I turned thirty. Wow. I dreaded this birthday and milked every bit of 29 and since turning thirty in January I have had my phone stolen (and with it all of my personal information, private family photos and classroom projects just to name a few things) had the flu, several tooth problems, sinus infection, and a strange neck/nerve disorder. Getting older sucks!
I will say that after a long and crazy school year last year, I am very excited to be teaching in gifted education. It has been a challenge balancing the curriculum and challenging and entertaining a variety of personalities and skills. It's a common misconception that gifted students or higher level thinkers are an easy group of well behaved children. They are mentally challenging and very egocentric when it comes to boundaries. However, they are amazing thinkers and possess such creative thoughts that the mental challenge is incredibly stimulating. I still have a few students that come from homes with little to no family support systems and one or two with anger issues and internal frustrations/low self esteem and self worth. These students need the challenge and mental stimulation even more so to help them gain the tools needed to overcome their environment and succeed. I hope whatever I can offer them stays with them and they continue to build on it. I am always surprised at the amazing conversations and discussions we have as a class. I'm so proud to help them grow and encourage free thought on a local and global level. They are all so diverse and amazing.
In other news-I do have great things to look forward to this year. I am looking forward to an upcoming trip with Faith to Colorado in March. It will be so good to see her and spend some quality time! It's so hard being far away! Thankfully we live an age where smartphones and webcams help. Also planning a vacation over the winter holidays with Curt and Carla.
Jeff and I went to Lowell observatory in Flagstaff this weekend and had an amazing time. Flagstaff is beautiful and if we could get jobs there and afford housing I'd love to live there. We learned about the discovery of Pluto and were able to view the research, slides and telescope used in the discovery. So interesting! Then we were able to view Jupiter, the moon and several star clusters and Orion's Belt through a variety of telescopes. Learning about the construction of the DCT was also incredibly fascinating. Can't wait to go back.
That's about it...thus far anyway.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Feb-2011 old blog somehow reposted: San Fran-the blog of my awful vacation luck and the good times withfriends
I did not proofread this so typos will follow. See the pics of my trip on Facebook. Some pretty good pictures. I got a few great ones in Alcatraz and of the bridge. Some other random stuff too from our trip. Looking at them makes me appreciate the trip more than I did while I was there, as you will read. It seems I had fun in the midst of bad luck and illness. :) Note: I use sarcasm heavily, I didn't really have the worst time ever, but for a vacation it was pretty awful.
So it started-my much awaited San Francisco vacation. We said good bye to the dog and my dad drove us to the airport.
So started the trouble.
Half way to the airport I realized I forgot my coat. Too late to turn around so onward and upward. At the airport we experienced flight delays due to the extreme fog and rain in SF. Had I known I could have turned around and retrieved my coat. The coat I would be missing dearly during our cold and wet stay. After four hours at the LV airport, we were finally off into the sky! Couldn't wait to see our friends from back home; we were meeting them there.
We arrived, retrieved our luggage and met up with our friends.
Did I mention I was diagnosed with swine flu at this time? Well I was. Sick, chest burning, wheezing, coughing, feverish and miserable. Thats OK, cause I was too excited to care! Oh wait, Carla was also diagnosed with swine flu in Ohio prior to our trip. Hm, this should get interesting. The boys were in good health. Yay for them.
Anyway, we took a 40$ cab ride to our hotel where we checked in and then set off to see the city sights and get some food. Well, when your grandparents say they walked up hill both ways to school in the snow you may want to ask them if they went to school in San Francisco. Chances are they did.
We walked up hill, steep steep hills, both ways to see the sights. With a burning chest this isn't exactly 'fun.' However, when we caught some great glimpses of the GG bridge and Alcatraz Island, it did bring that awesome vacation feeling to me. We stopped by a pastry shop to have dessert and coffee BEFORE dinner. :) Then had an amazing dinner at The Stinking Rose garlic restaurant. I LOVE GARLIC. It was great. We had garlic hummus, garlic fondue and then garlic portobello mushroom caps with garlic mashed potatoes. YUM.
Back at the room, I took my meds (as did Carla) and off to snoozeville I went. Sort of. Coughing ensued and sleep became semi-problematic. The next night I fixed this with heavier drug dosages.
Day 2: We woke up early and headed out on our long walk to shopping for groceries at Trader Joes. I also LOVE Trader Joes. After getting some food for our afternoon at the zoo and whale watching trip later this weekend we headed out on our bus ride to the SF zoo. We stopped at the Pacific Ocean to take some photos. Then we headed to the entrance. We bought our tickets and ponchos, for the steady yet light rain, and into the zoo we went. Giraffes were first, because they are the most awesome animal on the planet. After being thoroughly excited to see there was a program where you could feed the giraffes later that day, we went on to other exhibits. Most animals were in hiding. We saw a skinny dirty polar bear and some other misc. animals here and there. It was sad. What was more sad is that after an hour of being there a security employee told us they were asking everyone to leave and closing due to the rain. The rain that was no better or worse than it was when they took our money and let us in. No giraffe feeding, no refunds either. Although I did get to brush the goats and see some random farm animals. Yay. Carla did hump a sheep. That was exciting.
Well, Golden Gate bridge-here we come! The rain continued lightly, but still very steady. We took a bus to the GG bridge and my illness seemed to be getting worse. It became hard to breathe, but I stammered through it. The bridge would have been more exciting if it was not raining, but it was very neat to see and get photos of. We decided to walk across the bridge. Well as soon as we were safe and sound on the bridge a freak weather turn took us by surprise. Wind 50 mph+, hail and heavy rain pounded us as we trekked across the bridge. Wind so severe that it literally ripped Curt's poncho from his body as he walked. I was bitchy and miserable. It was loud from the rain, hail, wind and bridge traffic. The officer patrolling the bridge for jumpers stopped to pick us up, he felt bad for us, which was good since I was considering jumping at this time. As we piled into the back of his little car, thankful for him taking pity on us, we discovered he was a Brown's fan. We were all wearing some form of Steelers gear this day, so we were even more thankful he decided to pick us up. He was the best Brown's fan on the planet. He even congratulated us on our season.
As we were waiting for our next bus, to PF Changs for dinner, we stood for about 35 minutes in the cold rain. Skip forward past the rude bus driver-PF Chang's. YUM. Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps-unbelievable.
After dinner, we were given directions to the closest bus stop back into the city and to our hotel. we headed down the woodsy deserted trail that we nick named "rape alley" in hope of this bus stop we were told about. Seriously, the path looked like a crime scene from Law and Order SVU. After about 1.5 hours of walking, multiple bus stops and waiting in the cold rain, we finally found our way back to the city.
Drugs and sleep.
Day 3:
Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz day. I think we started this day with Coit Tower.
We walked to Ghiradelli and I thoroughly enjoyed some espresso in my hot cocoa while we stayed warm and dry inside. Jeff and Carla planned our path on the map and off we went. We checked out shops and piers. Typical tourist stuff. Had lunch at the wonderful rainforest cafe and tried to dry my knee high soaked pants. When the bill came I looked for my credit card. Of course I had lost it on our awful city trek the previous day. Later I found out that the waitress never returned it to me at PF Chang's. I had to sit on hold and answer 100 questions with the company. UGH!
Alcatraz Island was amazing. The history, the sights and the stories. The tour was great. Nothing bad to say about the tour.
Last full day: Up early for my much awaited whale watching tour. I had done a unit on whales with my 2nd graders and became quite knowledgeable about whales and whale behaviors and therefore super nerd like excited about this part of the trip. I was determined that this trip would turn around all of the bad luck we had been having. From delayed flights, getting lost, wet, swineflu, kicked out of the zoo, etc. This was the day I was going to see some of the most amazing animals and largest living creatures on the planet. Our tour guide looked like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo and I instantly wanted to be his friend. He was a whale nerd and I loved him for it. Off into the Pacific we went. We saw a harbour porpoise (one) and some orange jellyfish and continued our journey further out in search of whales. We circled slowly around the Farrallon Islands. No whales. We stopped and picked up some scientists that had been staying on the island studying birds. No whales. We were 45 miles out into the wavy ocean. My husband, Jeff, was puking over the side of the boat. Carla was ill and sleeping. Curt was absolutely fine and positive. I was gettin very upset, with slight nausea, about not seeing a whale yet. As we headed back toward the bay and I realized I would not see a whale, I was angry. Angry at Shaggy, angry at the scientists and secretly bitter with Curt who was still happy-go-lucky and drinking a beer. lol. Jeff slept and tried to refrain from puking again. I am now a firm believer that whales are mythical beings from fairy tales. OK not really, but damn was I upset.
Upon our arrival, Jeff took a bus back to the hotel alone, because he was still rocking and ill from the trip. Carla, Curt and I, walked the wharf some more and saw some sea lions, local crab catchers, and some break dancers in the street that thought they were the coolest thing since sliced bread. A few names of these dancers were Sexual Soy Sauce and Black Licorice. A child from the audience showed them up by interrupting their routine and running out and break dancing in the middle of the show. Haha for them. Good job kid. They were good, but egotistical. We took our picture with their ring leader and fed his ego more. I had to convince Carla not run off with him and ruin her marriage. Alright, that last part isn't exactly true. We went to the aquarium and were able to pet some sting rays, starfish and sea cucumbers. The aquairum was neat. I also saw a shark get pissed off and spray water from his mouth at probing children. I was still very upset about no whales. I did see some at the gift shop though. Plush whales.
As we were headed to the airport the next day the cab driver informed us that it rained a lot in SF. I replied with, "yeah, no f'ing kidding." Jeff hit me, gently. I was scolded for being rude. I explained his job was to drive, not to state the obvious. I didn't say this to the driver, I said it to Jeff. I later felt slightly bad for being a jerk. I had a slight chip on my ill shoulder. I thought that we were finally leaving this city of freak monsoons on bridges, and awful luck. Well we weren't gone yet. At the airport I noticed the security woman giving me a rude cold blatant stare down as we stood in line. I pointed it out to Jeff thinking I was surely mistaken. Jeff agreed that she was very rudely staring at me. We used the term, 'eye-fucking' which isn't exactly appropriate-sorry. She continued to give me the stare down. I thought, oh well I'm outta here soon. When we reached the metal detector she not so nicely asked me to step into the clear plastic holding cell behind her. She abruptly turned her back to me and did not answer when I asked her what I should do and why I was in there. She waited for ten minutes while I stood in the cell in the middle of security. I yelled over the plastic to Jeff, "See what I tell you?" The woman finally called to another woman and the other one opened the door and asked the rude security guard what she needed. She told her to give me the full body. As the new officer escorted me out of the cell to a mat, still in the middle of security, she asked me if I set off the sensor. I said no so she then told me it was strange that I was detained. I said the security woman had an attitude problem. The officer laughed. She then proceeded to feel me up, down and all around in front of the security line traffic. Apparently, I look like a terrorist.
Home at last! I get home and greet my adoring and most missed dog. I then open my suitcase to give my dad some salt water taffy as a thank you for watching my daughter dog. Silly me, I thought the horror was over. I was wrong. They searched my luggage in SF and didn't put things back correctly. My shampoo, conditioner and make-up products were now all over my entire suitcase of clothing. Smeared on everything.
I hate the city. I am sticking to the good San-San Diego.
That is my trip. It was great seeing Curt and Carla and without them there it would have been much worse. Thinking back on it, it still isn't a funny story. Alright, it is semi-amusing now that it is over and it was nice to get away with friends. I am still upset about the money spent on the trip from hell. Next time we will spend the money on the good San.
It has been good to be back. I was glad to see my class again and be back at work. I must add that I am very proud of my class and how well they scored on their ATI tests. I hold my students to a high behavior and working standard. They did well and I am proud of their hard work. :) I am also glad to be on Spring Break right now! Lots of gym time this week with Amanda and relaxing. Also going into the school to get some work done there and finish the report cards. Now to bed-Amanda will be waking me up at an early time to go to pilates. My abs hurt already! OUCH! :)
So it started-my much awaited San Francisco vacation. We said good bye to the dog and my dad drove us to the airport.
So started the trouble.
Half way to the airport I realized I forgot my coat. Too late to turn around so onward and upward. At the airport we experienced flight delays due to the extreme fog and rain in SF. Had I known I could have turned around and retrieved my coat. The coat I would be missing dearly during our cold and wet stay. After four hours at the LV airport, we were finally off into the sky! Couldn't wait to see our friends from back home; we were meeting them there.
We arrived, retrieved our luggage and met up with our friends.
Did I mention I was diagnosed with swine flu at this time? Well I was. Sick, chest burning, wheezing, coughing, feverish and miserable. Thats OK, cause I was too excited to care! Oh wait, Carla was also diagnosed with swine flu in Ohio prior to our trip. Hm, this should get interesting. The boys were in good health. Yay for them.
Anyway, we took a 40$ cab ride to our hotel where we checked in and then set off to see the city sights and get some food. Well, when your grandparents say they walked up hill both ways to school in the snow you may want to ask them if they went to school in San Francisco. Chances are they did.
We walked up hill, steep steep hills, both ways to see the sights. With a burning chest this isn't exactly 'fun.' However, when we caught some great glimpses of the GG bridge and Alcatraz Island, it did bring that awesome vacation feeling to me. We stopped by a pastry shop to have dessert and coffee BEFORE dinner. :) Then had an amazing dinner at The Stinking Rose garlic restaurant. I LOVE GARLIC. It was great. We had garlic hummus, garlic fondue and then garlic portobello mushroom caps with garlic mashed potatoes. YUM.
Back at the room, I took my meds (as did Carla) and off to snoozeville I went. Sort of. Coughing ensued and sleep became semi-problematic. The next night I fixed this with heavier drug dosages.
Day 2: We woke up early and headed out on our long walk to shopping for groceries at Trader Joes. I also LOVE Trader Joes. After getting some food for our afternoon at the zoo and whale watching trip later this weekend we headed out on our bus ride to the SF zoo. We stopped at the Pacific Ocean to take some photos. Then we headed to the entrance. We bought our tickets and ponchos, for the steady yet light rain, and into the zoo we went. Giraffes were first, because they are the most awesome animal on the planet. After being thoroughly excited to see there was a program where you could feed the giraffes later that day, we went on to other exhibits. Most animals were in hiding. We saw a skinny dirty polar bear and some other misc. animals here and there. It was sad. What was more sad is that after an hour of being there a security employee told us they were asking everyone to leave and closing due to the rain. The rain that was no better or worse than it was when they took our money and let us in. No giraffe feeding, no refunds either. Although I did get to brush the goats and see some random farm animals. Yay. Carla did hump a sheep. That was exciting.
Well, Golden Gate bridge-here we come! The rain continued lightly, but still very steady. We took a bus to the GG bridge and my illness seemed to be getting worse. It became hard to breathe, but I stammered through it. The bridge would have been more exciting if it was not raining, but it was very neat to see and get photos of. We decided to walk across the bridge. Well as soon as we were safe and sound on the bridge a freak weather turn took us by surprise. Wind 50 mph+, hail and heavy rain pounded us as we trekked across the bridge. Wind so severe that it literally ripped Curt's poncho from his body as he walked. I was bitchy and miserable. It was loud from the rain, hail, wind and bridge traffic. The officer patrolling the bridge for jumpers stopped to pick us up, he felt bad for us, which was good since I was considering jumping at this time. As we piled into the back of his little car, thankful for him taking pity on us, we discovered he was a Brown's fan. We were all wearing some form of Steelers gear this day, so we were even more thankful he decided to pick us up. He was the best Brown's fan on the planet. He even congratulated us on our season.
As we were waiting for our next bus, to PF Changs for dinner, we stood for about 35 minutes in the cold rain. Skip forward past the rude bus driver-PF Chang's. YUM. Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps-unbelievable.
After dinner, we were given directions to the closest bus stop back into the city and to our hotel. we headed down the woodsy deserted trail that we nick named "rape alley" in hope of this bus stop we were told about. Seriously, the path looked like a crime scene from Law and Order SVU. After about 1.5 hours of walking, multiple bus stops and waiting in the cold rain, we finally found our way back to the city.
Drugs and sleep.
Day 3:
Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz day. I think we started this day with Coit Tower.
We walked to Ghiradelli and I thoroughly enjoyed some espresso in my hot cocoa while we stayed warm and dry inside. Jeff and Carla planned our path on the map and off we went. We checked out shops and piers. Typical tourist stuff. Had lunch at the wonderful rainforest cafe and tried to dry my knee high soaked pants. When the bill came I looked for my credit card. Of course I had lost it on our awful city trek the previous day. Later I found out that the waitress never returned it to me at PF Chang's. I had to sit on hold and answer 100 questions with the company. UGH!
Alcatraz Island was amazing. The history, the sights and the stories. The tour was great. Nothing bad to say about the tour.
Last full day: Up early for my much awaited whale watching tour. I had done a unit on whales with my 2nd graders and became quite knowledgeable about whales and whale behaviors and therefore super nerd like excited about this part of the trip. I was determined that this trip would turn around all of the bad luck we had been having. From delayed flights, getting lost, wet, swineflu, kicked out of the zoo, etc. This was the day I was going to see some of the most amazing animals and largest living creatures on the planet. Our tour guide looked like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo and I instantly wanted to be his friend. He was a whale nerd and I loved him for it. Off into the Pacific we went. We saw a harbour porpoise (one) and some orange jellyfish and continued our journey further out in search of whales. We circled slowly around the Farrallon Islands. No whales. We stopped and picked up some scientists that had been staying on the island studying birds. No whales. We were 45 miles out into the wavy ocean. My husband, Jeff, was puking over the side of the boat. Carla was ill and sleeping. Curt was absolutely fine and positive. I was gettin very upset, with slight nausea, about not seeing a whale yet. As we headed back toward the bay and I realized I would not see a whale, I was angry. Angry at Shaggy, angry at the scientists and secretly bitter with Curt who was still happy-go-lucky and drinking a beer. lol. Jeff slept and tried to refrain from puking again. I am now a firm believer that whales are mythical beings from fairy tales. OK not really, but damn was I upset.
Upon our arrival, Jeff took a bus back to the hotel alone, because he was still rocking and ill from the trip. Carla, Curt and I, walked the wharf some more and saw some sea lions, local crab catchers, and some break dancers in the street that thought they were the coolest thing since sliced bread. A few names of these dancers were Sexual Soy Sauce and Black Licorice. A child from the audience showed them up by interrupting their routine and running out and break dancing in the middle of the show. Haha for them. Good job kid. They were good, but egotistical. We took our picture with their ring leader and fed his ego more. I had to convince Carla not run off with him and ruin her marriage. Alright, that last part isn't exactly true. We went to the aquarium and were able to pet some sting rays, starfish and sea cucumbers. The aquairum was neat. I also saw a shark get pissed off and spray water from his mouth at probing children. I was still very upset about no whales. I did see some at the gift shop though. Plush whales.
As we were headed to the airport the next day the cab driver informed us that it rained a lot in SF. I replied with, "yeah, no f'ing kidding." Jeff hit me, gently. I was scolded for being rude. I explained his job was to drive, not to state the obvious. I didn't say this to the driver, I said it to Jeff. I later felt slightly bad for being a jerk. I had a slight chip on my ill shoulder. I thought that we were finally leaving this city of freak monsoons on bridges, and awful luck. Well we weren't gone yet. At the airport I noticed the security woman giving me a rude cold blatant stare down as we stood in line. I pointed it out to Jeff thinking I was surely mistaken. Jeff agreed that she was very rudely staring at me. We used the term, 'eye-fucking' which isn't exactly appropriate-sorry. She continued to give me the stare down. I thought, oh well I'm outta here soon. When we reached the metal detector she not so nicely asked me to step into the clear plastic holding cell behind her. She abruptly turned her back to me and did not answer when I asked her what I should do and why I was in there. She waited for ten minutes while I stood in the cell in the middle of security. I yelled over the plastic to Jeff, "See what I tell you?" The woman finally called to another woman and the other one opened the door and asked the rude security guard what she needed. She told her to give me the full body. As the new officer escorted me out of the cell to a mat, still in the middle of security, she asked me if I set off the sensor. I said no so she then told me it was strange that I was detained. I said the security woman had an attitude problem. The officer laughed. She then proceeded to feel me up, down and all around in front of the security line traffic. Apparently, I look like a terrorist.
Home at last! I get home and greet my adoring and most missed dog. I then open my suitcase to give my dad some salt water taffy as a thank you for watching my daughter dog. Silly me, I thought the horror was over. I was wrong. They searched my luggage in SF and didn't put things back correctly. My shampoo, conditioner and make-up products were now all over my entire suitcase of clothing. Smeared on everything.
I hate the city. I am sticking to the good San-San Diego.
That is my trip. It was great seeing Curt and Carla and without them there it would have been much worse. Thinking back on it, it still isn't a funny story. Alright, it is semi-amusing now that it is over and it was nice to get away with friends. I am still upset about the money spent on the trip from hell. Next time we will spend the money on the good San.
It has been good to be back. I was glad to see my class again and be back at work. I must add that I am very proud of my class and how well they scored on their ATI tests. I hold my students to a high behavior and working standard. They did well and I am proud of their hard work. :) I am also glad to be on Spring Break right now! Lots of gym time this week with Amanda and relaxing. Also going into the school to get some work done there and finish the report cards. Now to bed-Amanda will be waking me up at an early time to go to pilates. My abs hurt already! OUCH! :)
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