Celebrate?

You will not hear me wishing anyone a "Happy" Halloween today. You won't see me celebrating Halloween either. I am befuddled as to how we could celebrate something that is based on death and gruesome guts and gore. Halloween is morose, morbid, bloody and I can't find one redeeming thing about it. The only exception to this might be really, really young children dressed up in adorable costumes. These young kids have no interest in a horror filled night... they just want to satisfy their natural inclination toward sugary treats. I have no issues with that. I'm not a coldhearted monster after all. Just somebody who sees nothing good about frightening children and sending them to bed for a date with a nightmare.

I can still laugh

My total disdain for Halloween doesn't mean I can't still have a little fun and laugh:

The worst and best

This week brings a roller coaster of feelings for me. It brings the worst day of the year followed by one of the best. Yes, I'm talking about Halloween. I have always felt great disdain for Halloween. I have these ill feelings for a multitude of reasons. I won't go into those reasons here. If you're truly interested, go back into this blog's archives and you will find posts on this very topic (or you could just ask me). Anyway, once Halloween is over, I jump for joy on November 1st because the dreaded "holiday" is once again a full year away.

With that being said, I present this funny graphic. At least I can laugh while waiting for the misery of Halloween to pass.

America's problem

It seems to me this gets to the core of many of our nation's problems.

Kind of says it all, huh?

Grammar Police

My love of the English language is well documented. Everybody knows how irritated I get when people can't use proper grammar (even in its simplest form). I'm talking about the proper use of your and you're. The proper use of there, their and they're etc...

My wonderful wife sent me this funny little graphic. As an English and Social Studies teacher, I found it hilarious. Maybe it will make you smile too.

Pretty Girls!

On Friday night I babysat the grandchildren while Tami and Abby attended a fundraiser at Jessi and Barry's church. This is a nice picture of some pretty girls that were there. From left to right: Sister-in-law, Terri. Tami, Abby, my niece Olivia and her friend.

Rolling my eyes

How many times have we married guys heard our wives say, "Don't roll your eyes at me!". Am I the only one who ever pictured what is shown below?

Knowledge

Yesterday as I was teaching, I was again forced to face something I have known my entire career. When things are easy, my students are more than willing to regurgitate information they have "learned" in class. When things are challenging or when the students are required to think, they are completely unwilling to exert any effort. It is so frustrating. As long as the information is spoon fed to them and as long as they don't really have to DO anything, the students are completely willing to "work".

I can only speak about my own students and I know this problem is not necessarily universal, but in my experience, students do not want to THINK! They do not want to meet a challenge and put forth brain power to conquer the challenge. I see it every day. When the work is viewed as simple, the students will work quietly on it. When thinking is required, the students go into shut down mode and exhibit "off task" behaviors. Talking, goofing off, getting out of seats etc... I hear the same things every day. "This is too hard!". "I can't do this!". "I don't get it!". Obviously as a teacher, it is my job to help students through tasks that are difficult for them. However, in 25 years it has been my experience that kids don't really want me to help them. They want me to give them the answers so they don't have to think. Wouldn't you agree there is a difference between helping students figure things out for themselves as opposed to just giving them the answers?

You've heard the saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". Well, How about this?

Yay!

It has been a long, difficult, grueling week. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say I haven't had a free moment since last Sunday. All the events that kept me so busy were mostly good stuff, but I was busy nevertheless. Tonight I close this insanely busy week in the best way possible. I get to babysit the grandchildren! I can hardly wait to see them and give them some lovin' from their Goppa! They will definitely wear me out, but it will soooooo be worth it!

Skipping Work

I am very proud of my work ethic and I take my attendance at work very seriously. If I miss work, I have to be either seriously ill or it has to be something ultra important like a funeral. Other than that, I flat out never miss work. The last time I missed a day of work was in November 2005. I wasn't even sick. That was when we bought our house in Hidden Valley Lake. The mortgage company would not allow me to sign the closing papers after school hours. They insisted I come during business hours. I had no choice but to take a personal day. Other than that day, the last time before that I ever missed work was sometime in 1997. Not a bad attendance record (if I do say so myself).

Why all this talk about missing work? Because I am amazed sometimes at the amount of unscheduled time people take off work. I realize some people I work with are mothers and they need to take off for sick kids. That's understandable. I also realize not everybody is as healthy as me. That's understandable as well. But some people (in my opinion) miss entirely too much work. This brought to mind some funny excuses people have used to call off work.

Here are a few...

I just put a casserole in the oven.
My plastic surgery needs some tweaking to get it just right.
My feet and legs fell asleep when I was sitting in the bathroom, and when I stood up I broke my ankle.
I was gambling at the casino all weekend and still have money left. I need to stay to win it back.
I'm stuck in the blood pressure machine at the grocery store.
I put my uniform in the microwave to dry and it caught fire.
I accidentally got on a plane.
And then there was this excuse, which wins serious points for honesty: I woke up in a good mood and don't want to ruin it.

I don't know if these are real or not, but they still made me chuckle.

Very Punny!

Just because I like puns :-)

Hofbrau Haus

We celebrated Michael's 21st birthday at the Newport Hofbrauhaus tonight. We had good food, good German bier and rockin' accordion polka music. A good time was had by all. Thank you to everybody who came out to celebrate with the Butterhead.

That was fast

I sent a text to Michael this morning wishing him a happy 21st birthday. He replied with a thank you and also to tell me that shortly after midnight last night, he went to the store and bought his first legal beverages. He built his own 6 pack (where you get to mix and batch different beers... kind of ala' carte you might say).

The guy sure didn't waste any time. Can we all agree the apple didn't fall very far from the tree? What can I say? Our ancestors were Bavarian Germans. It's in our blood.

Happy 21st

Happy 21st birthday to my son, Michael (aka The Butterhead). I am feeling very old this morning while also looking forward to celebrating with him tomorrow night.

Happy Birthday, Butterhead!

The Judge and Popcorn

We went to see a movie yesterday. "The Judge", starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall was very good. It's not often we go to the movie theater, because there usually isn't anything worth seeing that I would spend my money on. However, this movie was worth it. I won't call it the greatest movie I've ever seen, but I got my money's worth where my entertainment dollar is concerned. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

One thing about movie theaters... the general public is a pain in the neck! The crowd at this particular movie was mostly older folks, so the behavior was generally good. The problem is popcorn, or more specifically the paper bags the popcorn now comes in. I found it difficult to hear some of the dialogue because people are noisily digging into paper bags for popcorn. It amazes me how some people don't seem to think that noise travels. News Flash! I can hear every crinkle and pop of that bag as you stuff your grubby mitts into a bag that was not designed for quiet. Dump the popcorn into your hand or at least exercise some sort of restraint when retrieving your buttery snack. I'm not asking for silence... just some consideration for other people in the theater. I don't think I am asking for too much.

Messin' with the janitor

There are times at school when things get pretty tense. Sometimes to pass the time or deal with stress we will play tricks on each other. One of my favorites occurs after the students have left for the day.

Our cleaning service starts working as soon as the kids go home. I have been known to unplug the extension cord when they are vacuuming the classrooms. The first few times I did it, the custodian came to investigate the problem with a puzzled look on his face. Since then, he always knows it's me. "Very funny, Mick! Plug it back in!".

The graphic below shows I am not the only one who does this.

Pun Fun

I love the English language. I love playing with words. I love reading, writing, grammar and anything to do with the written or spoken word. I guess that's why I enjoy writing this blog. In recognition of my love of words I present to you "Fun with Puns".

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

The girl said she recognized me from the vegetable market, but I had never met herbivore.

Energizer bunny arrested: Charged with battery.

When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

What does a clock do if it's still hungry? It goes back four seconds.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger... then it hit me.

Trying to use a broken pencil is pointless.

Sorry everybody. Slow news night.

What a treat!

I was treated to something very special yesterday. My daughter, Jessi and my two grandchildren visited me in my classroom. It was so much fun and the students really enjoyed it (But not as much as I did!).

Left Behind

We went to see the movie, "Left Behind" tonight. It was based on the first book of the end times reading series of the same name. The movie was only so-so and only loosely based on the book. I was somewhat disappointed because the book series was so well written. All 12 books in the series were page turners and the movie didn't hold the same level of interest. The movie was entertaining enough, but they could have done so much more with presenting the Gospel. Once again Hollywood shied away from the message of Jesus Christ dying for the sins of mankind. Nice try, but it fell short of the real message delivered in the book of Revelation.

Disaster Averted

Without going into too much detail, I need to tell you I almost bought the farm this morning. If not me, at least my car almost bit the dust.

I was driving this morning in some light rain. It was nothing to be concerned about, or so I thought. As I approached a curve I saw a car had skidded off the side of the road. I LIGHTLY hit my brakes and immediately went into a severe skid. I was shocked because the road wasn't that wet. I really believe there was oil or something on the road because this was no ordinary skid. It felt exactly like ice. But with temperatures in the 60's, I knew it couldn't be. I cut my wheel in an attempt to avoid the car in front of me. To no avail... I was skidding at a high rate of speed directly toward the broadside of the other car. Completely out of control I prepared for impact. When I was within 5 or 6 feet of the car, something grabbed hold and my car turned sharply as I narrowly avoided a high speed crash. The harrowing experience didn't end there however. Because my wheels were turned sharply, I shot across the road into the grass, mud and rocks (which were on a bit of an incline). At this point I felt there was the serious possibility the car was going to flip. Thankfully that didn't happen. Miraculously I was able to steer back onto the road and continue on my way. I tell you ladies and gentlemen, it scared the daylights out of me, but in the end there wasn't a scratch on me or my car.

There is only one explanation for my well being tonight. It is by God's grace that I escaped any harm to myself or my car. I type this post tonight because God chose to protect me. I was not rescued by superior driving skills or even blind luck. I was spared simply because God saw fit to see me through this terrifying ordeal.

To God alone be the glory, honor and praise.

Homecoming

After 4 and a half days of being a bachelor, my girls will be home in a matter of hours. I have missed them so much. I am so eager to have them back home. There were times when I enjoyed the peace and quiet, but there were also times when the house was to quiet and still. It will be wonderful to have the house full of life again.

Kissin' your sister

The Bengals played to a 37-37 tie today. Nothing like investing four hours of viewing time in a sporting event that ends in a tie. It is said a tie in sports is like kissin' your sister. Well, I never kissed my sister, but I can't imagine it would be much fun. Watching a game played to a tie is no fun either.

Same old Bengals!

Bachelor continued...

The bachelor life continues in the Meyer house. It is very quiet... too quiet in fact. I will be so happy when my family gets home.

I did meet Michael for dinner tonight. We had a really nice time and we enjoyed some good conversation. He is really growing up. It's hard to believe he will be 21 in about a week.

Bachelor!

I am living the single life this weekend. Tami and Abby traveled to Martinsville, Virginia yesterday to visit with Tami's relatives on her mother's side. Tami has an uncle who has been battling Parkinson's disease for years and is in very poor health. She wanted to visit with him one more time because it seems he won't be around much longer. My girls will return home sometime Sunday night.

While my family is gone, I have the whole house to myself and I am going to be living the bachelor life. I will be doing some wild and crazy things such as cleaning the house, doing yard work and cleaning out the garage. I may even get a wild hair and pick up a sack of (gasp!) White Castles. Talk about getting nuts!

I've decided that being a bachelor is kind of nice, but only in the extreme short term. I miss my family already and the house was too quiet last night (even for my liking). I will enjoy the opportunity to get some household chores done, but I've learned being alone is going to get old mighty fast.

I'm glad the girls got a chance to take this little trip, but I sure will be happy to see them when they get home.

Grandpa Meyer

October 9th, 1994. It was 20 years ago today my Grandpa Meyer passed away. I was extremely close to him and miss him terribly to this day. Other than my own dad, he was the male I was closest to in my life. He and I were a lot alike too. Our personalities, our demeanor, our mannerisms, the way we view life... all very similar.

I remember when my son, Michael, was born on October 20, 1993. I sobbed when he arrived. Not only because I was happy to be a father, but also because it was so important to my grandpa that I have a boy to carry on the family name. At that point in time grandpa was in poor health and I was so happy to know grandpa could die one day knowing the Meyer name would carry on. As it turns out, Michael was the only boy Meyer born to that generation. My brother and lone male cousin had all girls. Now it's up to Michael to carry on the Meyer name (NO PRESSURE, son!).

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that grandpa adored his great-grandson. He called him "Little Michael".  As I mentioned before, grandpa's health was failing fast and it seemed Little Michael was the only medicine that made him feel any better. Grandpa's face always lit up when I brought Michael for a visit. This is something I truly understand now that I am a grandpa myself. All through Michael's first months of life, grandpa continued his slide into worse and worse health. As Michael's first birthday approached, grandpa told my grandma he didn't care how sick he was, he wouldn't miss Michael's first birthday party. Well, grandpa didn't make it. He missed Michael's first birthday by 11 days. He died on the 9th and Michael turned one on the 20th.

I miss my grandpa today. I see a lot of him in myself and also in Michael. I am thankful for the time I could spend with my grandpa and I am especially thankful he got to know Michael ... even it was only for 354 days.

Here's grandpa in high school:

Farmers Fair Fotos

Sveta has gotten HEAVIER since we first did this two years ago!

Hey Goppa! I can see EVERYTHING from up here!

Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Elliott does not look thrilled.

Ready to DROP!

A Heavenly Treat

It was a special morning. There was a full lunar eclipse visible from 5:30 AM until the time the sun rose and the moon set. The skies were clear and the eclipse was completely visible for nearly two hours. I showed it to Abby when she woke up and we stood for a few moments marveling at God's beautiful creation. We agreed it is difficult to understand how someone could witness a heavenly event like that and have even a shred of doubt about God's existence. I then drove to work watching the celestial performance. In fact, I probably spent more time looking heavenward than I did watching the road. As I pulled into my school parking lot, the eclipse was directly over the silhouette of the church just a short distance away. It looked like the moon was resting on the cross on top of the steeple... it was truly a breathtaking sight! I stepped out of my car and stood in awe for a few moments and grudgingly pulled my eyes back to earth on the task at hand... time to go to work!

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1

And God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.
Genesis 1:14

Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:19-20

This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD Almighty is his name.
Jeremiah 31:35

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained.
Psalm 8:3

Soli'Deo Gloria!

In theory

This graphic is good in theory, but extremely short in practicality (at least where I work). Where I work there would be several gears with missing teeth, many wrenches binding up the works and not much oil keeping things in working order. Instead of three simple gears, I'd characterize my school as a Rube Goldberg machine (google it).

Almost All In the Family

Abby received her acceptance letter to NKU over the weekend. She's been looking very seriously at local colleges and some a little further away. After a college visit a few weeks ago, she decided NKU was the place for her. Michael will be graduating from NKU in December and I think most of you know Tami and I met at NKU. With the exception of our eldest daughter, Jessi, our whole family has gone (or will go) to NKU. Jessi attended prestigious Taylor University and I am so happy she did. It was a good place for her.

Abby is so excited about attending college. She is ready to be done with high school (Like, yesterday!) and ready to begin college life. High school has been difficult (socially, not academically) for her. Michael had the same battle and blossomed in college. I look for the same for Abby.

Abby is excited and her parents are equally as excited for her. She's really growing up.

The nest is getting a little emptier every day. What a strange feeling.

Dating

I always taught my daughters... if a guy doesn't treat you like a queen, dump him. I always taught Michael to respect women and to treat any woman he was with like a queen. If he didn't, he would have to deal with ME. These rules are non-negotiable. I take dating very, very seriously. I think dating should be reserved for helping a person find a mate. Dating is not some hobby for teenagers. It is pointless for kids to "go out" with someone if they are not working toward a serious relationship (i.e. marriage). This is probably not a very popular view, but one I feel strongly about. If boys and girls want to hang out together, I have no problem with that. It should be done in groups. Nothing says a boy and girl need to be out alone. That really only invites trouble. I say to the kids... hang out in groups, have a good time, knock yourselves out. Be silly with one another until your heart's content. But don't dabble in something that could get you into trouble. Many problems ARE avoidable if things are done the right way. The old days were when courting was the proper way to woo someone. I know this is looked upon as old fashioned and antiquated, but sometimes the old ways were better.

One more time!

Tami completed yet another estate sale today. Another satisfied customer.

I'm not sure how many more she'll do before the cold weather hits. I'm fairly certain this will turn out to be a seasonal thing. I don't recall seeing many estate sales in winters past. Maybe she'll get to do a few more this fall. Business is good!

One Toss!

Everything at the fair went as planned last night. The rides, the snacks, the fun. Not really much to report about the rides. Sveta loved them as usual. Elliott was tired and acted like he could take them or leave them. He looked like he was, well... along for the ride :-)

One funny story--- The very first stop of the night was the ring toss. We just happened to pass this booth on the way to the rides. This was not your run-of-the-mill ring toss game. The bottles were spaced far apart and the game was not set up for winning. The only prizes available were huge (that should tell you how difficult this game was). It was your typical carnival rip-off game. However, Sveta wanted to play and that's EXACTLY what we did. There was a bucket of rings available (probably about 30) for $5. That's what we purchased... a five dollar bucket of "not a snowball's chance of winning". Sveta weakly tossed the first two rings and they didn't even reach the bottles. They tumbled harmlessly to the ground. Being a good Goppa, I decided to show her how to play this game. I grabbed a ring, explained how I was going to gently toss the ring high enough for it to land in the widely scattered array of bottles. Guess what happened? I pitched the ring in a looping arc and it landed smack dab on the neck of one of the bottles. I'm telling you it didn't rattle or bounce around. It looked like it landed in glue. I couldn't believe it! One toss and WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER! We weren't at the fair for two minutes and I was the hero for the night (it also didn't hurt that I had a pocketful of quarters and ride tickets). Sveta chose a gigantic horse as her prize which all the adults got to take turns lugging around for the whole evening. But ask me if it was worth it... oh yeah, no doubt about it. Just building memories. That's all.

FAIR!

I am so excited I can hardly concentrate at work. Tonight we take the grandkids to the Aurora Farmers Fair. This may not sound like a big deal to you, but watching your grandchildren ride rides or actually riding rides with them is a real thrill. There's nothing quite like the pure joy the kids experience as they twist, turn, spin or drop in dizzying delight. Sveta and I have made a tradition of riding the ferris wheel together. I honestly don't know who enjoys it more. I'm pretty sure it's me... I could watch her next to me on the ferris wheel for hours. I love when she squeals as the car goes zipping over the top. We're not quite sure what to expect for Elliott's first trip to the fair. His reaction to riding the kiddy rides could range anywhere from pure heaven to sheer terror. I predict it will be somewhere in the middle. Maybe something resembling indifference or a cautious curiosity. If we could read his mind this evening he would probably be thinking, "Why in the world did you put me in this little car and why is it going slowly in a circle?". Or he may possibly be thinking, "When can I get a snack? I distinctly remember Grandma and Goppa mentioning something about snacks". That's another fun thing about the fair. Grandma and Goppa get to fill the kids full of junk (elephant ears, son-cones, funnel cakes etc...) and then send them home to their parents. What could be any better? I'm sure we'll also give Sveta her yearly lesson on gambling as we play the mouse game. We will plunk quarters on a colored board as we try to predict which hole the mouse will run down. I'm sure you remember last year's story. Sveta became increasingly agitated as we watched the carny sweep quarter after quarter into his apron as we continued to guess the wrong color. Sveta (in exasperation) proclaimed, "I HATE THIS GAME!" Later after a few more tries we finally guessed correctly and won a prize. Sveta's response was, "I LOVE THIS GAME!". Lots of fun is close at hand.

I. CANNOT. WAIT!

Pick 'em up truck

Michael bought a new pick 'em up truck today. His beat up Ford Taurus just wasn't going to make it through another winter without heat. He bought the truck from a friend and it was too good a deal to pass up. The truck is a 2000 Ford Ranger XLT with moderate mileage. It's in good condition and has working heat and AC (something he hasn't had in a long while). And by the way... it's a manual transmission. This means all three of my children drive stick shifts and embarrassingly, I still don't. I plan on rectifying that situation in the near future though. Maybe all my kids have stick shifts because they know their old man can't borrow their cars :-)

Here is what the truck looks like. This isn't the actual truck, but Michael's is similar to those shown below.

Happy Birthday?

As the calendar turns to October, it brings to mind one thing. Exactly three years ago today I started this trivial little blog. I don't know whether to say Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary to Silence Runs Deep. Either way, I've been posting (ALMOST) every day to this little corner of the blogosphere and a fair number of people have been reading this stuff. At last count this blog was averaging 7,300 page views per year. That's a little over 600 page views per month and 20 per day. I have no idea who is reading these postings that could only be described as swill, but it's obvious that SOMEBODY is checking out this blog each day. Whoever you are... Thank you so much for logging on and checking in. I am truly flattered that anybody finds anything interesting about what I have to say. I really enjoy this little outlet for my thoughts and feelings. I wouldn't do it if I didn't. But above all else, I want God to be honored and glorified through my writing. It is my prayer that is exactly what happens here almost every day.

Thank you again for sticking with me through three years of "Silence Runs Deep".