Thursday, January 22, 2009

Another day at the high school, but it was far from routine. The librarian had a sudden emergency and she asked me to take over the class she was teaching, which wasn't on a good track anyway due to technical difficulties. I totally tried to wing it with mixed results (I did get them into the library catalog and into a few online databases and cajoled them into staying on task for a little while at least, but I had no idea what they were actually supposed to be doing). The substitute teacher had even less of a clue and was not too happy that we weren't doing what the teacher she was subbing for said we'd be doing. While I was walking through some things with the students in the computer lab I looked out into the main library and saw 40 students waiting to check out a novel for their English class. Our TA was missing (where did he go and why did he think he could leave, especially without checking with me?). So I left the computer lab hanging to go check out books. A crazy comedy of errors. But pretty entertaining, at least from a library tech's perspective. I don't think the substitute was entertained at all! Back at the high school later in the evening for my first guitar class. Very, very fun!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

One of those days where everything went wrong. Class was a bit rough, mostly due to technical difficulties with the computer equipment I was hoping to use. I wish I'd pulled off what we were doing a bit more spectacularly. But by the end of the class, we did accomplish our goal. We picked a topic that we'll be researching as a class throughout the semester: separation of church and state (possibly as it relates to gay marriage because that's the topic that was a close second in the voting). As we move forward, we'll be gathering information and ideas from all sorts of angles: historical, political, legal, psychological, moral, etc. We'll be figuring out how to define terms, understanding what assumptions people come to the conversation with, etc. And we'll be narrowing down our focus, ultimately developing several potential thesis statements by the end of the semester. Fun times! Pack meeting at 6:00. Several of the scouts brought games to share with the group. Jack did a great job explaining how to play Sausage and the group had some good laughs playing a couple of rounds. I thought my first community ed guitar class was tonight. I spent nearly 45 minutes hunting all over the high school campus for it (it's a very crazy campus). Got home and discovered the class actually starts tomorrow. Well, at least I didn't miss it and I got some good exercise!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration all day long! Actually I worked from 9 to 3 at the high school, but we do have a television there so a few of us stopped to watch the actual inauguration. (I was a bit shocked at how little the high school paid attention to the event! I was glad that Jack's teacher turned it on for their class to watch). One of my favorite things: Aretha Franklin's hat! In another life I'd like to be someone who can pull off wearing a hat like that.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Spent a lazy morning posting pictures on facebook and reading. Listened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech. What an amazing line he walked, rallying people to both passionate action and peaceful determination. Went skiing on the canyon trail with Roger and Jack. This evening we dressed up and went to our friend's inaugural ball in downtown Provo (Jack decided to go to a friend's house instead - I so wish he'd come with us). Limousine shuttle from parking, big band dancing, fairy lights and flags, a fabulous toast to our president elect (Utah Valley style with Martinelli's sparkling cider!), and lots of people who are excited about tomorrow's inauguration. Better get to bed. Back to school tomorrow.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Church in morning, then a quiet day at home. Roger and I launched a new blog (blogs are apparently my duct tape - an all purpose solution!). We are meant to help the members of our ward build up their food storage, and we thought a blog would be a great way to encourage people to share information. The address is www.storingup.blogspot.com. We're going to be posting hot tips, links to other sites, etc. I think it will be fun. I hope it catches on!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Christened our new skis today on a groomed trail up Hobble Creek Canyon. We invited Jack's friend Rex to come with us. We did the short loop once, then Roger took the boys over to the sledding hill and I did the loop again. When we were done we were starving! So we went to our favorite greasy drive-in for burgers, chicken and fries. Later we had a massive meltdown over cleaning up the family room, but we go it done!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Jack had the day off school (teacher development day), so he went off to a friend's house while I went to campus to teach my class. I've been trying to get set up with this fun audience response system in class, but it's been complicated trying to get all of it pulled together. Major setback when I found out the software wouldn't work on my mac and that it wasn't loaded on the PC in the lab where I teach. I'm hoping the IT people downloaded it per my request. But somehow I doubt they did. Oh well. I may have to go low tech. When Roger got home from work we headed up to REI in Sandy, then further north to another REI in Salt Lake in search of cross country skis (a Christmas present). Success! Jack joined us on our adventure, but had his nose in a book the whole time - the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid came out this week.