HOKIE.US

20 February 2006 0001 EST
20 February 2006 0001 EST Okay, it's definitely been a long day. First and foremost, Ben is doing alright. I guess his spleen ruptured after taking a really big spill while he was snowboarding. He didn't hit anything, just landed wrong and doubled over very quickly. He thought he had a concussion and crashed for a bit at the lodge...but after getting up, he realized that things were worse than he'd thought and he ended up going to the hospital there in WV...eventually getting flown over to Roanoke Memorial. He's doing alright though. Hopefully, within a few days, he can get transferred up here to one of the Fairfax locations. Below is a picture of Ben on the phone with Kelli. That thing in his left hand is a remote for the TV. Also note that he is naked under that blanket. I checked. Hehe...j/k. He has one of those hospital gowns underneath. I checked. Anyway, I think he'll be fine, but they'll decide on surgery after taking the next few days to observe him. For the time being, he gets to play with catheters and IVs.

We also ended up linking up with Craig and Laura while were down in the area. We did some random shopping with them for lottery tickets, flowers, and magazines for Ben before going up to chill in the ICU for a few hours. After that, we grabbed some dinner and were off on our way. If you want to read about the awesomest road trip ever, however, you're going to have to head over to the other blog for that. This one is going to require comments.

19 February 2006 0946 EST
19 February 2006 0946 EST Yeah, so I get a call at like 9:15 this morning. I know it can't be some hot chick, but I answer anyway. It's Ben. He's in the hospital. He broke himself while snowboarding and he got admitted to Roanoke Memorial. He'll be alright, but they did admit him into the ICU, so I don't know how long he'll be out of it. But hey, with the three-day weekend and all, Thuy and I are going to take a little road trip down there to see him today. I guess I can make up for not getting him any flowers for Valentine's day now. But yeah...maybe I'll give a call down to Craig and see if we can grab dinner with him too before we head back. We'll see.

The only thing I'm worried about is that I don't know if I can take a whole day without mySpace. j/k. But yeah, this kinda makes me rethink the whole health insurance thing. Maybe it's worth paying $40/month. Eh, I'll give it more thought later. Gotta get my drive on.

19 February 2006 0024 EST
19 February 2006 0024 EST So I had a great time hanging out with the guys tonight, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the fights. Like, for example, I would expect that these "professionals" would be able to fight better than me. There was one guy called the Irish Express who got winded about 30 seconds into the first round and took a dive early in the second round. Oh, it was ugly. Highlights included a female fight on the undercard and the hometown boy, Jimmy Lange, getting rocked near the end of the third round, losing his title in front of about five thousand people chanting his name. Also interesting were the ring girls. It was like the JV team during the undercard. No offense, but it seemed like they picked up a couple of ladies off the street to carry the placards around the ring. Luckily, they brought in two very cute varsity girls for the title match...unfortunately, it only lasted long enough for each to take one lap around the ring. I wonder how much money they made for that.

Anyway, after that experience, I am now considering going pro. I just need to work on my punching and my blocking and my footwork and my endurance. A little experience would help too...and a trainer. But if I get all of that together, I would like to get my first match under my belt before the ten-year reunion. What do you think? It's funny because I'm actually half-serious...okay, maybe a quarter serious.

18 February 2006 0956 EST
18 February 2006 0956 EST Well, thanks a lot for all two of you who responded to my question the other day. I was hoping to get a female perspective on the relationship stuff...but hey, what do you guys know about this anyway, right? Stora ended up sending me a link that was a pretty awesome explanation of Ladder Theory. It's an awesome site...very eye-opening. It definitely ties into the Mars/Venus stuff by John Gray, but I think it takes it a step further. It kinda ties together with this other eBook that I read a while ago too. And I'm not saying that this site is entirely correct, but it does make some pretty good points. It's funny too - very entertaining. Good stuff...take a look. I'm serious.

Other than that, I've gone nine days without a haircut now. I'm just about at my limit now. I think I'll do that and do some shadow-boxing in the basement today before heading over to Fairfax to trade back for my car before heading over to the Patriot Center for the fight between Joey Gilbert and Jimmy Lange. I didn't really know much about them before today, but Dave invited me out during basketball on Thursday and it seemed like fun. After reading those two Wikipedia articles, I feel like I know these guys pretty well...plus I've decided that I need a wikipedia entry of my own. That is a new goal of mine.

17 February 2006 1910 EST
17 February 2006 1910 EST Honestly, after second period was over this morning, I just wanted to scream. There were about half a dozen students I probably could have strangled. That class has just gotten so big and so out of control, I need to really rethink how I work with them...because at this point, I don't think they're really learning much of anything. My fourth period class is my second favorite class (that's what I tell them at least), so I was hoping that they would help me out and make my day better. Not so. We were supposed to finish up our egg drop project today, but half of the groups didn't finish. On top of that, three eggs were broken while we were still in the classroom and we used up the rest of my tissues to clean up the mess. That was a little depressing for me. I mean, it's only a box of tissues, but it was symbollic. Anyway, I feel kinda bad because I think i took out some of my frustration on my 2FC. I'll make it up to them someday.

In other news, I checked my credit card balance online today. With one week left in my billing cycle, I am very close to breaking my record for the lowest spending month ever (not counting the time during which I was overseas). I am sitting at $350 right now and the goal is to keep it under $500, something I thought impossible up until a week ago. Most of my improvement I credit to my resolution of dining out less and cooking more. It didn't hurt that I lost playing credit card roulette on Valentine's day. Losing = not paying, btw. I consider it winning when the server picks your credit card out of the bunch. I did throw in my gift card to knock down the total, so I don't feel too bad about it. But yeah, on top of all that, I've increased my income now that I have a tenant. I still have another room free in case anyone is looking, btw.

That's all I've got for now though. I haven't lifted in two days, so I think I'm gonna change out of my school clothes and work on that. Dinner tonight...I think it'll be vegetarian chili and tofu. Mmmm...

16 February 2006 1632 EST
16 February 2006 1632 EST So I'm sitting there in the teacher's lounge and a cute girl walks in (not a student, you jerks!). She's a new substitute. Anyway, I started chatting with her and she's from Herndon, so I bring up Pepe, the only Herndon alum I really know. Funny thing is she actually knew him. So that was cool. Talking to girls is fun. But eventually, I had to finish grading my papers and get on to class. Oh well.

So that was cool. When I got home, I figured I'd say hi to Pepe. I don't think I'd talked to him in a few years. Before I left to go overseas, we always talked about getting together for things; but he got really busy and I got really busy, and things just never panned out. Jeff was supposed to come up at one point and we were going to have a big reunion thing with the four of us, Jeff, Pepe, Tommy, and me. For those of you who don't know, we were the veterans of 5th floor Pritchard from 1998-2000. It was awesome hanging out together back in college. I mean, we were really immature, I'm sure; but the four of us were a little better than the rest, I think. We had a good time though...very few regrets. Anyway, I just chatted with him on AIM for a bit. He seems to be doing awesome. His kid is almost 4 years old now, almost ready to start school....and play football. Pepe offered me a coaching job in the secondary for when he finally forms the team. That'd be cool.

Before I even got home to play on AIM though, I stopped by the Office Depot in Fair Lakes. I had to make a stamp for my signature to take care of some things. Anyway, when I got there to do it, the guy at the counter says that they usually take three signature samples for the stamp - and they pick the best out of the three or something. So there I am signing my name and I'm just really unhappy with the way it looks. I ask for another sheet of paper...then another...then another. I must've signed my name 40 or 50 times before I just told the guy to leave me alone, and that I'd have the signatures ready for him in a few minutes. So there I am sweating, feeling like an idiot because I can barely sign my name. I get it done eventually, though, and all is well. Good story, huh?

Oh well...that's all I've got. No episode of the Office tonight because of the Olympics, but I'll be out playing basketball anyway. Wish me luck.

16 February 2006 0003 EST
16 February 2006 0003 EST In response to my question from yesterday, Ben says that you should wait about five minutes before you pounce, if that long. I am inclined to agree. Again, I tend to stay on the sidelines way too long, and see where that's gotten me. So a change of strategy might be just what I need here.

This evening has pretty much been a waste, though I did get some laundry done while I blogged and watched Olympics. I've been staying up way too late these days though. Last night, I overslept and didn't even have time to shave before I darted out the door in the morning. The night before that, I got maybe three hours. Why have I been staying up? There really isn't a good answer. It's been a mix of blogging, chatting, mySpacing, and watching Olympics (NOTE: One day, I actually did work.). I at least have to watch until 11:30 when the day's coverage ends...even though everything is on tape delay and I could get all of the results online if I wanted. It's been annoying, to be honest, changing the radio station or turning off the news every time they have an update of the events. It's not like I really care so much or keep track. I just watch to see cool stuff, and it has been pretty satisfying so far.

What else? I got a call from Yenny tonight. We talked for a little bit about houses and mortgages and investments and stuff. Considering how close we are in geography, we don't see each other much more than I see my other siblings. But it was always cool knowing that she was just two blocks away in case anything happened. That's really going to be weird. Maryland! That's like another country, practically. But oh well. Good for her. I want a second house now.

14 February 2006 2306 EST
14 February 2006 2306 EST Okay, just a quick question today. Let's say you're friends with someone, right? Like you wouldn't mind being more than friends, but they're in a relationship. Now, let's say that they end that relationship. What's the requisite time you're supposed to wait before you pounce? Like a day? two? I've never been good with that stuff. I usually just wait too long and they're right back in another relationship. So what is it? 13 February 2006 2349 EST
13 February 2006 2349 EST I honestly thought that this would end up being your typical snow day where I spent a majority of my time sitting in front of my computer watching the market. But I was saved from that fate when my big brother called late in the morning and invited me over to his place for lunch. I brought my gloves with me and we did some punching for about an hour...didn't actually box, just did it more for the exercise. Then after lunch, I stopped by my parents' and took a nap before heading to Mason to lift and play about an hour and a half of basketball. My shot is getting a lot better and I'm working my left hand into my game a lot more. I ended up playing two really good games as well. It was funny. I was on a team with a bunch of Romanian guys. They played kinda goofily, but they were pretty good still. And we ended up beating a bunch of your typical white frat-guy types who had more of a traditional American style of play. Oh were they pissed each time they lost. It's not like we were any better than they were, and they knew it. We just knocked down a few lucky shots here and there and we hit the boards hard.

Anyway, that was that. I called Ben up after basketball, and we met back up at Lenny and Steph's for dinner. I didn't realize that Jane was going to be there too, but that was a pleasant surprise. Dinner lasted a little bit, and then we just hung out and talked about high school memories and whatnot after my parents left to go home. I don't know how it started, but the topic of Mariko Butler came up at one point and we realized that Steph's brother was getting married to Mariko's sister. Small world, right?

Oh and hey...did everyone else know that my big sister is moving to Maryland?! Yeah, I guess she bought another house last week. That's awesome for her, but I guess that means we'll be farther apart now. Oh well.

But hey...I get the feeling that we're going to have school tomorrow, so it's bedtime.

13 February 2006 0953 EST
13 February 2006 0953 EST This weekend, I was thinking to myself how I hadn't seen my digital camera in about two or three months. Could I have lost it? When did I last use it? I was thinking about this and then I remembered. I checked in the front pocket of my dress blue uniform, and there it was. Of course, the battery had died, so I couldn't check to see my pictures. But after leaving it plugged in for the night, I got to see all of the pictures that had been preserved since I so carelessly hid it from myself.

Anyway, there wasn't anything too exciting on the camera...you know, not like there were any naked girls that I forgot I'd met or anything like that. But there was one picture that I thought I would share. This one was taken at the Regimental muster down in Staunton back in November. All of the officers here are great guys I worked with over in Afghanistan. From left to right, that'd be me, my new commander, the BICC, Kevin, Steele, Roo, and Marshall.

12 February 2006 2333 EST
12 February 2006 2333 EST I just finished dinner in front of the tv while watching the olympics. I had a pretty hard workout before that too. But guess what I had for dinner? I made it myself. I spent about 5 minutes prepping it, shaping four quarter-pound+ burgers made out of...TOFU!!! Hehe...it didn't taste as good as I thought it would, but it wasn't bad. I had to throw some barbecue sauce in the mix for my last couple of burgers because the first two were kinda bland. But it's cheap...and it's good for you....good protein, low carbs, no fat, etc. Anyway, I got a whole bunch of bread crumbs and teryaki for next time. I'm gonna head out to the asian market next week to pick up some more so that I can refine my recipe. And when I finally get it down, you can come over to try some. Mmm...tofu.

I guess that dinner makes up for my fat laden breakfast at the Cracker Barrel this morning. With the weather being so horrible, we cancelled the rest of drill for the weekend...and school got cancelled for tomorrow too. Anyway, I had the BICC over for the night, but we left his car at the armory, expecting that we were going to be heading back that way in the morning. But after drill was cancelled, we just took our time and chilled all morning before grabbing breakfast and heading back to Warrenton to retrieve his car. It was cool. We caught up on a lot of things we used to do together in Afghanistan, and I got to show off all of my new toys. Like I made him tea and cocoa with my water cooler/heater and we watched most of the olympics on the big screen before falling asleep on our respective couches. I got such good sleep today...and I get tomorrow off too. One of my students actually IMed me with the news this afternoon. You know, as a teacher, I sometimes pretend that I am upset when we don't have school; but I am definitely looking forward to sleeping in again. I think I'll spend tomorrow playing basketball and boxing with my brother if I can pull myself away from my computer.

12 February 2006 0857 EST
12 February 2006 0857 EST So in physics class, you learn about conservation of energy and conservation of momentum. You learn about some of that in chemistry too...you know, how energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It simply changes form from one to another. Now, let's take this and try to transfer this principle to snow shovels. Alright, every year, we have snow here in northern virginia; and every year, we have this huge rush on Home Depots and everywhere else for snow shovels and ice scrapers, etc. My question is: what happens to all of the snow shovels from last year? Do people know that these things aren't supposed to be disposable? You don't shovel snow for one storm and then leave your shovel there on the curb for the trash guy to take away. You're actually allowed to bring your shovel into your house until the next storm. And when the next storm comes, you can take your shovel out and use it. You don't have to go back out to the store to buy another one. Is it me or does it not seem like everyone understands this? Seriously, what happens to all of the shovels? 10 February 2006 2228 EST
10 February 2006 2228 EST Oh, are you all in for a treat tonight. I am going to share with you my purchases from Target and Wal-mart tonight. Let me preface this by first saying that I have been a very good boy for the last two weeks. Not counting my gas and grocery purchases, my credit card purchases total less than 100 dollars so far this billing cycle, with $20.06 going toward my Washington Post subscription and a little over $50 going toward my Kohl's shopping spree with the fam the other week. So when you look at this list of things I bought today, you'll get a good idea of my binge-spending habits. For the most part, I was on a mission to get some supplies for the egg drop project I'm doing with my kids at school next week. That'll explain the first few things on my list. The rest is just kinda random, I guess. Here goes:

- 18 large eggs
- 2x bags rubber bands
- 2x 350 ct paper clips
- 2x 1000 ct popsicle sticks
- 4x rolls masking tape
- 1x 1000 ft polyester yarn
- 2x 5pk Zone Perfect strawberry yogurt bars - I figured that I could use a little variety. I've been eating my balance bars for a few months straight now.
- 1x 14 piece magnets - these are for the fridge
- 1x black fleece pants - they were on clearance. How can you say no?
- 1x large Virginia Tech hooded sweatshirt - again, this was on clearance, so how can I say no. Actually, they're for you, Yenny. I'll drop them off later this weekend.
- 1x Jack Johnson CD. This was on sale too...the soundtrack to the new Curious George movie. I'm gonna listen to this on my way to and from drill this weekend.
- 1x half gallon Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice, not from concentrate, no pulp.
- 1x 2lb brick of Velveeta Cheese
- 1x 35pk large 1 gallon freezer bags

So if you don't count the stuff I bought for school, I ended up spending about $55...not too bad, right?

Oh, and if you thought that this blog entry was boring, did I mention that I am currently watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics right now? It's a pretty disappointing broadcast so far, but they are up to Russia right now...which means the US should be up soon. Oh, but in some interesting Olympic news, I was watching NBC local news today and they mentioned that Lindsay Czarniak was in Torino for the games. And guess what? She's blogging!!! I mean, it's not the best read in the world, but at least she's trying...though it is a little annoying that she's ended almost every entry with "ciao." I get it. You're in Italy. Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Enjoy.

09 February 2006 2247 EST
09 February 2006 2247 EST Alright, so whether or not the rest of my team agrees, I think I'm getting a lot better. I went 4 for 7 tonight, which is the most I've ever shot before. On top of that, I played most of the game at point and kept my turnovers in the single digits...I think. I had a couple of assists too, but I still need to work on my game. I've been spending so much time practicing my dribble that I think I kinda stay with the defender for too long when I can just take him down the court. I'll work on that for next week. What's funny...and I was talking to Joe about this before I left for the game...is that I've been sticking to my same pre-game routine for our last five losses. It's kind of a superstitious thing. But what's interesting is why I am sticking with something if we're losing all the time? I don't have a good answer. But it just makes me feel good to do a lot of these things. Next week, though, I think I'll change up the routine. At this point (0-5), I'll try anything.

Before I played the game today, I actually stuck around school for a little bit to participate in a students vs. faculty quiz bowl. I got pulled in last minute, but I was more than willing to play. I got to be the math/science guy, but I think I helped in the math more than the science. I don't have all of my scientists memorized, but numbers are definitely my strength. In the first round, the teachers rocked the students. We won by like 150 or so. I felt kinda bad because one of the other teachers started to trash talk. In the second round, we were actually losing up until the end, but we squeaked out a win on the last question. Go teachers!! My contribution was maybe 5 or 6 answers...which doesn't make me the MVP, but I still felt good.

08 February 2006 2020 EST
08 February 2006 2020 EST It's amazing how much you can get accomplished sometimes...when you actually put forth the effort. Take today, for example. I had a few students stop by after school today, but their questions only took a few minutes to answer. So a little after the clock ticked 2:30, I left school and got home before 3:00. I love days like this. I crashed on my sofa for a few hours after that and chatted up Ben a little bit when I woke up as he wrapped up with work. Then I started on that online course I started about a month ago - the one I have to take for the Army. Anyway, that takes me a few hours and takes me into the start of the Grammy's. In the end, though, I got a 92% on the test and that's just one less thing to worry about going into this weekend's drill. In addition to that, I got a load of laundry in, a decent workout, and I even cooked myself dinner. And the day's not over either.

I've got a little grading to do and a few handouts to make for school too. It's been awesome so far this semester. I feel like I've been getting across a lot better and so I've been putting a lot more effort into it...grading papers and getting them back on time...more handouts, more homework, more quizzes. Amazingly enough, the kids haven't been complaining either. I think they actually kinda enjoy learning more. Hehe...maybe not. I really don't know. That's what I'm telling myself, at least.

Oh well...basketball game is tomorrow, so that's something to look forward to. I'll try to do some other cool stuff, too...just so I have something to blog about.

07 February 2006 2341 EST
07 February 2006 2341 EST Nothing exciting going on today. I stopped by the parents' before class today and pretty much just crashed on the sofa there for about 40 minutes after grabbing a small snack. Class itself went well...though we had a guest speaker give a presentation I'd already seen last semester. It was a good presentation, though, and I think I still got some things out of it. She remembered me from last semester, too, and I got to be a teacher's pet today. I was good and remembered sooo much from the first time she gave the presentation. I think that made her happy. We were talking about language a lot, though, and she did make a comment that made me a little self-conscious. She mentioned how kids these days use the word "like" so often. I hear myself doing this all the time. I guess that kinda makes me cool, right? Because I can speak the lingo and everything.

Anyway, today's entry will be short because I want to finally go to sleep before midnight. I've been staying up way too late this last week, watching Leno and Conan for no particular reason at all. But hey, I did do a couple loads of laundry today and ironed half a dozen shirts. Hehe...okay, I'll stop now before I get you too excited.

07 February 2006 0044 EST
07 February 2006 0044 EST Alright, since no one else saw the Super Bowl yesterday, I thought I would make today's entry the requisite analysis of the commercials. Yeah, I know...like no one else has written about this already. HEY! You've already clicked on the link. Don't pretend like you're not going to read this anyway. It's not like you have anything better to do right now.

Alright...we'll start with the top 5:

#5 - Pirates are cool. The guys at Sharpie seem to have done a lot of research to understand this advertising fact...and it paid off. The funniest part about this ad (you know, besides sticking the Sharpie up his nose and popping the little girl's balloon with his hook - both classic pirate gags) was when the pirate went through all of his schpiel just to sign an 'X' for the kid.
#4 - Does your phone have crime deterrent? I like this commercial because it probably cost them like $5 to make. They take two random guys in a locker room and they're bragging about the features on their phones when one of them talks about his crime deterrent feature...a.k.a. the ability to hurt someone when you throw it in their face. I looked at this ad afterward and it's amazing how squarely the phone hits the other guy in the face. I wonder how many takes that took? You know what? I could probably write a physics question based on that one.
#3 - I know people are going to be upset with me for not including any of the Bud commercials in my top 5, but I actually enjoyed the Sierra Mist commecial better than the magic refrigerator. I mean, seriously, magic refrigerator...oooh. This ad was so real...not that TSA people are like that, but it sucks to lose stuff at the airport. Post 9-11, I'm sure the airports have confiscated some millions of dollars worth of knives, leathermans, lighters, Sierra Mists, etc.
#2 - Two words...MacGyver!!! That's right, people, Richard Dean Anderson. The only thing keeping this from being number 1 was the lack of duct tape from the long list of items. If you looked at the checkout, the duct tape was on the counter, but why they didn't mention it, I can't explain.
#1 - Okay, I know I'm gonna get some boos for this, but my favorite has got to be the Burger King commercial at the beginning of the game. It was just so visual and over the top and completely bizarre, I couldn't help but like it.

I'll throw in some honorable mentions while I'm at it too. The beer commercials were decent, but there was a lot less skin this year. I blame the feminists. In fact, the Bud commercials didn't really have many women in them at all. There was one beer commercial where that woman gets rocked in a friendly game of football (You were open and now you are closed!) and then gets her revenge at the end. It was good, but I thought it was a Bud commercial until I took a second look and realized that it was supposed to be for Michelob Ultra Amber. That's what you get, Michelob, for skimping and only spending $2.5 million for one ad during the game. Eh, I don't even buy beer, so what do I know? Ameriquest had two good commercials too - the one with the fly getting killed by the doctor and the woman straddling the guy on the plane. Again, my only argument against these ads were that there wasn't good brand recognition after the fact. Good commercials, though. I have to give a shout out to the Aleve commercial with Leonard Nimoy...though an appearance of Shatner wouldn't have hurt either. The second career-builder commercial when the woman talks about working for a bunch of jackasses wasn't bad either.

Now, the other two ads I will mention today because of their contributions to societal stereotypes and misconceptions. First there is the Dove advertisement for their self-esteem fund. Don't get me wrong. That's a very good cause. My only beef is how they ignore male body dismorphia. Boys have just as many self-esteem issues when it comes to body image and just a fraction of the support. And then there is the FedEx commercial. Come on, people. Dinosaurs and humans did not live at the same time. Commercials like this just perpetuate that myth. Shame on you, FedEx.

That is all. Here is a link if you want to watch them for yourself.

P.S. I just read Jane's blog and remembered the Stunt City ad for Degree. Again, I probably would have remembered the commercial if I actually used deodorant or something. Anyway, that should be number 2 on the list. My apologies.

05 February 2006 2317 EST
05 February 2006 2317 EST And just like that, the Super Bowl is over. It went by pretty uneventfully, but I did have some company over tonight...mainly family. I made a whole bunch of quick food too. I was kinda proud of that...just playing around in the kitchen. I didn't make anything spectacular, but it was enough to get everyone stuffed before they left. What made me ever more proud, though, was that I actually cleaned up when everyone vacated...as opposed to leaving all of the dishes in the sink like I normally do after hosting an event at the house.

Oh well...I ended up going with the workout in front of the tv this morning. Then I stopped by the parents' and did some grocery shopping. I deposited a bunch of random checks at the bank in between the University Mall Giant and the Trader Joe's by my house. I noticed today that the University Mall sign is painted green now. I remember it being brown or black. Anyone know when that happened?

Anyway, I'd write more but I'm pretty blogged out now. I've been working on my 100 things in my spare time in front of the tv this weekend, and that's taken up most of my creative energy. I'll pass out for a few hours now and we'll see if I can conjure up some more tomorrow. Until then...

04 February 2006 2306 EST
04 February 2006 2306 EST So I ended up going through five movies today. I started with Man on Fire (awesome movie, btw), and then followed it up with Blazing Saddles, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Mary Reilly, and Maria Full of Grace. Yeah, I know...a very eclectic mix today. I got a pretty good workout in there too...plus I made about 10 pounds of lasagna. There really wasn't any reason for that. It's not like I had company or anyone to share it with. I just had some ground veal I wanted to try out. It didn't end up too badly though.

Sadly enough, that was my Saturday. I got a few quick naps in there too, but the weather just kept me inside all day. Seriously, who wants to go out when it's all cold and dreary like it was today? Tomorrow morning, I'll probably do some grocery shopping to get some food for the big game. Then I'll probably stop by the parents' and maybe even head over to Mason for some pick-up before circling back home to entertain. Either that or I'll do the usual workout in my basement with Meet the Press and McLaughlin in the background.

04 February 2006 0107 EST
04 February 2006 0107 EST And here I thought that I didn't have a life. With it being Friday night, I found myself wandering around the internet, following some links on my sister's place to land me eventually on the Bloggies, an interesting site that honors the best blogs on the internet in a number of different categories. Anyway, I started going through some of these and these people spend so much time working on their blogs. I'm serious here. I thought I updated a lot, but I only do it maybe once a day and twice if it's a really interesting one. In an attempt to spread out my material so that it doesn't seem like I am a complete loser, I even started to use the other blog. Yeah, I know that's kinda sad, but not as sad as some of these bloggers...okay, yes, I admit it. Secretly, I long to be just as huge of a nerd as they are and win a bloggie of my own. In fact, I am going to spend this next year working on my blog so that I can make it big in the blogosphere. I mean, I've had mini-milestones throughout my internet career, but I'm far from internet-famous.

Back in high school, I was just looking for attention. I was happy when I got one or two hits from my friends. After that, I got my millionth hit back in college when I was running more of a music/MP3 site than anything else. When CNET listed me and I got e-mails from a bunch all of these artists trying to get some attention for their work, it felt pretty awesome. Granted, I probably should have spent more of my college years studying, but oh well. Anyway, from there, I guess my page became a milblog by default...which is cool. I actually had people reading my site again...you know, other than my mom. And then that little stint with Ultimate Blogger was kinda fun too.

I feel like I could accomplish more though...make a real difference. I am to the internet what Chris Jackson was to the NBA....well, minus the tourette's and the 90% free throw percentage. Alright, I'm giving myself way too much credit here. I'm no Chris Jackson. I more like the Vernel Singleton of the NBA...in that he never actually made it there. But who wants to be famous, anyway? I'm pretty happy. I'll just lie down here on my sofa and fall asleep watching Saw. Until next time...

03 February 2006 1639 EST
03 February 2006 1639 EST Well at least school was exciting today. This morning started off with a nice little confrontation between two of my students, which ended up with me having to do paperwork. I hate that. But it was exciting. A lot of sharing and honesty and talk about respect and whatnot. I wish I could say that my kids learned something about physics, but that would definitely be misleading. My second block was much better though. They picked up on things pretty quickly, and one of them even challenged me with a question off of the state driving test when I was talking about how horrible teen drivers were. It was kinda embarrassing because I missed the question. But that doesn't mean that they don't suck at driving, right? Anyway, the fun didn't end there. I ended up going to school dressed all preppy like I had been doing last weekend, and I got quite a few comments from students throughout the day. The most interesting came during my 7th period though. One kid noted that I looked like Kanye West. But what's funny is that a number of students ended up agreeing with him afterward. I was like, what?! And that's when they added that I looked like an Asian version. Still...I look like Kanye? Anyway, that's over and I'm home now. So naptime. After that, I'll figure out what I'm going to do this weekend. 03 February 2006 0033 EST
03 February 2006 0033 EST It was a very interesting day at school today. In my third period, we did the thing with the raw egg and the bedsheet again to demonstrate impulse and momentum. Basically, you throw the egg at the sheet as hard as you can, and it doesn't break. Kids go, "wow!" and then we move on. That's the basic set-up. Anyway, after years of experience, I decided to do this exercise outside today. Being as wise I am, I oriented the throwers away from the school in case anyone missed. Unfortunately, when the wind picked up, I'd forgotten why I had chosen to orient the throwers the way I had, and we turned around. Enter my prize student. He's maybe the fourth or fifth student to attempt this today, and he misses the full-sized bedsheet completely with the egg. But get this...the raw egg skips off of the grass and up in the air, traveling nearly 50 feet past the sheet and right up into window of an Algebra class in session. Splat! Oh, the kids were loving it. Me, of course...I had to put on my teacher face and act really mad. So I made him clean it up while I took the rest of the class back up to the classroom to work out the math. Good times.

Anyway, the rest of the day went by relatively well. After school was great too...two of my students stayed after and showed some genuine interest in learning. That made me feel good...even though they kept me from taking my planned afternoon nap. I came home and talked to my new roommate finally though. I helped him set up his internet and the dish in his bedroom. After that, I did some laundry and gave myself a haircut before heading out to lose another basketball game.

It was pretty sad, but I am playing better these days...better passing, better shooting, fewer turnovers, etc. I'll keep practicing though, and we will win a game before the season is over. This, I promise.

01 February 2006 2305 EST
01 February 2006 2305 EST Before I say anything else, happy February, everybody. I started off this month with a pretty awesome day at school. It wasn't anything especially spectacular, but I felt like we got down to business during my first two periods and my kids may have actually learned something...and enjoyed it. I'm starting to change up my style a little more, and I'm hoping that it will yield better results. We'll see though...I am optimistic.

Seventh period was pretty horrible today though. We did a simple but fun activity introducing waves with slinkies. But out of the seven groups I had in class, only one or two even completed the first part of the experiment. The rest of the class spent half an hour doing nearly nothing. I couldn't believe it. And it's not like I wasn't circulating the room. I bounced back and forth between every group anywhere from 2-5 times. I can't explain the feeling that it gave me...almost like pounding my head against a brick wall. That's the closest thing I can think of.

Anyway, I was kinda glad when class was over. We'll talk about it tomorrow and we'll see if we make any progress. But yeah, after that, we had our science fair at school. It was a good time, but it kept me from taking my nap after school today. In fact, I didn't end up leaving school until 10:00. At the same time, my new roommate moved in today. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get a chance to talk to him because he was in bed by the time I got home. Oh well...we'll catch up tomorrow. Hopefully, I don't get stuck at school too long. I've got my basketball game tomorrow night too. We'll see if my two days of practice earlier this week end up paying off.

31 January 2006 2310 EST
31 January 2006 2310 EST I got out of school pretty early and got over to the parents' a little over an hour before class...early enough to grab a snack and a short nap. That freed me up to head over to the Field House afterward to play some more pick-up. I went a little longer than I thought I would, but I can feel myself improving...so well worth it. Anyway, after playing for about two hours, I joined the State of the Union address in progress as I drove home. Considering that both speeches, the president's and the democratic response, were given by my commanders-in-chief, I will refrain from commenting too much. In fact, I'll leave it at that.

The only other big news is that I will soon have a roommate. Joe moved some of his belongings today, but it may be another day or two before he moves in. That'll be kinda exciting...though the next few days will keep me busy and away from the house anyway. Tomorrow is the science fair at school and the following night is our basketball game. When Friday afternoon rolls by, though, I think I am just coming straight home after school and crashing for twelve hours. I can't wait. Until then, I'll just make the most of the free time that I do have.

30 January 2006 2301 EST
30 January 2006 2301 EST I ended up taking a lot of me time this afternoon after getting home from school. I spent about twenty minutes on my computer before packing up and heading over to the Mason Field House to play some basketball. I did that for about an hour and a half, practicing my dribbling (especially with my left hand) and my shooting. I played a couple of games with the youngsters there too. I think I held my own, but I am a little rusty.

Anyway, from there, it's only a half-mile to my parents. So I drove over and popped my head in, only to find that everyone was already there...Jane, Ian, Lenny, Steph, the parents, grandma. Yenny stopped by a few minutes after I did. But yeah, that was nice. I ate a lot and then left to go home to work out a little more. I've been eating a lot the last few days and I haven't really been working out since Friday because of all of the Chinese New Year stuff and movie-watching and karaoke. So that was that. Oh, I had this week's episode of Number 1 Single on while I worked out and then I watched CBS for the next hour or two in between sets.

Kids come back to school tomorrow, so you know what that means, right? Yeah, traffic tomorrow morning. I need to go to sleep so I can beat the rush. MTF

30 January 2006 0047 EST
30 January 2006 0047 EST Some more good times today, spending time with the fam and friends. I woke up early and went over to the parents' a little before 0800h this morning. I dressed up in my pink shirt and new jeans/sweater, going for my preppy look for my second straight day. It suits me, I think. Anyway, I chatted for a bit with the parents and tried to learn a chinese phrase before going with my mom and dad to do some grocery shopping. After that, I took a nap on the sofa until the rest of my siblings/relatives showed up. I played a little bit of mahjong with my grandmother and sisters after that. We even taught Ian how to play before he politely ducked out; and the party was pretty much over after that.

From there, I stopped by Giant to do a little bit of grocery shopping, but mainly to get some laundry detergent to wash all of my whites and new clothes. Then I cleaned up a little around the house before Ben and Thuy showed up to hang out. We watched a couple of movies...Batman Begins and Along Came Polly of all things. We also did maybe 3-4 hours of karaoke too. They were both going to leave around 8-something, but I roped them in and they didn't really escape until close to midnight. Ha! Thuy's been listening to the Kelly Clarkson CD in his car, so I knew he'd want to try those out. But anyway, I should be in bed right now. The kids won't be around at school tomorrow because of the workday, but I really should get an early start. I'll try to do something cool so I can write about it tomorrow.

29 January 2006 0207 EST
29 January 2006 0207 EST Jane is a magician. She came over with you-can't-spell-fiance-without-Ian tonight, and we watched the Crying Game of all movies. All of us already knew about the "surprise" part, but it was still a very interesting experience. It was good though...I recommend it. Anyway, that's not the magic part. After the movie, Jane took about a minute to figure out how to put up my movie screen...something I'd thought to be impossible. I've spent so much time trying to put it up and even had friends of mine try. Jane took maybe two or three tries and it was done. I was really happy because I missed looking out my living room window.

That's pretty much it. Ian brought over a couple of speaker stands and Yenny tossed me some of her leftover speaker cable, so I was able to finish up my surround sound set-up when everyone left tonight. That made me so happy, I can't even explain. Oh, and I did a lot of clothes shopping with my sisters and mom at Kohl's today. That was fun. I got like half a dozen shirts, including a very nice pink one I'm wearing tomorrow for new year, a nice pair of jeans, and a new belt. With the extra 70% off clearance sale and the gift card that Steph gave me, I only ended up spending about fifty dollars. Not bad, huh?

Anyway, I'm not gonna write more because I have to get back up in a few hours to head over to the parents' again. I'll have more to share on Sunday night.

28 January 2006 0049 EST
28 January 2006 0049 EST Wow...so I was feeling different this morning. I'd been staying up late the last few nights because of my stupid movie watching habits, and I ended up hitting snooze somewhere around a dozen times before finally getting up. It was a little later than usual, yes. My alarm went off for the first time at 0500h, and I didn't finally get out of bed until about 0610h. Being that I was already starting late, I abbreviated my morning routine and skipped shaving...*GASP!* I know. It is quite a rarity to catch me in school not shaven...not that most people notice though. I mean, asians aren't really known for their facial hair. But yeah, on top of that, I skipped the tie and the button-down shirt altogether. I ended up wearing a long-sleeved tee along with my nylon convertible cargos and my new kicks. I was trying my best to get confused as a student today, to be honest.

But yeah, I surprised myself and got out of the house just a little past 0635h and made it to school right around 0700h thanks to the lighter-than-normal Friday morning traffic. Interestingly enough, I was maybe the tenth car to pull into the parking lot. And here I thought I was sleeping in and running late. All of the other teachers are even slackerer than I am. And here I thought I was one of the slackerest. Anyhoo, school went well, though I spent more time grading than I thought I would. I had thought I'd finished grading everything a few weeks ago, but the pile seemed to build back up again. Oh well. The other physics teacher I share the room with, though, spent most of his day working with random students who spent their Friday off at school. It reminded me a lot of my old days at Mount Vernon when my kids used to come in to salvage their grade.

A little after three o'clock, though, I was in my car and headed home for my weekend...which I started off in front of my tv watching the Grudge. Oh, I'm glad I didn't go watch this in the theatres. I seriously screamed like a little girl at least a dozen times during the movie. And when it was over, I had to turn on every one of my lights on my way to my room. Oh, how I do enjoy scary movies. I need to DVR some more to watch later.

I wrapped up my night with the weekly basketball game in Alexandria. I won't go too much into it...we lost big, but I blame it on the fact that we played down a person the whole game because only one of our girls showed up. Oh well. To make myself feel better, I came home and worked out while watching Miss Congeniality 2...almost as good as the original.

26 January 2006 2326 EST
26 January 2006 2326 EST It was another long day at school today, but in a good way. The semester wrapped up today, which makes tomorrow a teacher workday. I love teacher workdays. Those are the days when I get to go in a little later, but still beat everyone to school. Then I turn up my music and clean my desk, turning up whatever important papers may have been lost throughout the quarter. Then, I'll finish my grading and submit my grades for the quarter before starting on my test/quiz/homework/handout-writing. I'll update the class webpage a little more after that, and make some seating charts and reset my notebook/gradebook for the next quarter, adding all of my dozens of new students who have switched into my class this last month...probably due to rumors that my class is easy. When did that happen? When did I become the easy teacher? I'm supposed to be the hard one. I was so upset when I went to RateMyTeachers.com and saw that my easiness rating was starting to inch up. Oh well...no big deal.

Ben came over today and we watched the Tech/Duke game tonight. It was a little disappointing, but we watched the Office afterward to make up for it. Oh, and Ben has started to blog again for those of you who'd been waiting for over a year for the next update. The only downside is that he is only blogging via myspace, thus limiting his readership...not that anyone ever really read it anyway. But yeah, go take a look if you want to read about a grudge match between My Little Pony and Care Bears and other nonsense like that.

Last thing...the big basketball game is tomorrow and then it'll be Chinese New Year with the fam this weekend. Other than that, I don't have any big plans, so this is your big chance to squeeze me in.

25 January 2006 2342 EST
25 January 2006 2342 EST With the quarter coming to an end, I had about half a dozen students after school today, working busily to give their grade a little boost. Too be perfectly honest, it was a good feeling to see that my students actually cared about something. It was the same feeling when one of my fifteen year old girls cursed me out before walking out in the middle of class as she came to the realization that she was probably going to fail my class. It was like...wow, they actually care about something. Coulda fooled me.

Another student walked into my class a few days ago trying to confirm a rumor about me not returning to teach at South Lakes next year. She was a little upset because she claimed to want me as her teacher next year...very flattering. What was interesting, though, is that I have no idea where that rumor would have started. It's not that it's untrue necessarily, but I haven't really confided in any of the teachers at South Lakes about my concerns. Maybe the students can just see it in my eyes. But yes, I have thought about taking another break from teaching. I've talked to a few people about it. I never really gave it any serious thought until that evening I spent with Jeff and Steve...but I've been giving it more consideration over the last few weeks. I guess what hurts the most is this feeling I have - like I've gone the last four months here at this school and I feel like I've made no impact on these kids. I guess it's more so with my active kids. I don't feel like I've got what it takes to teach them the right lessons.

I was talking to Heath's wife about this about a month ago at one of our guard reunion events. She'd been teaching math for a few years in a high school setting and just left teaching this last year. She was so happy when I talked to her. She had just grown so frustrated from feeling like a baby-sitter all the time. Honestly, is it supposed to be so hard? And the last thing that I want to do is be a quitter...which is one of the big reasons why I want to give it some more time until I can get completely settled back into civilian life.

I don't know...I haven't made a decision yet. I'm just thinking out loud. That is what this page is for, isn't it?