Lawn Mower Ingenuity & Keggers

Changed the oil on a lawnmower for the first time. The instruction manual was less-than-helpful in describing how to accomplish the feat. It did give a picture of where the drain hole is located, but not what tool to use to remove the plug. It was a large square hole which was too big for any standard flat head screwdriver to span the hole. I eventually used the ratchet extender head which would have fit perfectly if it weren't for the spring-loaded ball which lock on the sockets. Never the less, it worked wonderfully.
Last night, Rich's party was indeed a kegger that reminded me of house parties from college, just with far fewer in attendance. I felt that I had nothing in common with many of the people and realized that there were a few underage drinkers there. Keeping in mind that I am going to be a teacher, I made sure that Sqeaky and I left before the city's noise ordinance went into effect. I was not going to put myself in the position for the cops to show up, issue me a contribution ticket, and cause me to be removed from the education program.

Friends Grow on You

Today I realized how close I am to my friends. We don't often talk or call each other, unless it is reference to our regular Saturday night get-together, but I am willing to do so much for them.
Rich called to say his birthday party is going to be a kegger on a Friday... not grilling at the lake on a Saturday like I originally expected. It didn't cause me to hesitate one bit even though I don't really like those types of parties. I immediately took it upon myself to call our mutual friends and inform them of the change. I want him to have a great party and did whatever I could to make it happen, even if it isn't my ideal party.
I'm really glad that work on Fridays (and Saturday afternoon) is done now so I can kick back and enjoy my time with him. I kinda like this "regular" office-hour job. It might be easy to get used to.

Favorite Podcasts

A previous post showed some of my favorite websites. Today, I'm going to list my favorite Podcasts to which I listen while working on the yard, projects, while driving, or preparing to sleep.
I just downloaded iTunes onto my laptop (now a month and a half old) for ease of downloading the associated MP3s. iTunes wreaked havoc on the PC which is why I haven't been using it before now. It really slowed everything down.
Pictured is the MP3 player that I currently use. Next to it is the cell phone that I bought; one of the first generation cell phones to include MP3 player capabilities. What you can't see is the broken-off antenna, damaged simply by carrying it in my pocket and sitting down oddly. It was just not a convenient MP3 player, hence the newer device.
The Bitterest Pill: fatherhood and rants about society
Extra Life Radio: Scott Johnson's "Geek tested, nerd approved" show. Bad movies, video games, sci-fi, humor
Infendo Radio: Scott Johnson's Nintendo fan-boy show. Got into this in anticipation to Wii release.
Jawbone Radio: Len & Nora's family and geeky passions (Len's, not Nora's)
Manic Mommies: "Doing it all and doing it well" My interest is based on gaining the female perspective on parenthood.
Nobodies: "Taking their late night garage talk to the net." My only explicit show, vulgar, but not exceedingly so.
This Week in Tech: Leo Laporte and his crew talk computers and technology. He is also associated with several other netcasts, particularly The Tech Guy which is his California radio show, ported to the net.
Lastly, shock jocks Todd n Tyler have a radio show brought to the net via MP3.

Less Student, More Teaching

The school year is really starting to get swinging. More and more I'm thinking about what I need to do to succeed this semester, planning ahead and asking lots of questions. I feel more professional than I ever have because of dress, meetings, and realization of how much I already know.
Today cirricula guides were handed out for all the appropriate classes. While I didn't receive one personally, I reviewed one and feel much better about what I will need to teach for a whole year of classes. Previously, my biggest concerns were knowing what I needed/should teach. I really like that this school district has cirricular guides. I hope whatever district I head to in the future have similar plans to help beginning teachers.
Amanda is visiting an out-of-town friend overnight, so I think I'm going to take the chance today to change the oil in the lawnmower and knock down some of the greenery.
Speaking of which, July was so dry and I chose not to water it much, so the growth was stunted for pretty much the whole month. When I finally got around to mowing it last week, I did a rush job. This week I noticed some weeds a bit more. I was surprised to find the pictured tomato plant growing out of the rocks... bearing a red fruit! The tomato isn't visible because I pulled it off yesterday and ate it right off the vine. It was tasty! Not too shabby for a weed, huh?

Student Teaching

Made a major step towards my career in the last couple days. Wednesday I attended a meeting at the high school where teachers new to the district received orientation. Though I am not a "new" teacher, just a "student" teacher, I attended so I could meet my teacher, Terry, and get a hand on the school.
Today, I attended my first required meeting. We had a free breakfast at the school and received our info packets and name tags, etc. At the meeting, I ran into a classmate from college with whom I had talked a bit with. He could be a great guy to get to know as he is near my age, married, just had a baby, and has an RN for a wife. Very similar to me (other than the baby, of course). He's a theater guy which could be a nice addition to my friends as an alternative to game-geeks. We'll see how it goes but we seemed to hit it off.
After the meeting where I got to know my classmate, we basically went to work organizing classrooms, preparing for student arrival next week (already!). I was overdressed and worked my butt off hauling boxes, cabinets, and supplies & assisting other teachers hang decor, etc. Afterwards I was exhausted... yet I still had work tonight.
I ran home, relaxed for a half hour, called my client about my arrival, and headed off to work. It's been a long day, but I feel good about everything I've done. 12 hour day... it will be very similar to my future teaching first-year, I fear.
Bed time.

Catch Up

It's been far too long since I've posted. Apparently I've learned about myself that I can do anything consistently for about 2 weeks, but then the routine gets stale or I get lazy or some combination thereof.
So much has happened. I finally contacted my supervising teacher. Great guy.
Amanda's been playing in a weeklong bridge tournament and doing well enough to earn points towards her life-mastery of the game.
Only a couple days worth of work before I move to fill-in status.
Discovered our town ordinance only allows us to have two cats, so the third which we have been fostering for the last year, will absolutely have to go soon.
Started building linen shelves in the laundry room closet. More on that later.
Finished all my summer college classes and passed molecular biology of the cell! I was a bit concerned about passing it with at least a C.
Grandparents finally got to see our home after we have lived here for a year. They were passing through town to catch a flight to a Shaklee conference. They brought their friends, the Hines, and we all went out to eat at Old Chicago. The calzones there rock. I suffered a bit because I had a garlic, onion, italian sausage 'zone, but it was so worth it.
House is a pigsty, but what's new with that? Nothing, that's the problem.
Installed that new dishwasher, it was leaking water, even when it was off. I narrowed the problem down to a bad water inlet switch. I ordered a new switch from the internet, so in the end, we got a new-used dishwasher for $50! It just took some time. My favorite client's mother offered me her chest freezer. I graciously accepted it, though I will have to take it all apart to ensure there are no cocroaches stowing away in it before I bring it in the garage.
I started a new blog but I'm going to link to it. I am willing to share things that identify me on that site. So any saavy person who sees could discover my name and location pretty easily. But that blog's a bit more fun. Lots of links and YouTube videos.
I think that's enough for now. At least I got some of this on "paper" so I don't soon forget it.