I'm no fool!

I'm no fool, no siree! I'm gonna live to be a hundred and three... so sings Jiminy Cricket. Today is April Fool's Day, but I will not be participating in any "foolishness" or pranks. I despise this day for a multitude of reasons. Many people call it April Fool's Day. I call it April 1st (or as I prefer to look at it... one day closer to spring break).

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