Bon Voyage'

This will probably be my last post before vacation. For those interested, Tami and I will leave tomorrow morning for Charleston, South Carolina and our ship leaves port on Sunday afternoon. We cruise all week and return to port Friday morning. We will drive back to Lawrenceburg on Friday and get home very late Friday night.

Abby will be staying with her big sister for the weekend. She will be staying with a friend close to home for the weekdays because she has school.

Bon voyage', everyone!

P.S.

I hope you all don't get withdrawal symptoms from being without my blog for a week. I will post again next Saturday.

It's a trade off

Monday is Opening Day in Cincinnati. For the first time in my life, I will be missing the Opening Day game of my beloved Cincinnati Reds. You all know of my deep love of baseball and it takes a lot to tear me away from the local quasi-holiday known as Opening Day. What's keeping me from it? My spring break cruise of course. I am not complaining mind you. Given the choice between Opening Day with the Reds or a cruise with my wife, I'll choose my wife every time. I'm not saying I won't try to find a sports pub on board to sneak a peek at the score, but I won't be glued to the TV if I find a broadcast of the game.

The Reds play 162 games in a season. Luxury cruises don't come along very often. The decision was a no brainer. Go Reds! I will be rooting for you from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the good ones!

The last day at school before spring break is a difficult one. I'm sure that's no surprise to anyone. However difficult it may be, it's tolerable because spring break is getting closer by the minute.

The grandkids are coming over tonight as well. Their parents are going out for a much needed quiet dinner and we are watching the kids. Any day that involves my grandchildren is a good day. Tami spent the morning child-proofing the house because Elliott learned to crawl this week. His newfound mobility makes his visits much more labor intensive. I predict a tired Goppa and Grandma tonight. I also predict an early bedtime. I have a date with my recliner and I intend to keep it.

This is one of those good days.

One to go

It has been a TOUGH week. The last week before spring break always is. The students sense a weeklong break is close at hand and they also know the teachers are not-so-patiently awaiting the vacation ahead. But... just like a sharks, the students taste blood and are getting whipped into a feeding frenzy with only one day to go. Also like sharks in a feeding frenzy, the students are not easily contained. The best a teacher can do in times like these is to work hard to keep a lid on things and come back after the break refreshed and ready to hit the books again. I will do my best to get some teaching done tomorrow, but the day will most likely feature a battle of wills. My will is to teach, the students' will is to resist everything I throw at them. Guess who's gonna win? I'll give you a hint... don't bet on a bunch of 12 year olds.

It's that time!

You have heard me mention the OAA before. The Ohio Achievement Assessment is the standardized test given to all elementary students in Ohio. I have bemoaned this test ad nauseam on this blog. My life at school over the next 5 weeks will be all about preparing for that two hour test. I mean every lesson and activity will be dedicated to test preparation (Including many rounds of practice tests). Sound boring? It is (for the students AND me). I think the picture below sums this up quite well. It's meant to be humorous, but it's humorous only because it's true.

And it continues...

The calendar says spring, but the weather outside says winter.

With .8 (that's eight tenths of an inch) of snow today, the winter of 2013-14 is now officially the 3rd snowiest on record. With another half inch this winter it would be the second snowiest, but I hope we don't make it. This most recent snow also gives us 40 days of measurable snowfall. Measurable snowfall is .1 inches or more. 40 days sets a new overall record for Greater Cincinnati (the previous record was 39 days). This is not a record I was happy to witness, but alas we have been forced to endure it.

The Magic of Coffee

All is right with the world today. After being deprived of our life-giving coffee on a cruel Monday, my teaching partner bought a new coffee maker and brought it to school today. It was quite the event as we watched in eager anticipation as the first pot brewed this morning. Even some non coffee drinkers popped into my classroom to see what all the excitement was about. The new coffee maker created quite the buzz (no pun intended). We all laughed at how pathetic we must be if we get whipped into a frenzy over a $20 coffee maker. We also agreed it doesn't take much to make us happy. A hot cup of java makes all the difference in the world. It was a good day :-)

A rough start

This is the last week of school before spring break. That in itself is a challenge. Mondays are always difficult. The Monday before spring break is extremely tough. With all that being said, I walked into my classroom this morning and found that my coffee maker went on the blink. Dealing with this day was going to be hard enough. But doing it without coffee? That's just plain wrong. Then to add insult to injury, the bulb on my Smartboard exploded this morning (literally exploded--- there was smoke and everything). That may not sound like a big deal, but I use the smartboard for every aspect of my teaching. Now I'm really working behind the eight ball. Today I am a caffeine deprived teacher without my most utilized tool. I should have stayed in bed.

The Rusty Trap

When I was younger my mind was like a steel trap. I remembered everything... and I do mean everything! I never wrote anything down. Never missed an appointment and was never late to anything. Not to brag, but my mind was really sharp. In the last few years I've noticed a slight slip in the sharpness of my mind. I'm not exactly forgetful, but I do forget a lot more things than I used to. I'm not really concerned about this and I attribute this slip to the aging process and nothing more. I guess that steel trap is getting a little bit rusty.

Getting Older

My father-in-law sent this to me today. I don't claim it as my own work, but it is funny and quite true. I'm getting older, but I'm not a senior citizen yet. Even at the young age of 47, technology has long since passed me by. I can only imagine what it's like for this old guy...

Subject: Why at 78 yrs., I don't belong on face book

Should I Really Join Facebook? (Priceless)

Read it all the way through! It's a good laugh! AND really quite true!!

A good laugh for people in the over 70 group!!!

When I bought my Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1,800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, my 13 grand kids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship...

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions, checking bathrooms, and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look. I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do toot a lot."

P.S. I know some of you are not over 70. I sent it to you to allow you to forward it to those who are.

......Not me I figured your sense of humor could handle it....

We senior citizens don't need anymore gadgets. The TV remote and the garage door remote are about all we can handle.