your prayers that I don't muddle my way through the next month!
In two weeks I begin a new adventure in my life: part-time college professor. This just seems like a strange concept to me, but perhaps this opportunity is God's way of telling me that moving in the college world is what I'm meant to be doing. I am nervous on so many levels as time is ticking down to March 24th. First do I have enough material to cover a 4-hour class for 5 weeks? Am I well-versed enough in American government to actually have the ability to teach these students? Will my students have any respect for me or will they just think of me as some youngin' brought in to teach the course (it's an Adult-Ed. class-->all students over are 25+)?
As I begin on this journey I ask that you just keep me in your prayers that I don't muddle my way through the next month!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Snow
SNOW
softly fallinggently gracing the ground
blanketing everything in white
and
filling me with joy
So I was driving home today in the snow. Let me just state for the record that I LOVE the winter. I would much rather be cold than hot and in many circles this would make me an oddity. Regardless, I love the winter and all it brings, especially SNOW. I love the way that each flake is unique unto itself. The way that they just float down from the sky and blanket the tree branches so that it looks like you're driving through a black and white Ansel Adams print. Snow makes the world seem peaceful--if only it really worked that way.
Where I grew up Jersey there was lots of open space. When the snow fell there it covered the earth like a blanket. My front yard would look absolutely beautiful--prisitine, blemish free. Looking out my window to see this blanket of white would send a little thrill through me. Then my dog would go out and run around or the deer would slowly make their way up to the last remnants of the garden to nible on what was left. The birds would swoop down from their high perch on the telephone and cable wires to eat the seeds from the bird feeder hanging in the tree. My sister and I would go sledding. All of these things would take that blemsih free snow and make their marks creating a maze of footprints and tracks. As much as I loved seeing the snow clean and pure, seeing the tracks made me just as happy because it showed that the world around me was alive. It the end, pure and simple, I love snow and all the things it brings...delayed openings and snow days from school, sled riding, skiing, fresh animal tracks and kids footprints. For me snow brings back the simple joys in life.
As much
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Political Ramblings
Warning--What you are about to read really has no cohesiveness and is a mish mash of ideas that are currently running through my head....
Right now I'm sitting in my apartment watching CNN's coverage of the Presidential Forum being held at Columbia University this evening and I'm getting frustrated by the questions that the candidates are being asked as well as the answers that are being given. Perhaps, I should preface this blog post by saying what I've been doing in my classroom during the last week and half.
As a social studies teacher I've been trying to teach my 5th-8th graders about the election process. They had a summer assignment where they had to look up information on Senators Obama and McCain; where they stand on the major issues. We've now begun to look at all the issues and pick the candidates apart (as objectively as possible). In the last 4 days, I've watched Obama's acceptance speech from the Democratic National Convention 4 times, and McCain's accpectance speech 3 times (one more still to come tomorrow). I pretty much have the speeches memorized at this point in time!
One of the questions this evening, directed at Senator Obama, dealt with his reflections on 9/11. Where he was, what he was doing, and what would he have done if he was president. He response to what would he have done if he was president was very frustrating to me and I found myself talking to the TV like a crazy person. He mentioned that if he was president at the time he would've called for the people to volunteer (I don't have a problem with this, in fact I'm in favor of it) and he would've stopped our dependence on foreign oil right away. I find it very easy for Senator Obama, for any of us for that matter, say what we "would've done" after the fact...YOU ALREADY know what's going to happen so of course you'd do it differently. However, you really don't know what you'd do until you're put in the situation. I personally think that President Bush handled the 9/11 tragedy as best he could at the time. Do I agree with everything he's done since then, no of course not. But I felt he did what needed to be done at that moment in time.
I'll say it here just as I've told my students the past 7 days, I honestly don't know who I'm going to vote for yet. Part of me wishes I did know. Looking solely at their acceptance speeches McCain and Obama seem to agree, or at least have similar views, on many of the key issues. It's no wonder that the polls are showing them neck and neck right now. I almost wish that McCain and Obama would run on the same ticket--this way you'd get the best of both worlds. Both candidates stated in their acceptance speeches that they wanted to cross party lines--to create a government that worked together for the people. Why not then, make the unexpected, the brash decision, to come together to form a ticket that would truly encompass all of the views of the American people.
On a side note, in Obama's acceptance speech he said, "So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first." This is the one part of his speech that I really had issues, and it seems to be an insignificant part of his speech at that. But I truly do not believe that we ALL put our country first. If we all put our country first our country would not be in the position that it's in today. We would not have trillions of dollars of debt. We would not have families that are losing their homes right and left and are wondering how they are going to make ends meet at the end of the month. Our country would not be vulnerable to attack by various groups. We would not be bickering over which political party was better or which candidate has the most experience. The question would simply be, which candidate will do what's best for the country--which candidate has done nothing but put his or her country first.
Also in Obama's speech he stated this: "And when one of [McCain's] chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners." A nation of whiners?" Now I don't think that we're in a "mental recession," but come on be honest with yourself, aren't we a nation of whiners?! When we don't get what we want, or when things are going poorly for us, what is the first thing that we do? We COMPLAIN!! Sure after we're done complaining and belly-aching we get up and try to fix it, but just look at what we're doing with all of these mortgage companies or airline companies that are having financial difficulties. The companies complain and they the government or other corporations step in to try and help them out. When my students get frustrated with an assignment that I've given them what is the first thing that they do? They whine about it to their parents, who in turn, come back to me and whine about the assignment that I've given their child, and well, isn't their some way that I could change the assignment to make it less stressful for them. Are YOU kidding me?
I believe that John McCain kept his acceptance speech very safe. He really didn't say anything that was too controversial. He didn't really attack Senator Obama. He just laid out what his record of service was and what he wanted to do should he become president. Many of my students remarked, after watching and analyzing both speeches, that while they preferred Obama, they liked John McCain's speech better because they felt like he was talking to them not over them--they could understand what McCain was saying and they liked that he wanted Americans to stand up and fight for their country and volunteer and help each other out.
This election period has just begun and I think that it'll be very interesting to see how things transpire over the next 50 some-odd days. Who will end up on top in this "divided nation?" We'll just have to wait and see.
Right now I'm sitting in my apartment watching CNN's coverage of the Presidential Forum being held at Columbia University this evening and I'm getting frustrated by the questions that the candidates are being asked as well as the answers that are being given. Perhaps, I should preface this blog post by saying what I've been doing in my classroom during the last week and half.
As a social studies teacher I've been trying to teach my 5th-8th graders about the election process. They had a summer assignment where they had to look up information on Senators Obama and McCain; where they stand on the major issues. We've now begun to look at all the issues and pick the candidates apart (as objectively as possible). In the last 4 days, I've watched Obama's acceptance speech from the Democratic National Convention 4 times, and McCain's accpectance speech 3 times (one more still to come tomorrow). I pretty much have the speeches memorized at this point in time!
One of the questions this evening, directed at Senator Obama, dealt with his reflections on 9/11. Where he was, what he was doing, and what would he have done if he was president. He response to what would he have done if he was president was very frustrating to me and I found myself talking to the TV like a crazy person. He mentioned that if he was president at the time he would've called for the people to volunteer (I don't have a problem with this, in fact I'm in favor of it) and he would've stopped our dependence on foreign oil right away. I find it very easy for Senator Obama, for any of us for that matter, say what we "would've done" after the fact...YOU ALREADY know what's going to happen so of course you'd do it differently. However, you really don't know what you'd do until you're put in the situation. I personally think that President Bush handled the 9/11 tragedy as best he could at the time. Do I agree with everything he's done since then, no of course not. But I felt he did what needed to be done at that moment in time.
I'll say it here just as I've told my students the past 7 days, I honestly don't know who I'm going to vote for yet. Part of me wishes I did know. Looking solely at their acceptance speeches McCain and Obama seem to agree, or at least have similar views, on many of the key issues. It's no wonder that the polls are showing them neck and neck right now. I almost wish that McCain and Obama would run on the same ticket--this way you'd get the best of both worlds. Both candidates stated in their acceptance speeches that they wanted to cross party lines--to create a government that worked together for the people. Why not then, make the unexpected, the brash decision, to come together to form a ticket that would truly encompass all of the views of the American people.
On a side note, in Obama's acceptance speech he said, "So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first." This is the one part of his speech that I really had issues, and it seems to be an insignificant part of his speech at that. But I truly do not believe that we ALL put our country first. If we all put our country first our country would not be in the position that it's in today. We would not have trillions of dollars of debt. We would not have families that are losing their homes right and left and are wondering how they are going to make ends meet at the end of the month. Our country would not be vulnerable to attack by various groups. We would not be bickering over which political party was better or which candidate has the most experience. The question would simply be, which candidate will do what's best for the country--which candidate has done nothing but put his or her country first.
Also in Obama's speech he stated this: "And when one of [McCain's] chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners." A nation of whiners?" Now I don't think that we're in a "mental recession," but come on be honest with yourself, aren't we a nation of whiners?! When we don't get what we want, or when things are going poorly for us, what is the first thing that we do? We COMPLAIN!! Sure after we're done complaining and belly-aching we get up and try to fix it, but just look at what we're doing with all of these mortgage companies or airline companies that are having financial difficulties. The companies complain and they the government or other corporations step in to try and help them out. When my students get frustrated with an assignment that I've given them what is the first thing that they do? They whine about it to their parents, who in turn, come back to me and whine about the assignment that I've given their child, and well, isn't their some way that I could change the assignment to make it less stressful for them. Are YOU kidding me?
I believe that John McCain kept his acceptance speech very safe. He really didn't say anything that was too controversial. He didn't really attack Senator Obama. He just laid out what his record of service was and what he wanted to do should he become president. Many of my students remarked, after watching and analyzing both speeches, that while they preferred Obama, they liked John McCain's speech better because they felt like he was talking to them not over them--they could understand what McCain was saying and they liked that he wanted Americans to stand up and fight for their country and volunteer and help each other out.
This election period has just begun and I think that it'll be very interesting to see how things transpire over the next 50 some-odd days. Who will end up on top in this "divided nation?" We'll just have to wait and see.
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