Summer school done and paid for. Don't know how. Wasn't much of a summer either. What a weird one. Two friends finalizing divorces, one had a massive heart attack at the age of 40, uncle of a friend in the hospital and it doesn't look good, and other weird stuff like that. Top it off with the summer now reaching us in September and I believe all we have to look forward to from here is locusts, blight, and the mississippi turning to blood. I took a full week and went up to my cabin in Canada in mid August to go fishing. It snowed. (The locusts must be next).
On a lighter note, the Northwoods Writers Conference held this spring was amazing. So many incredible people, whether they were authors, students, or speakers. Really impressed with all. And Judith Ortiz Cofer. Wow. A new deity...
School is now in session, and I see that there are new methods people with their wikis and new blogger people with their blogs. I am jealous. It helps one stay on task when you are in a class. Definately MY problem that I have to deal with there. Just tough to do when you are fighting time for the all mighty dollar. I do, however, have a somewhat light schedule this semester, other than the fact that they are all Education core classes, so I am certain I will be kept busy jumping through those hoops. Just lots of paperwork to get done concerning graduation and finalization. This should all be a labor of love...and I guess it is.
Part of the pain is hearing the voice of the poet, writer, Derek Burleson, in my head when he said, "Look, I am a writer, and a teacher...and most of the time I would rather be fishing."
How true. Back soon. Must keep on task.

So here i sit in the mac lab in the ed arts building, cruising websites and looking for various resources for teaching writing and content area reading. I wish that I had my notebook from last semester with me as I had alot of information and websites listed in there from both Pedagogy and Developmenal Reading in the Middle School.

Such is life.

What is it with school, that I need it to keep me going and yet when it was on this semester, it was handing me my sizeable ass. Wow. Don't know that I have ever experienced a semester of school like that. Many a day I went to school without ever having gone to sleep the night before. That can't be healthy, and I didn't do that when I was partying. My kingdom for a schedule that is workable. Oh well, it's all good. The spring cleansing of opening fishing in Canada is upon me, even though they received a fresh dusting of 10 inches of snow three days ago. The walleyes better be hungry.

It's, been a long time, man, since I rocked and rolled...It's, been a long time, man, since Sammy Davis Junior, has done this thing they call the stroll...
Well, school is again about to start, and I have some stuff I have to get done in short order. Very glad it's on its way, cause I feel that as much as I needed the break this time, it seemed way too long. On the 10th, we held our yearly Dead Pool draft, and here is my new roster for the year...The Ungrateful Dead.

Joan Riudavets (114 years)
Hendrikje Van Andel (113 years)
Emma Verona Johnston (113 years)
Ura Koyama (113 years)
Bettie Wilson (113 years)
Maria do Couto Maia (113 years)
Susie Gibson (113 years)
Mise Ito (113 years)
Catarina Carreiro-Pascoal (112 years)
Grace Thaxton (112 years)
Julie Winnefred Bertrand (112 years)
Gladys Hawley (112 years)
Virginia Dighero-Zolezzi (111 years)
Agnes Rich (111 years)
Ruby Drakeford (111 years)

Hopefully I will fail and all these peeps will see another year, and Ruby has a B-day coming up January 25th. She'll be 112...wow...think of all the things you would have seen come into being...flight, cars, electricity, advances in plumbing, medicine, heating/cooling, computers...damn near everything...

this is a link to the msn hompage

It's been a while since I posted here. Wish I could post more, but I find I am busy and when I do write, it's not so much the creative sort, as I use my English Methods wiki alot. I will be posting here more frequently perhaps, as I get to explain, teach, and theorize a bit about blogs and wikis at Bemidji High school on Monday and perhaps Tuesday. I have the lesson plan pretty much done, and got some information on MUs from Morgan. It appears they are simply the general formulae for MUDs. No big deal.

I am beat. I have class tonight, then must study for a Spanish test in the morning, then do another student teaching practicum after that. The Spanish test, unless I suddenly grasp it tonight, will be painful. I will do it though. Just gonna have to go over about 3 chapters to regain what I have lost in a summer. Some of it is there, just can't formulate responses like I could before, even though that was my weak point last year as well.
Back to it.

Just a quick note today. I did my first student teaching practicum at the middle school today. Sixth graders it is, and I was handed some of the students that have trouble either in certain subjects or maybe even behavioral areas. The little guy I worked with was amiable enough and was diligent in his studies as we pieced through a book to work on his reading skills. I think I will like this. Hope it continues to go well. Drew, the Assistant Principal, and a man I have worked with previously while he was going to school, spoke with me afterward and gave me a few facts about grade school-middle school aged children as opposed to high schoolers. I think I would definately like high schoolers more, but for scheduling purposes, this is what worked out best--and the license I am headed for is for grades 5-12. We'll see.

The school load at times seems oppressive. The beginning of the week is usually tough, but by the end of the week I typically have it somewhat under control. Unfortunately though, I usually have alot of homework to do Thursday through Sunday, and I do a decent job of getting that done, but Monday through Wednesday my days are longer and it's much harder to get everything done.
I love my Spanish class but I feel extremely stupid right now. I lost so much vocabulary over the summer, and some of the conjugations of the verbs, so for the next two or three weeks I am going to have to do some back learning and some power catch up. I am determined to do this though, so I am hoping that with the dedication I will be able to rock this out.
I will, I will, I will.
The new Iron Maiden has moments, but it just isn't the same as Killers, Number -o- the Beast, or Piece of Mind. Mmmmmm. Piece of Mind. They were impressive live again, though. Saw them in Chicago this summer with Motorhead and Dio. Very nice. 2nd time for Motorhead, 3rd time for Dio, 12th time for Maiden. Dave Murray is a magician.

It is nice to see that some of my old classmates from the blogs and wikis class are still updating their blogs. At the same time, it makes me feel like a complete slacker, but not all of them have been doing it all summer. Some, like me, have just recently started posting again as they have prepared to return to school. Either way, it makes me want to keep up with the Jones' and continue posting, and continue posting I shall.
I am also excited that I get to work with Wikis again. Dr. Christensen's Methods class has a class wiki and also sub pages for everyone in the class to have their own. I started working on mine last night, just to make sure that the passwords and such would allow me to, and I got caught up in it and worked until nearly 3 in the morning. Wikis are definately addictive, at least for me. Now if I can just make it so that my blog becomes moreso. I guess I just don't know if I like public journalling, and that's what it seems like a blog is.
Perhaps I need to say more about more or more about less.
I will figure this out.
Haven't seen Matti for too long. Last time I saw her, she had black hair. Wonder if she's changed it yet. Ha~!

Hmmm. It didn't take my links on my last post. One more time?

and


hmmm. It's not taking it. Going to have to go and talk to the guru.

The last time I tried to place an entry, it did not post correctly. Blogger had changed some of their format, and in trying to respond to something that Dr. Morgan had posted concerning an online novel, it simply didn't go through. I feel somewhat sad that I didn't keep up on my blogging throughout the summer, and perhaps I can get back into the habit now that school has started once more.
On a great note, I am working with wikis once more and for whatever reason, I find them much more addictive. This perhaps seems much more like journaling, whereas the wiki feels more like academia, more purposeful. Either way, it's keeping me writing again, and learning ever more and more, which is really what this is all about no?
Dr. Morgan is awesome for moving forward with that class that i had last year, for it really did open up a new world for me and I want to keep digging away. So without further ado, here's the link!

The first is for my newest class, and the second is mine specifically~





Ciao!

Doc Morgan just posted a groovy link, the world as a blog...crazy.

Feeling pretty daffy. Got straight A's, (never tried that before) got two new jobs, and hope to work diligently all summer long. Thinking ahead to a Senior Project for my B.F.A. program in Professional Writing. Pretty awesome that it's one of only 13 Universities that has the program. Unsure what exactly it would truly qualify me for in the working world other than setting my mind in order concerning getting thoughts down in writing so that the work of patching things together can begin. Likely more of a degree in Professional Editing, not that I want to be an Editor, but I think most of the best writers are voracious in both reading and the practice of writing, but are much more concerned with the process of editing what they've regurgitated. I know some of that doesn't apply to contemporary literature, Tom Clancy for instance. I have heard that he now does not have an editor, and his books are much more muddled because of it. Either way, the battle rages.
Just bought a new Graham Masterton book, A Terrible Beauty. He's an old favorite of mine. Ikon rocked my world, shortly after my time in the service, I think it was...

Went to Canada with the boys last weekend. Absolutely crushed the walleyes. Averaged 3 limits per hour. (A limit is 4). We ate them twice, brought a limit home for each of us, and released the rest. Good lord is that fun. We would have had another limit the night before we left, but a pretty wicked storm came in and forced us off the lake. Went from being anchored to being blown into the bay. Pretty nasty. Thankfully we weren't far from home, cause you couldn't even see to Hatfield Island a half a mile away. Mother nature...she's got an attitude problem...

Well. It's been too long. Perhaps I can begin a somewhat regular schedule on this now. And it seems I have come full circle. The very first entry on this blog I did from class, being that this was what the class was all about and I had never heard of a blog or a wiki before.
Recently, I had tried to add my fantasy baseball teams in, The Billion Pound Shithammer is the N.L. and the Purple Headed Yogurt Slingers is the A.L. Somthing went goofy though and after a while of trying, I decided I would wait until I had more time.
Adios muchachos.
Hasta pronto!

Been a while since I posted to this space. I've been busy writing on other venues, and filling my belly with delicious booze. Friends of mine came up from all points south, two weekends in a row, so I let the belt out a notch and my hair down. (how does that work you ask, with a shorn mellon?) Well it was fun at any rate, and trouble was avoided when it reared its ugly head. Now I am staring spring training square and fantasy ball in the face trying to figure what I will end up with at the 10/11 pick in the NL. I'm thinking I will make the other fools pay with Abreu and Giles. Maybe Abreu and Kent. A solid two bagger would be nice. I have to think that Jeff Kent's numbers will be above and beyond his last two years in Sam Franks Disco, sitting in the lineup he now is in. Ah. What am I thinking. I'm the one that broke Leetch, Lemieux, Brown, Griffey, and Thomas. Different sports, but they've not been the same since they graced my team. And thinking of teams, of course my team name will be the same, but so many sites I visit have leagues with team names that are so non imaginative. I've always liked our league for the original names we've garnered over the years. Many have stayed the same. In hockey, I was always "Hotplate Heaven". In baseball, the American League, I was always, "The Best Crack I Ever Smoke". (As in, "I swear to god man, it was the best crack i ever smoke!") National League, ye olde senior circuit, is my favorite, though. Taken from the King of Gonzo Journalism, HST, and a chapter out of his book, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, (was it that or Las Vegas?), either way, The Billion Pound Shithammer has a ring to it. For now though, I must get back to some scripting, as the Pembina Pelaton awaits!

Wow. Corporate America just had to do it ....

I was just reading Jessica's blog and on the 26th, there was a pretty cool entry. One at which I stare at from both sides of the plate. I read the Rosie O'Donnel dialogue form the movie along with her comments and I agree with it in principal. Vanity is an evil production played by both men and women. Being a big guy my whole life, I have seen the scenes played out in reverse. There were times that I was smaller, immediately after I got out of the service, then I got really big, then I lost alot of weight by working out in Pine Hall while the new Rec center was being built. I was squatting 405 pounds, benching 355, doing sets of flys with 70 and 80 pound dumbells. I was in shape and nearly getting "cut" at that time. Still had a little bit of a belly, 40 inch waist, though the smallest I got down to in the army was 37, and suddenly I had women talking to me for no reason what so ever. Never happened before other than the few relationships I'd had in the past that had come about by fate or whatever you may want to say determined it. Many of the new women that approached me were women that I had nothing in common with and couldn't hold a conversation, maybe it was just me. I ended my last relationship because when cuddling one night, I discovered 3 little sixes just inside her hairline behind her ear. But that's just it. People pass by possiblities every day without giving them a second glance. But it shouldn't be about "them". I think we have to simply learn to shine in our own skins. Work on what you can, but know that the core IS. I happen to agree that the women and men in the magazines and tv are plastic, interchangeable, and disposable, just like our society. They are products of it. For the most part, I quit watching tv along time ago because nothing had any relavance. Now I *really feel like an outsider. You know how tough it is to talk to people if you don't watch Survivor, Fear Factor, Friends, yada yada yada....? I would love to be able to find someone with the same interests as me, but I just don't think it's going to happen. As great as it was living in the middle of nowhere 3 months a year growing up (NW Ontario Canada), I was then missing out on alot of social interaction with friends and girls. It makes it easier for me to listen to the sound of my own skull perhaps, but it doesn't always stifle the din. Not to end the thought on a downer, but I resigned myself to the fact that I would die alone a long time ago.

Holy hannah. The new supergroup project by Dream Theater's drummer, Mike Portnoy, and fellow musicians, Kevin Matheos of Fates Warning, Kevin Moore, ex Dream Theater keyboardist and Chroma Key founder, is some kind of yummy. Chock full of crunchy goodness. Has a definate Pink Floyd feel to it in spots, and yet wow do they crunch. Gotta like E chord jams and minor scales. Makes me think of Schubert's 7th at times. I thought Spocks Beard would never leave my player. Foolish.