Goodbye, March

As March draws to a close, I thought it would only be appropriate to show the progress on the construction of the new school. It has only been a week, but oh what a week it has been. We lost 80% of our playground to the construction site, and we've already had to make adjustments to our way of life at school. In the end it will be worth it, but this is going to be a long process.

I missed it

Exactly as predicted... I missed every moment of Opening Day from beginning to end. After conferences I got in my car and turned on my car. I knew the game was over, but I was hoping to catch a few minutes of the post game wrap up. I turned on 700 WLW and heard the announcer say, "Good night from Great American Ballpark, everybody!". Well dang! I didn't even get to hear the highlights! Even the parents coming in for conferences told us what tough break it was that we had to work during Opening Day. On a brighter note, the Reds won. Their record is above .500 for the first time since May of 2017.

These folks didn't have to work on Opening Day!

Getting old

The passage of time and getting old is the craziest phenomenon known to mankind. The aging process is so slow you never really notice it's happening. Yet time passes so quickly you always wonder where the time went. How can something be so slow and so fast at the same time? That's why growing old is the weirdest thing in the world...

It's Opening Day, but...

Today is Opening Day for Cincinnati Reds baseball. Basically it's an unofficial holiday in the tristate area. Normally I would be pumped beyond belief. After suffering through a long, grueling winter, warmer temperatures and baseball are finally here. Sadly, I have zero enthusiasm today. Why you may ask? Mick, you love baseball, right? Yep! Mick, you love warm weather, right? Yep! (It's going to be 67 degrees and sunny today) Mick, the Reds have a new coaching staff and lots of new, exciting players, right? Yep! Then why no enthusiasm for Opening Day? Because I have parent/teacher conferences this afternoon/evening and I won't get to watch or listen to one stinking pitch of the game. Great American Ballpark will be empty and locked up by the time I leave school tonight. Compounding the problem is this is the last Opening Day for Marty Brennaman. Marty has been calling Reds games on the radio since 1974. Putting it a different way, I have never heard a Reds radio broadcast when Marty wasn't calling the game. He's an institution in Cincinnati.

Saying I am depressed and kind of bitter today would be an understatement. I know it's really not that big of a deal, and I'm whining and feeling sorry for myself today. But usually it's the small things (Like Reds Opening Day) that help me through this long, difficult stretch between my last day off (it was in February) and Spring Break (Late April). I will survive, but missing Opening Day is a tough pill to swallow.

Anyway, there are 161 other games this year, and I will listen to my share of them. It just won't be today.

Go Reds!

Finally!

Finally! A parking space designated just for ME!

And so it begins...

A year and a half ago the citizens of my school district passed a tax levy to fund the construction of a new K-12 building. After many delays and seemingly endless "back to square one" moments, construction FINALLY began today. Coincidentally we also began our big state testing today. And guess what happened? The construction workers cut our internet cable as they were digging. Our state tests are all online, and if we don't have internet, we can't administer the state tests. Talk about a weird confluence of events!

And so it begins...

Punctuation!

A little bit of punctuation would go a LONG way!

Signs of Spring

There are lots of signs of spring. Flowers popping out of the ground, grass turning green, the Reds preparing for Opening Day, leaves on the trees etc... Those are all fine and dandy, but the photo below shows the REAL indication that spring is in full swing. Say hello to the line at the Dairy Queen!

Crazy Glue

Hard Workers

I've always said mothers are the hardest working, most under appreciated people on the planet. The pay is pathetic, and the hours are atrocious. Yet mothers willingly give everything they have for their children. Here's a salute to mothers everywhere!

Conferences

No post today. Parent/Teacher conferences until late this evening.

See you tomorrow!

Welcome Spring!

Spring arrives today at 5:58 P.M. However, Old Man Winter is not going away without a fight. Temperatures are cold at night and cool during the day. One day next week there is a chance of flurries. I still can't rule out the possibility of more accumulating snow (It snowed quite a bit last April).

But the fact remains... Spring is here. Welcoming spring always brings to mind the Andy Griffith episode where Barney joins the choir. Remember hearing Barney squaller these words?

Welcome sweet Springtime!
We grant thee in song,
Murmurs of gladness fall on the ear
Voices long hush'd now their full notes prolong,
Echoing far and near.

Welcome sweet springtime indeed! It has been a long, grueling winter and I am ready for new life to spring forth!

Everything Hurts

Yep! Everything hurts!

Genius

If this is true I'm a genius!

I need coffee

I need coffee!

Democrats

These are not your father's democrats. They want socialism, they want no rule of law, they want you to think like them or be eradicated. Folks, I present to you the new, radical left wing!

A dark place

If you happen to think of it, please pray for me at work. I am back to being very discouraged and find myself in a very dark place. I have always gone through peaks and valleys at school, but I've never been in this despairing pit of emotion before. I find I am having very little effect on my students and feel like my teaching efforts are completely in vain. It seems that everything I am charged with teaching, my students are dead set against learning. I face extremely strong resistance every moment of every day at work. To say I am banging my head against the wall is an insult to walls everywhere. To say I am spinning my wheels is an insult to wheels everywhere. After 29 years of teaching, I must legitimately ask myself... "What in the WORLD are you doing?" I'm certainly not making any type of difference. Please don't tell me I'm in a rut. I've been in ruts before. This is much worse than that.

Over and over again

Good point!

And it's for that same reason I don't make my bed. Why make the bed if you're just going to mess it up again tonight?

Talking to my wife

So true, so true!

Wife: Remember that time you were wrong back in 1992?

Me: Uh..... no.

Wife: Well, I do!

Funny Noise

When your wife tells you the car is making a funny noise...

Sleep

Sadly this is more true than I'd like it to be...

Calm Down!

Remember when Adam told Eve to calm down? I'm guessing that didn't work out too well for ol' Adam.

Early in our marriage I once told Tami to calm down. Emphasis on the word ONCE. I learned very quickly that telling my wife to calm down had quite the opposite effect. Much to my surprise she did not calm down. Hmmmmm I thought... that's strange. I told her to calm down and she didn't calm down.

Trudging onward!

We got some accumulating snow today, but it wasn't enough for a school closing or delay. I had my hopes up for a shortened day on Friday, but it was not meant to be. I'm guessing my school would have the teachers ski in to work if we had to! Oh well... at least I don't have to shovel my driveway!

Look out!

When I was a child, my parents taught me to look both ways before crossing the street. It didn't take long for me to heed those words of advice. I realized there was no way I wanted to get hit by a car. Looking both ways before crossing the street seems like common sense, right? Then I will ask this one simple question... WHY IN THE WORLD ARE SO MANY ADULTS GETTING HIT BY CARS LATELY??????? The answer is as simple as the question. Cell phones. People are so wrapped up and have their noses buried in their cell phones. Here's a thought. Put down the phone and watch where in the heck you're going! Even a 5 year old can cross the street safely! However, let's not only blame the pedestrians. We have roads full of distracted drivers too. If nobody is looking where they are driving, and nobody is watching where they walk... Lots of accidents are bound to happen.

HRC

Hillary stated on Monday that she is not running for President again. At the time I was kind of sad. It would have been fun to watch Trump wipe the floor with her again. Then last night she walked back her comments and said she is not closing the door on running just yet. She wants to wait until he Mueller report comes out first. Sheesh! Why doesn't she just go away?

To serve you best

Stuff like this drives me crazy! This is an advertisement from a local deli. Do you notice anything wrong with the wording? In order to best serve you best? Are you kidding me?

Prayers

Your prayers would be appreciated today. Mondays are the most difficult day of the school week for me. Not for the usual reasons... everybody hates Mondays, right? My Mondays are difficult for reasons related specifically to my school and especially my homeroom class in particular. The only break I get on Mondays is a 25 minute lunch. This makes restroom breaks nearly nonexistent. The problem is compounded today by being forced to stay inside for recess due to the cold weather. Please remember me today if you would be so inclined.

Sincerely,
A discouraged and worn out teacher

SMONDAY

This is me every Sunday night...

Dumb Criminal

Criminals are dumb. This guy is laundering his money.

Here we go again

Here we go again... Snow moves in overnight, and cold temperatures will be with us most of the week. YUCK!

Discouraged

There is a scene at the beginning of "It's a Wonderful Life" when Clarence the angel is getting information about George Bailey. He asks the head angel, "What's wrong with him? Is he sick?" The head angel replies, "No. Worse. He's discouraged".

That describes me today. I am totally, thoroughly, and completely discouraged with my profession. It makes me sad to see the state of schools today. It all seems so hopeless.

Like a Lion!

You know the saying... March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb. That is definitely true this year. Temperatures are steadily dropping into next week where we will have subzero wind chills. Sunday we could get as much as 4 inches of snow. Like a lion indeed!