As I wrap up another very full and tiring week, it's time to make a list of my weekend goals. Thankfully, it's a 3-day weekend, and it couldn't come at a better time.
1. Family night. Probably pizza and a movie. We have a DVD called "Amazing Caves" which we heard about at the rock and gem museum in Asheville. Maybe we'll watch that.
2. Gator football. Florida vs. Hawaii, 9:30 am Saturday. Alex and I will drive to Maloney's in Scottsdale to watch our third national championship season kickoff (how's that for a prediction?)
3. Shopping in Mesa. Cristina wants to go to a clothes swap to trade some old clothes for, well, different old clothes. As long as she brings back far less than she takes, I'm happy. And it doesn't cost anything. While in Mesa, I'm going to swing by Bookmans, a big used bookstore, and try to trade some old books. Hopefully I can find some new books for my classroom library. Hmm, the only Krispy Kreme in the state of Arizona is in Mesa. Hmm...
4. Turkish buffet. When we first moved to Phoenix, we had some Turkish neighbors. They had two sons about the same age as Sofia and Alex, and we struck up a nice relationship. The Phoenix Turkish Association puts on a big buffet dinner to raise money a couple of times a year. We love Turkish food, so any time we get invited, we go! All-you-can-eat, home-cooked Turkish food...I can't wait!
5. Movie with Peter. Hamlet 2. Saturday night. Not sure if I'll have room for popcorn and Coke after pigging out on Turkish food, but I'll waddle across that bridge when I get to it.
6. Cut the grass.
7. Catch up on laundry.
8. Shampoo downstairs carpet.
9. Change sofa cover.
10. Sort and process mail basket.
As you can see, the first half of my list is far more interesting. But the second half is kind of nice, too. I actually like those kinds of days where we have a big breakfast and then work around the house, everybody chipping in, listening to NPR... Cristina probably has more things to add to the list, but if I get all 10 done, I'll be pretty satisfied.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Update
Cristina reminded me last night that it has been far too long since I've posted, and she's right. There's quite a bit of stuff to update everyone on, so I'll try to hit the major things.
The New School Year
I'm into my fourth week with students and so far this is my best year yet as an English teacher. Nothing quite compares to the peak of my TV Production years (97-04)...those are still my fondest years of teaching...but this is my 6th year as an English teacher, and so far so good.
My kids are great, I feel comfortable and effective teaching reader's/writer's workshop, and I'm really enjoying what I do every day.
Oh, and I found out a couple of weeks ago that the classes I've been taking at the community college may allow me to move over one column in the salary schedule. So that's a nice bonus. Literally and figuratively!
Sleeping Arrangements
I know that's a funny subtitle, but just read on. Though we have a 4 bedroom house, the 4th bedroom has been used as a computer room/guest room. Since our kids have slept in our room for the first 4 or 5 years of their lives, it hasn't been an issue to only use 3 rooms. Well, Bella turned 4 this summer, and more importantly, she slept in a room with her brother for a good chunk of the summer (a few weeks in Florida and a few weeks in North Carolina). That test turned out pretty well, so this past weekend, we shuffled beds. We put the twin bed that had been beside our king in Sofia's room. We put the trundle bed that had been in Sofia's room in Alex's room. And Alex's bed is now (temporarily) in our bedroom. So now, we can pull the trundle out in Alex's room and Bella can sleep in there with him.
Photo taken last night of actual children sleeping. In case you're wondering, that's a sheepskin Bella is sleeping on. She's slept on it since she was about a month old.
While Bella makes this transition, we'll keep a twin bed in our room. The first night after the switch (Sunday) she slept in Alex's room with no problems. Alex likes it too because it means I get to lay down with both of them (usually I just lay down with Bella). But last night, she wanted to be back in our room. So we worked out a compromise. She can alternate rooms each night for a week, and then she'll just be in Alex's room after that. To solidify this choice, I'm ready to get rid of the twin in our room next weekend. Cristina had thought about keeping it for the occasional sick kid or whatnot, but I think it's got to go. I'll be glad to have the extra room in our bedroom anyway.
I know this may all sound a bit strange to anyone who has parented differently, but it's the way we do it. It works for us. The first two kids transitioned to their own room with the arrival of a new baby. Of course, that leads to my next point, which is the reason why Isabella is moving in with Alex...
New Baby
You may or may not remember that I had a vasectomy over a year ago. They said there is a slim chance that the vasectomy won't completely work. But mine has worked just fine. Sorry to mislead you! I thought I would liven up the post after such a long dry paragraph about beds and stuff.
Seriously, a new baby had been the impetus for solo sleeping the first two times around, but with Bella we're charting new territory. We're moving her because we just think she's ready and the time is right. It's nice to be able to do stuff in our room in the evenings after the kids are in bed, like put clothes away, read, or (gasp) watch a little TV! Although after 12 years of little-to-no TV in our bedroom, having a TV on in the bedroom kind of makes it feel like a hotel room. Weird.
Our Closet
If you've read this far, and you're wondering why in the world I would be including something about our closet in an update, then you know why I haven't blogged in so long. When taken at face value, the stuff going on in my life doesn't seem very significant. But I'll let you arrive at your own conclusions as to significance. This past weekend, Cristina finally weeded out a lot of clothes that were taking up space and not being worn. She's revamped her wardrobe a lot since starting her new job, so she's getting rid of older, out-of-fashion clothes that she doesn't wear. That and her nursing clothes.
Cristina's New Job
Over the summer, Cristina was hired by Desert Marigold School (where Alex and Bella go) as one of the Kindergarten assistants. She's working with Emily, who was Bella's playgroup teacher last year. Bella happens to be in her class again this year (Waldorf schools combine preschool and Kindergarten) which means she's in preschool with Cristina, 5 days a week. Cristina had hoped that Bella could be in a different class, for a little more independence, but this is how things have worked out. So far I think it's been okay. The money Cristina makes will pay for Bella's preschool (K-8 is free, but preschool is tuition-based) and give us a little extra for other expenses. Cristina is definitely more tired now, working about 28 hours a week, and the laundry has backed up considerably, attesting to just how much Cristina did in the laundry department. But we all have to adjust and help out more. Last night Sofia washed a load by herself. We're getting there.
College Courses
To continue to defer our staggering mountain of student loans, I am again enrolled half time in community college courses. This fall I'm taking a class on Structured English Immersion, which every teacher in Arizona has to do by August 2009 (I've put it off until now). To round out my 6 hours, I decided to take something easy: an online class called "Introduction to Cinema." When I told my buddy, Peter, about it, he said "you could probably teach that class." I said, "I did teach that class!" Teaching film studies at Gainesville High School is still one of my fondest teaching memories...
That's about all I can think of right now. There's probably more, but I'll go ahead and post this and add another post when I remember more stuff.
The New School Year
I'm into my fourth week with students and so far this is my best year yet as an English teacher. Nothing quite compares to the peak of my TV Production years (97-04)...those are still my fondest years of teaching...but this is my 6th year as an English teacher, and so far so good.
My kids are great, I feel comfortable and effective teaching reader's/writer's workshop, and I'm really enjoying what I do every day.
Oh, and I found out a couple of weeks ago that the classes I've been taking at the community college may allow me to move over one column in the salary schedule. So that's a nice bonus. Literally and figuratively!
Sleeping Arrangements
I know that's a funny subtitle, but just read on. Though we have a 4 bedroom house, the 4th bedroom has been used as a computer room/guest room. Since our kids have slept in our room for the first 4 or 5 years of their lives, it hasn't been an issue to only use 3 rooms. Well, Bella turned 4 this summer, and more importantly, she slept in a room with her brother for a good chunk of the summer (a few weeks in Florida and a few weeks in North Carolina). That test turned out pretty well, so this past weekend, we shuffled beds. We put the twin bed that had been beside our king in Sofia's room. We put the trundle bed that had been in Sofia's room in Alex's room. And Alex's bed is now (temporarily) in our bedroom. So now, we can pull the trundle out in Alex's room and Bella can sleep in there with him.
Photo taken last night of actual children sleeping. In case you're wondering, that's a sheepskin Bella is sleeping on. She's slept on it since she was about a month old.While Bella makes this transition, we'll keep a twin bed in our room. The first night after the switch (Sunday) she slept in Alex's room with no problems. Alex likes it too because it means I get to lay down with both of them (usually I just lay down with Bella). But last night, she wanted to be back in our room. So we worked out a compromise. She can alternate rooms each night for a week, and then she'll just be in Alex's room after that. To solidify this choice, I'm ready to get rid of the twin in our room next weekend. Cristina had thought about keeping it for the occasional sick kid or whatnot, but I think it's got to go. I'll be glad to have the extra room in our bedroom anyway.
I know this may all sound a bit strange to anyone who has parented differently, but it's the way we do it. It works for us. The first two kids transitioned to their own room with the arrival of a new baby. Of course, that leads to my next point, which is the reason why Isabella is moving in with Alex...
New Baby
You may or may not remember that I had a vasectomy over a year ago. They said there is a slim chance that the vasectomy won't completely work. But mine has worked just fine. Sorry to mislead you! I thought I would liven up the post after such a long dry paragraph about beds and stuff.
Seriously, a new baby had been the impetus for solo sleeping the first two times around, but with Bella we're charting new territory. We're moving her because we just think she's ready and the time is right. It's nice to be able to do stuff in our room in the evenings after the kids are in bed, like put clothes away, read, or (gasp) watch a little TV! Although after 12 years of little-to-no TV in our bedroom, having a TV on in the bedroom kind of makes it feel like a hotel room. Weird.
Our Closet
If you've read this far, and you're wondering why in the world I would be including something about our closet in an update, then you know why I haven't blogged in so long. When taken at face value, the stuff going on in my life doesn't seem very significant. But I'll let you arrive at your own conclusions as to significance. This past weekend, Cristina finally weeded out a lot of clothes that were taking up space and not being worn. She's revamped her wardrobe a lot since starting her new job, so she's getting rid of older, out-of-fashion clothes that she doesn't wear. That and her nursing clothes.
Cristina's New Job
Over the summer, Cristina was hired by Desert Marigold School (where Alex and Bella go) as one of the Kindergarten assistants. She's working with Emily, who was Bella's playgroup teacher last year. Bella happens to be in her class again this year (Waldorf schools combine preschool and Kindergarten) which means she's in preschool with Cristina, 5 days a week. Cristina had hoped that Bella could be in a different class, for a little more independence, but this is how things have worked out. So far I think it's been okay. The money Cristina makes will pay for Bella's preschool (K-8 is free, but preschool is tuition-based) and give us a little extra for other expenses. Cristina is definitely more tired now, working about 28 hours a week, and the laundry has backed up considerably, attesting to just how much Cristina did in the laundry department. But we all have to adjust and help out more. Last night Sofia washed a load by herself. We're getting there.
College Courses
To continue to defer our staggering mountain of student loans, I am again enrolled half time in community college courses. This fall I'm taking a class on Structured English Immersion, which every teacher in Arizona has to do by August 2009 (I've put it off until now). To round out my 6 hours, I decided to take something easy: an online class called "Introduction to Cinema." When I told my buddy, Peter, about it, he said "you could probably teach that class." I said, "I did teach that class!" Teaching film studies at Gainesville High School is still one of my fondest teaching memories...
That's about all I can think of right now. There's probably more, but I'll go ahead and post this and add another post when I remember more stuff.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Finally Finished
It's been almost 3 years since we moved into our house. Before the house was even finished being built we had planned on creating a little space under the staircase for the kids. I cut a hole in the drywall fairly early, but it remained just a hole for a long time.
It wasn't until my parents came to visit in October 2007 that some real progress was made. With my dad's help, we created a larger doorway, finished the interior walls, and wired an outlet box and two light fixtures. We even decided to make it a secret space by crafting a door disguised as a bookshelf. The only thing left was to put some flooring down. I bought some laminate flooring from IKEA while my parents were still here, but I didn't get around to putting it down.
10 months later, I finally got around to it. So the space, for all practical purposes, is now finished.
The pipes and stuff from the bathroom poke out. I could have built a box around them, but I thought I'd leave as much space as possible. I could always box them in at some later time, but honestly, I doubt that's gonna happen.
I covered my gaps with some simple molding. I wasn't going to do the far interior edges (around the stair beams) but Cristina talked me into it. I'm glad I did it. It looks nice.
It wasn't until my parents came to visit in October 2007 that some real progress was made. With my dad's help, we created a larger doorway, finished the interior walls, and wired an outlet box and two light fixtures. We even decided to make it a secret space by crafting a door disguised as a bookshelf. The only thing left was to put some flooring down. I bought some laminate flooring from IKEA while my parents were still here, but I didn't get around to putting it down.
10 months later, I finally got around to it. So the space, for all practical purposes, is now finished.
The pipes and stuff from the bathroom poke out. I could have built a box around them, but I thought I'd leave as much space as possible. I could always box them in at some later time, but honestly, I doubt that's gonna happen.
I covered my gaps with some simple molding. I wasn't going to do the far interior edges (around the stair beams) but Cristina talked me into it. I'm glad I did it. It looks nice.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Summer Update
It's been a long time since I blogged. So much has happened since my day in the airports on July 12 that it almost seems too much to recount. Rather than attempt a post for each day, I'll just make a "digest post" of the major happenings.
Monday, July 14 - Ichetucknee Springs
We packed a picnic lunch and drove to the north end of the river. At the midpoint, we ate lunch (BLTs) and then Elena and Brendan left (Brendan had an appointment). The rest of us continued on down the river. Overall, we got a little too much sun, but the water felt great and it was a fun day.
Thursday, July 17 - Drive to NC
We stopped in Valdosta and got our annual family picture taken at Portrait Innovations. Then we made it to Macon for lunch. We were attempting to eat at an old fashioned lunch counter place we read about in a book called Roadfood, but it was closed. We settled for "White Lightning BBQ." Tasty.
Made it to my parents' house in Canton around 8 and had a late dinner with my parents and Lynn.
Sunday, July 20 - My Birthday
Dad, Lynn, Alex, and I went shopping for birthday stuff. At the farmer's market, I bought a box of beefsteak tomatoes and a basket of fresh peaches. Man, I miss fresh tomatoes that are actually red on the inside.
I wanted chicken wings for my birthday dinner. Lynn and Evan came over, as well as Beth, Gabe, and Aunt Anne. We had some other stuff, but the wings were the star of the show (for me). My dad has a deep fryer, so I was able to make them the best way they can be made (although not the healthiest...but chicken wings aren't supposed to be health food). They were borderline perfect.
Cake and ice cream completed the birthday celebration.
Monday, July 21 - A Date with my Wife
Sofia went to Dollywood with Mary and Sara. Bonnie took Alex and Bella for the day, so Cristina and I were free for the afternoon. We went to Amazing Savings (a little grocery store that has a lot of discounted, organic grocery items) and then went to the movie theater that Evan works at (he's a manager at Beaucatcher Cinemas). We were in between shows, so after a tour of the projection booth for old time's sake, we watched the last half of Wanted. Then we watched Get Smart. Even though I had seen it already, I thought Cristina would enjoy. Evan's theater is a relatively small one, so there weren't many choices. We enjoyed the movie.
Tuesday, July 22 - Looking Glass Falls
We met the Beaudets at Looking Glass Falls near Brevard. We played around in and near the water (too cold for my liking). Alex went in all the way and swam to the falls with Brian and Forest. We had lunch at a little picnic site and then explored another little creek that had a high rock ledge for jumping into the water. Alex made a few jumps before we loaded up and moved on. We were going to go to Sliding Rock, but it was closed due to lightning in the area. We settled for an hour at a place called "Cradle of Forestry," which was kind of like a museum. The Beaudets followed us back to Canton where we made a big bowl of California Tuna Toss for dinner.
The Beaudets
Wednesday, July 23 - Guitar Hero
After breakfast, we played Guitar Hero on the Wii. It was more fun than I epected. I even got Cristina to play it. Here she's playing "Barricuda."
Bella, the Cereal-head
Thursday, July 24 - Health Adventure
That afternoon, we met Tina Beaudet and her kids at "The Health Adventure," a science museum exploring the human body. They had a traveling exhibit about how toys work. I particularly liked seeing what the inside of an etch-a-sketch looked like. They also had a jack-in-the-box with a video camera inside, so you could see in close-up detail what was going on when you cranked the little crank.
After Health Adventure, we checked out a gem and mineral museum next door. We only had an hour before closing, so it was a quick pass through.
Friday, July 25 - My Nephew's Baby
Drove down to Landrum, South Carolina to visit with Andy and Jessica. Andy is my sister Bonnie's oldest son. Andy and Jessica just had their second baby a week ago, the day after we arrived in North Carolina. He's a cutie.
Bella and Lola
Andy, Jessica, Lola, and Staten
After our visit, we went to Bonnie and John's house for dinner.
Bonnie and John (photo by Bella)
Saturday, July 26 - Final Potluck Get-Together
Roll call: Wayne, Cristina, Sofia, Alex, Bella, my mom and dad, Mary, Jimmy, Patrick, Sara, Carmel, Aunt Anne, Beth, Gabe, Lynn, Hunter, and Chase. Food was plentiful and tasty. After breakfast, Alex found a bird on the back porch. It was alive, but was not moving. We thought it had maybe gotten too wet (it had rained all morning) so we put it in an old bird cage and kept an eye on it. Eventually it became more active, so we let it go. It flew off into the trees. Nice.
Monday, July 14 - Ichetucknee Springs
We packed a picnic lunch and drove to the north end of the river. At the midpoint, we ate lunch (BLTs) and then Elena and Brendan left (Brendan had an appointment). The rest of us continued on down the river. Overall, we got a little too much sun, but the water felt great and it was a fun day.
Thursday, July 17 - Drive to NC
We stopped in Valdosta and got our annual family picture taken at Portrait Innovations. Then we made it to Macon for lunch. We were attempting to eat at an old fashioned lunch counter place we read about in a book called Roadfood, but it was closed. We settled for "White Lightning BBQ." Tasty.
Made it to my parents' house in Canton around 8 and had a late dinner with my parents and Lynn.
Sunday, July 20 - My Birthday
Dad, Lynn, Alex, and I went shopping for birthday stuff. At the farmer's market, I bought a box of beefsteak tomatoes and a basket of fresh peaches. Man, I miss fresh tomatoes that are actually red on the inside.
I wanted chicken wings for my birthday dinner. Lynn and Evan came over, as well as Beth, Gabe, and Aunt Anne. We had some other stuff, but the wings were the star of the show (for me). My dad has a deep fryer, so I was able to make them the best way they can be made (although not the healthiest...but chicken wings aren't supposed to be health food). They were borderline perfect.
Cake and ice cream completed the birthday celebration.
Monday, July 21 - A Date with my Wife
Sofia went to Dollywood with Mary and Sara. Bonnie took Alex and Bella for the day, so Cristina and I were free for the afternoon. We went to Amazing Savings (a little grocery store that has a lot of discounted, organic grocery items) and then went to the movie theater that Evan works at (he's a manager at Beaucatcher Cinemas). We were in between shows, so after a tour of the projection booth for old time's sake, we watched the last half of Wanted. Then we watched Get Smart. Even though I had seen it already, I thought Cristina would enjoy. Evan's theater is a relatively small one, so there weren't many choices. We enjoyed the movie.
Tuesday, July 22 - Looking Glass Falls
We met the Beaudets at Looking Glass Falls near Brevard. We played around in and near the water (too cold for my liking). Alex went in all the way and swam to the falls with Brian and Forest. We had lunch at a little picnic site and then explored another little creek that had a high rock ledge for jumping into the water. Alex made a few jumps before we loaded up and moved on. We were going to go to Sliding Rock, but it was closed due to lightning in the area. We settled for an hour at a place called "Cradle of Forestry," which was kind of like a museum. The Beaudets followed us back to Canton where we made a big bowl of California Tuna Toss for dinner.
The BeaudetsWednesday, July 23 - Guitar Hero
After breakfast, we played Guitar Hero on the Wii. It was more fun than I epected. I even got Cristina to play it. Here she's playing "Barricuda."
Bella, the Cereal-headThursday, July 24 - Health Adventure
That afternoon, we met Tina Beaudet and her kids at "The Health Adventure," a science museum exploring the human body. They had a traveling exhibit about how toys work. I particularly liked seeing what the inside of an etch-a-sketch looked like. They also had a jack-in-the-box with a video camera inside, so you could see in close-up detail what was going on when you cranked the little crank.
After Health Adventure, we checked out a gem and mineral museum next door. We only had an hour before closing, so it was a quick pass through.Friday, July 25 - My Nephew's Baby
Drove down to Landrum, South Carolina to visit with Andy and Jessica. Andy is my sister Bonnie's oldest son. Andy and Jessica just had their second baby a week ago, the day after we arrived in North Carolina. He's a cutie.
Bella and Lola
Andy, Jessica, Lola, and StatenAfter our visit, we went to Bonnie and John's house for dinner.
Bonnie and John (photo by Bella)Saturday, July 26 - Final Potluck Get-Together
Roll call: Wayne, Cristina, Sofia, Alex, Bella, my mom and dad, Mary, Jimmy, Patrick, Sara, Carmel, Aunt Anne, Beth, Gabe, Lynn, Hunter, and Chase. Food was plentiful and tasty. After breakfast, Alex found a bird on the back porch. It was alive, but was not moving. We thought it had maybe gotten too wet (it had rained all morning) so we put it in an old bird cage and kept an eye on it. Eventually it became more active, so we let it go. It flew off into the trees. Nice.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Heading back to Florida
After 5 days of Reader/Writer Workshop training, I am typing this from the gate at Sky Harbor Airport, waiting to board a plane for Orlando. It's been a decent week, although a lonely one without the kids and Cristina.
Like my departure from Orlando 6 days ago, I had to be at the airport at 5 am, but at least I got a little sleep. It helps to only be 5 minutes from the airport. That two hour drive from Gainesville to Orlando is a killer for an early flight...
I did, however, stay up too late. I hate leaving for a trip when the house isn't at least basically clean (no dirty dishes, no dirty clothes, trash cans emptied). You wouldn't think chores that simple would keep me up late, and they wouldn't have if I hadn't put off doing them until Friday evening. I got it all done, but before I knew it, it was 1:30 in the morning. So I got about 3 hours of sleep. Enough to probably allow me to sleep on the plane, but not so little that I'll feel crappy all day.
I'm taking an online PowerPoint class at the local community college. That is, it's a class that teaches you the finer points of using PowerPoint, which I use on a daily basis as a teacher. I'm almost done with the class, but I have to finish my final project. I'm making a PowerPoint presentation of John F. Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis speech. We had a choice. It was that, or MLK's "I Have a Dream" (great speech, but a little too over-exposed), or the Declaration of Independence (too long and wordy). It's been kind of fun making the PowerPoint for the JFK speech. Maybe when I'm done, I could post a link to it or something.
I was surprised that the Wendy's here in the airport serves breakfast. I didn't know Wendy's served breakfast. Although, I must admit, I'm a little out of touch with fast food menus. Thankfully. I should probably get something before I board. I did bring some lunch (leftover chicken parmesan with rotini pasta that I made a couple of nights ago). But the thought of eating that for breakfast is kind of revolting. Actually, I'll be doing good to eat it cold for lunch. But maybe sheer hunger will overcome the cold-food aspect.
We're probably boarding in 1o minutes, so I'll close for now. I realize I didn't discuss much of my week of bachelorhood, but it wasn't very interesting. I went to work, I ran errands, I worked out (had to do 2 hours a day to finish the fitness class). I guess the highlight of the week from a bachelor perspective is that Peter and I finally pulled off the double-feature. We went to see Hancock and then immediately saw Wanted. They were both fun, but I got a little sleepy during Wanted, and that probably tainted my overall vibe for the movie.
I tried the chicken biscuit. Decent.
I think this was the first time I had flown out of the newly-renovated terminal 4. It's very pretty.
On the plane, one of the flight attendants looked like Alex's preschool teacher from a few years ago. The flight from Phoenix to Albuquerque was luxuriously empty...I had a whole row of 3 seats to myself. I sat in the middle and spread out, snoozing during takeoff, then working on my PowerPoint during the flight. It's only about 45 minutes to Albuquerque, though, so I didn't get much done. When we landed, they said the flight from Albuquerque to Orlando would be full. Bummer. My comfort was to be short-lived. As the plane loaded up, I scooted over to the window seat (Southwest doesn't assign seats) and tried to doze. Then I heard the magic words over the PA.
"Attention ladies and gentlemen. We have oversold this flight, so we need one person--" before she could even finish the statement, my hand shot up. She saw me and said "Okay! We have a volunteer. The man in the Florida hat." I followed her to the gate and after some keyboard-clacking and paperwork, I had a new flight, a travel voucher for $344, and a voucher for lunch. It was a no-brainer. Unless I have an important appointment, I always volunteer to get bumped. The Southwest people were so grateful that I volunteered. I'm not used to that. I didn't think the airlines ever had a hard time finding volunteers.
My new flight leaves at 1:30 and it was now 9:00. 4 hours to kill. Not a problem. I have my laptop, a comfortable area to plug in, free wi-fi...I can update my blog, check my email, work on my PowerPoint. My new flight arrives in Orlando at 7:20. I knew Cristina would already be on the road. I called her cell and told her the new plan and she said they would just go to the Orlando Science Center without me instead of with me. That works.
My aunt and uncle live about 20 minutes from this airport, so I should call them. I'm only hesitant to arrange a get-together because I'm tempted to use this block of time to work and maybe catch a little nap.
I sent a few emails, and got a decent little chunk of my PowerPoint done. It must be interesting on some level, because I caught the guy next to me looking at my screen while I played what I had so far. But then again, airport boredom can focus your attention on all kinds of things.
I started to get a little hungry, so I walked around to check out the choices. My lunch voucher could be used for anything in the airport. The voucher was for $8, and while I could always use my own money to supplement the voucher, I wanted to try to use the voucher only. Coffee sounded really appealing. A cup of plain, old coffee was around 2 bucks. And of course all the coffee places had yummy-looking pastries, which ran 2-4 bucks each. And then if I went with a "fancy" coffee (frou-frou coffee, as I call it somewhat pejoratively) that would be closer to $4. I could probably count the number of frou-frou coffees I've bought on one hand, but something sweet and dessert-y, like a cafe mocha, sounded good. I was trying to find some combination of legitimate lunch and coffee and or pastry...within the $8 range. I was about to give up when it hit me: my cold chicken parmesan pasta that I packed! I could eat that as my legitimate lunch and then be free to squander the entire $8 voucher on a frou-frou coffee and pastry. I found a comfortable lounge to eat in and got most of the cold dish eaten. Good enough. Then I found a coffee place and made my selection. Grande cafe mocha with whipped cream and a big walnut brownie that was heavy enough to make a nice doorstop. Total cost: $7.78.
As I reacquainted myself with what a cafe mocha tastes like, I realized that it was tasty in a dessert kind of way, but I wished I could taste more espresso in it. It pretty much tasted like hot chocolate. I wanted more of a chocolate-flavored coffee. I would have even settled for coffee-flavored hot chocolate. But of well. You win some, you lose some.
The doorstop brownie I packed away for later. The extreme sugar and chocolate of the mocha in combination with the brownie would be too much (although I have a sister and a wife who would disagree). Perhaps I'll need the brownie during the flight. Or perhaps I'll save it for Cristina. Score some brownie points. Literally.
Too bad I don't have a camera, or I could post some pics of my airport adventures. One of these days I'll have a phone with a camera. My cell phone is so old, you have to plug it into a phone jack. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But it does not have a camera.
My plane arrived in Orlando a little early...7 pm eastern time. I called Cristina and they were in the middle of eating, so while I waited for them, I grabbed a bite at Chick-fil-a. Through the wonders of airport wi-fi and time on my hands, I was able to update this post, which has grown quite long.
Cristina and family will be here any minute, so I think I'm finally done with this post for the day. In 2 hours I'll be back in Gainesville.
Like my departure from Orlando 6 days ago, I had to be at the airport at 5 am, but at least I got a little sleep. It helps to only be 5 minutes from the airport. That two hour drive from Gainesville to Orlando is a killer for an early flight...
I did, however, stay up too late. I hate leaving for a trip when the house isn't at least basically clean (no dirty dishes, no dirty clothes, trash cans emptied). You wouldn't think chores that simple would keep me up late, and they wouldn't have if I hadn't put off doing them until Friday evening. I got it all done, but before I knew it, it was 1:30 in the morning. So I got about 3 hours of sleep. Enough to probably allow me to sleep on the plane, but not so little that I'll feel crappy all day.
I'm taking an online PowerPoint class at the local community college. That is, it's a class that teaches you the finer points of using PowerPoint, which I use on a daily basis as a teacher. I'm almost done with the class, but I have to finish my final project. I'm making a PowerPoint presentation of John F. Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis speech. We had a choice. It was that, or MLK's "I Have a Dream" (great speech, but a little too over-exposed), or the Declaration of Independence (too long and wordy). It's been kind of fun making the PowerPoint for the JFK speech. Maybe when I'm done, I could post a link to it or something.
I was surprised that the Wendy's here in the airport serves breakfast. I didn't know Wendy's served breakfast. Although, I must admit, I'm a little out of touch with fast food menus. Thankfully. I should probably get something before I board. I did bring some lunch (leftover chicken parmesan with rotini pasta that I made a couple of nights ago). But the thought of eating that for breakfast is kind of revolting. Actually, I'll be doing good to eat it cold for lunch. But maybe sheer hunger will overcome the cold-food aspect.
We're probably boarding in 1o minutes, so I'll close for now. I realize I didn't discuss much of my week of bachelorhood, but it wasn't very interesting. I went to work, I ran errands, I worked out (had to do 2 hours a day to finish the fitness class). I guess the highlight of the week from a bachelor perspective is that Peter and I finally pulled off the double-feature. We went to see Hancock and then immediately saw Wanted. They were both fun, but I got a little sleepy during Wanted, and that probably tainted my overall vibe for the movie.
I tried the chicken biscuit. Decent.
I think this was the first time I had flown out of the newly-renovated terminal 4. It's very pretty.
On the plane, one of the flight attendants looked like Alex's preschool teacher from a few years ago. The flight from Phoenix to Albuquerque was luxuriously empty...I had a whole row of 3 seats to myself. I sat in the middle and spread out, snoozing during takeoff, then working on my PowerPoint during the flight. It's only about 45 minutes to Albuquerque, though, so I didn't get much done. When we landed, they said the flight from Albuquerque to Orlando would be full. Bummer. My comfort was to be short-lived. As the plane loaded up, I scooted over to the window seat (Southwest doesn't assign seats) and tried to doze. Then I heard the magic words over the PA.
"Attention ladies and gentlemen. We have oversold this flight, so we need one person--" before she could even finish the statement, my hand shot up. She saw me and said "Okay! We have a volunteer. The man in the Florida hat." I followed her to the gate and after some keyboard-clacking and paperwork, I had a new flight, a travel voucher for $344, and a voucher for lunch. It was a no-brainer. Unless I have an important appointment, I always volunteer to get bumped. The Southwest people were so grateful that I volunteered. I'm not used to that. I didn't think the airlines ever had a hard time finding volunteers.
My new flight leaves at 1:30 and it was now 9:00. 4 hours to kill. Not a problem. I have my laptop, a comfortable area to plug in, free wi-fi...I can update my blog, check my email, work on my PowerPoint. My new flight arrives in Orlando at 7:20. I knew Cristina would already be on the road. I called her cell and told her the new plan and she said they would just go to the Orlando Science Center without me instead of with me. That works.
My aunt and uncle live about 20 minutes from this airport, so I should call them. I'm only hesitant to arrange a get-together because I'm tempted to use this block of time to work and maybe catch a little nap.
I sent a few emails, and got a decent little chunk of my PowerPoint done. It must be interesting on some level, because I caught the guy next to me looking at my screen while I played what I had so far. But then again, airport boredom can focus your attention on all kinds of things.
I started to get a little hungry, so I walked around to check out the choices. My lunch voucher could be used for anything in the airport. The voucher was for $8, and while I could always use my own money to supplement the voucher, I wanted to try to use the voucher only. Coffee sounded really appealing. A cup of plain, old coffee was around 2 bucks. And of course all the coffee places had yummy-looking pastries, which ran 2-4 bucks each. And then if I went with a "fancy" coffee (frou-frou coffee, as I call it somewhat pejoratively) that would be closer to $4. I could probably count the number of frou-frou coffees I've bought on one hand, but something sweet and dessert-y, like a cafe mocha, sounded good. I was trying to find some combination of legitimate lunch and coffee and or pastry...within the $8 range. I was about to give up when it hit me: my cold chicken parmesan pasta that I packed! I could eat that as my legitimate lunch and then be free to squander the entire $8 voucher on a frou-frou coffee and pastry. I found a comfortable lounge to eat in and got most of the cold dish eaten. Good enough. Then I found a coffee place and made my selection. Grande cafe mocha with whipped cream and a big walnut brownie that was heavy enough to make a nice doorstop. Total cost: $7.78.
As I reacquainted myself with what a cafe mocha tastes like, I realized that it was tasty in a dessert kind of way, but I wished I could taste more espresso in it. It pretty much tasted like hot chocolate. I wanted more of a chocolate-flavored coffee. I would have even settled for coffee-flavored hot chocolate. But of well. You win some, you lose some.
The doorstop brownie I packed away for later. The extreme sugar and chocolate of the mocha in combination with the brownie would be too much (although I have a sister and a wife who would disagree). Perhaps I'll need the brownie during the flight. Or perhaps I'll save it for Cristina. Score some brownie points. Literally.
Too bad I don't have a camera, or I could post some pics of my airport adventures. One of these days I'll have a phone with a camera. My cell phone is so old, you have to plug it into a phone jack. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But it does not have a camera.
My plane arrived in Orlando a little early...7 pm eastern time. I called Cristina and they were in the middle of eating, so while I waited for them, I grabbed a bite at Chick-fil-a. Through the wonders of airport wi-fi and time on my hands, I was able to update this post, which has grown quite long.
Cristina and family will be here any minute, so I think I'm finally done with this post for the day. In 2 hours I'll be back in Gainesville.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Flight to Phoenix
Saturday, the 5th, we did a bunch of thrift store shopping. Or I should say Cristina, Jarue, and Sofia did a lot of thrift store shopping. Since I'm flying back to Phoenix on Sunday, it was the perfect chance to take stuff back on a plane instead of having to haul it in the van to NC and then back to Phoenix. And I'm all for not loading up the van any more than it already is.
Some old family friends, Millie and Martha, came to dinner. It was nice to see them. After dinner, the kids did some more sparklers and those little things you throw to make popping noises. After the two "M's" left, we got the kids to bed and Cristina and Jarue started packing. I tried to get a little sleep, since I would have to leave for the airport at 3 am, but I had drank too much caffeine at dinner, so I was wired.
I got to the airport a little after 5 am. The flight was uneventful. I slept a little, but it wasn't very solid sleep. Once I got home, I spent the rest of the day relaxing. I didn't want to sleep all day because then I wouldn't sleep enough at night, so I watched a couple of movies and made myself some dinner.
I went to bed around 8 and slept for nearly 10 hours.
Some old family friends, Millie and Martha, came to dinner. It was nice to see them. After dinner, the kids did some more sparklers and those little things you throw to make popping noises. After the two "M's" left, we got the kids to bed and Cristina and Jarue started packing. I tried to get a little sleep, since I would have to leave for the airport at 3 am, but I had drank too much caffeine at dinner, so I was wired.
I got to the airport a little after 5 am. The flight was uneventful. I slept a little, but it wasn't very solid sleep. Once I got home, I spent the rest of the day relaxing. I didn't want to sleep all day because then I wouldn't sleep enough at night, so I watched a couple of movies and made myself some dinner.
I went to bed around 8 and slept for nearly 10 hours.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Errands and Fireworks in Gainesville
We all slept late and then made a big egg and bacon breakfast. After a leisurely morning, we split up. Jarue, Cristina, and Sofia went thrift store shopping and I took the two younger kids on some errands. We picked up something from Walgreen’s, then hit Wal-Mart for a few items. At Save-a-lot, we bought a watermelon, a cantaloupe, and some zucchini. Then we went to Publix. It seems I always see someone I know at Publix, usually a former student either working or shopping there. Sure enough, as soon as we walked in a guy in line waved to me. I recognized him as a former student, but couldn’t remember his name. I had had him in TV 1 either my last year or second to last year at GHS, which was 5 or 6 years ago. Let’s see, I’ve had roughly 500 students since then. So I think it’s excusable that I didn’t remember his name. After the kids and I checked our weight on the Publix scale, we circled around and I approached the student. “I’m getting to be an old man and I’ve forgotten your name” I said apologetically. “I’m Derrick Ross,” he said proudly. I could tell he was happy that I remembered him to some degree. He definitely remembered me and was very polite and humble. We exchanged a few pleasantries and then we got to our shopping.
While we shopped, I found someone else I knew: my grad school teacher/advisor Dr. Wright. He retired from UF a few years ago, and recently (about 4 months ago) I tracked down his email address and reconnected with him via email for the first time in about 10 years. So it was an amazing coincidence that I would run into him at Publix. We chatted for a while. He had never seen the two kids I was with. We were pregnant with Sofia when I started grad school and she was born 3 months before I finished. Dr. Wright’s wife was dying of cancer at the time, and we went to a dinner party at his house towards the tail-end of the program. We took a picture of Dr. Wright holding the infant Sofia with Mrs. Wright looking admiringly on. We gave him a copy of the picture and he said he cherished it because it was one of the last pictures of his wife and she looked so happy. So he’ll always remember Sofia from that picture. He asked me if Alex had been the one in the picture and I mentioned that he wasn’t born until 4 years later. Time does fly. Dr. Wright has recently remarried and he seems happy and healthy. I’m glad. He’s a very nice man and I enjoyed my time with him at UF.
We headed home and unloaded our booty. At Wal-Mart I bought Alex a Gator basketball and Bella a little Gator cheerleader doll. While the kids played I cut Jarue’s grass (she just got her lawnmower out of the shop). Then we got back in the van and headed to Westside Park. Alex said he wanted something like pizza for dinner, and I kind of had a hankering for chicken wings. While the kids played at the park I called in an order to Gumby’s pizza. We picked it up and headed home.
After dinner, we all loaded up and went to Flavet Field for the annual Fanfare and Fireworks show. Flavet Field is the field at the UF bandshell, right near the dorm that Burt and I lived in during our first year at UF. There was live music while everyone waited for the sun to go down. While we waited, the kids played and we even ran into an own friend, Leiba Gowan, and her family. Leiba took some great photos of us when we were pregnant with Alex, and then later when Alex was about 2. In fact, 2 of her pictures are framed and mounted over our bed.
A Gainesville Sun photographer took a picture of me playing Alex like a guitar. It appeared on their online edition a couple of days later. You can click the screen image to go to the webpage:
The fireworks started at 9:40. Bella was tired and grumpy but she calmed down during the fireworks. It was a bit of a walk back to our parked van, but we made it home, had some ice cream, got showered, and went to bed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)