Erin Writes

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

Time for a few stream-of-consciousness ramblings…

Life taken over for the past week or so by end-of-quarter grades. Survived. Also survived report card night fully intact. (Last night, parents could come to school and pick up their child’s report card, and talk to any teachers they wished to talk to. I was VERY nervous, but it was fine.)

Wish we had the whole day off tomorrow instead of a half day, but I’ll get by.

Adam Lambert’s performance at the AMAs? Over the top? Yes. But what do you expect, America, from the guy who cites Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, and Lady Gaga as favorite artists/influences? And how is it any different than anything, oh, say, Madonna has ever done? Seriously. She is literally famous for pulling this sort of thing at awards shows. (Incidentally, apart from the S/M overtones, the whole thing reminded me a lot of Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted” video. Coincidence?)

Just as a general statement to all–the busier I get, the more absent-minded I get. That means I do things like forget to answer my e-mail. If I forgot to answer your email, I humbly apologize. :-/

Still in the market for a smartphone. Currently considering the new Motorola Droid on Verizon…

Got to meet my very first niece (!!) over the weekend. Had a nice visit with David and family, but forgot to bring the camera. Will take pictures over the holiday. If you’ve been following me on facebook, you know that it’s been busy, busy baby time on both sides of the fam. Rand’s nephew had a baby boy, making me (despite my protestations that it’s simply not possible) a great aunt. My cousin Meghan went into labor about two months early and was rushed to Pittsburgh to deliver. Baby Fiona is just over 2 pounds, but I understand she (and mom) are both doing fine. The family appreciates all of your kind words/thoughts/prayers.

I started reading Margaret Atwood’s new book, but lord knows when I’ll find the time to finish it. I’m enjoying it so far.

I finished reading the Ed Brubaker Daredevil Omnibus. Wow, did that one end on a downer.

I’ve made micro improvements at DDR. I’m still playing at the lowest level (thanks for that tip, Linda!), but I’m starting to get the hang of it, I think.

I’m sure I have more to say, but I’m gonna call this a post. Tomorrow, I bake. If I am so motivated, I will post photos. Happy almost-Thanksgiving!

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

1. Grading. Always. I need to accept that this is just a normal state of being for an English teacher…especially one who took on an extra class. (I love, love, love teaching my college class. I really do…the class is fun, and they’re a great group of students. But I am exhausted.)

2. TV watching. Watched HIMYM last night, but not Big Bang (yes, I did hear how funny it was…). Almost caught up with Glee (just last week’s ep to watch, which yes, I also heard was awesome, thanks). Some shows I have given up on watching currently and will catch them on DVD (Dollhouse and Castle among them).

3. TC stuff. Must do newsletter for October…I am committing to doing that today, even though I should be grading and/or lesson planning. Sorry ’bout that.

4. Birthdays. My sister-in-law’s birthday was yesterday and I have not mailed her card yet. I did write on her facebook wall, though… (happy birthday, Leslie! I’m sorry!)

Ah…in other news, I am greatly enjoying my new MacBook Pro! I have the most awesome husband ever.

On that note…

5. Moving all of the information and applications I need from the old computer to the new computer. I’ve got all my documents, pictures, and music, and some applications. I need to get all my bookmarks (from firefox) and my address book over to the new computer.

6. Reading. Um, yeah. I did finish Transmetropolitan. Also, Rand has me reading some horrible, overwritten, soap-opera-y comic from the late 70s-early 80s that he read as a teenager. But pages filled with words? Nothing, except the stuff I’m reading for school and my college class (mostly short stories and epic poems. sample: “The Secret Life of Walter Mittty,” “The Necklace,” “The Most Dangerous Game,” “Gift of the Magi,” “Beowulf,” “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” “The Lottery,” “The Things They Carried.” etc.

I need more hours in the day.

—>side note. I’m really tired of freshmen telling me that “they read that story last year.”One of the problems of teaching in a Catholic school, I guess, is that it’s nearly impossible to align the curriculum. Ah well.

Ok, I should get to work on…something. Toodles.

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

Well, my general blogging malaise is still with me, but I’m poking in to share a few brief things.

Don’t forget to stop by this post and let me know who you are!

I’ve tried to deal with the sluggish loading problem by removing some things from my sidebar. It seems to have helped a bit. If I ever get the energy, I might try a new theme and clean things up even more. Or, I might just move the whole thing over to wordpress so I don’t have to deal with all of the pain-in-the-butt issues that come withh hosting my own blog. Meh, I don’t know.

I’ve been baking a lot lately. It seems to be my current way of dealing with stress/creative outlet. I’ve taken a bunch of pictures, which I will one day upload. I’ll post recipes, too. My most recent successes have been breads. I made a pumpkin bread last week that was yummy, but for the fact that it got a teeny bit overcooked around the edges. And yesterday, I made a (white) batter bread that is also pretty tasty.

I’m a little bummed out about this whole Channel 4/Time Warner thing because of How I Met Your Mother. Thank goodness for the Internet, eh? I’m not likely to hop ship to a satellite service, because our cable comes with our condo association membership. Maybe this whole thing will be settled soon. Until then, iTunes will be my best friend.

I have watched none of Heroes (we watched 10 minutes into the premiere and got a little bored) or Chuck. Rand and I did watch Dirty Sexy Money last week, which we both continue to love.

I’ve now read most of A Raisin in the Sun, but have not yet started Of Mice and Men. I’d better get on that, as my class will be starting it later this week. (has anyone seen the recent version of A Raisin in the Sun w/Sean Combs aka Puffy or Puff Daddy or Diddy, or whatever name he’s using these days? I haven’t. Just curious.)

Okay, I need to step away from the computer now. Hope everyone’s having a happy Monday!

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

Life has been busy lately, and I’ve been online for only short spurts of time…I keep having to read 3 pages worth of twitter updates at once, and I have 663 unread items in my RSS reader! So if you’ve sent me an email, or left me a comment and I haven’t responded, don’t feel bad. I’m just a slacky slacky slacker.

I now feel confident that I can let you all know one wee bit of exciting news–I have a job for this school year! It’s a long-term job, filling in for a teacher who is taking a full year of maternity leave. Orientation will take place next week, but I’ve been going in this week working on prepping my classroom.

For those of you who read the protected post, I decided to drop the community college stuff, at least for this semester. I spoke with the department secretary, who told me to just let her know if I want to teach in the spring. I just felt it would be too overwhelming to try and do it all right now. Truthfully, I’m kind of relieved at the prospect of having my evenings free!

(Aside…I wandered off in the middle of writing this blog post. I swear, sometimes I really do think I have low-level ADHD…)

Today, after attending SmartBoard training (whee!) I went out to the Scholastic warehouse sale (goes through Saturday, I think) and bought $30 worth of books I didn’t need. I did, though, manage to replace my copy of Speak, which went missing last year. I suspect an 8th grader.

I’ve been doing a bit of reading here and there…if you follow me on twitter, you know that I recently finished Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and that I loved it. Fantastic. I’ll have to do an update on what I’ve read since the last time I posted about what I’ve read sometime soon.

Watching lots of the Olympics, of course. Some quick stream-of-consciousness thoughts:

watching the Olympics with TiVo is excellent

I love Bela Karyoli

I don’t love the new gymnastics scoring system

I cried when Nastia Liukien and Shawn Johnson won gold and silver in the all-around competition

I didn’t know synchronized diving existed until this year

why is there so much beach volleyball on prime time?

I realized that the last time I watched the (summer) Olympics with any regularity was 1996…y’know, Kerri Strug and all. Rand and I realized that summer 2004 was when we were first spending a lot of time together. 2000? I dunno. I might have been on vacation?

I think I probably had more Olympic-related thoughts, but they’ve flown away.

I’ll leave you with me, age 12, desperately wanting to be Mary Lou Retton (and not succeeding!):

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

We are closing on the town house today! Well, technically, Rand is closing on the town house today.

We’ll pick up the keys tomorrow and begin the process of moving in. Movers are coming to move our furniture and boxes and boxes of books next week.

This is so exciting!!!

I have two more trips to make out to the college to give back portfolios and turn in my grades. One class is completely done. The other class is almost done. I will most certainly be finished with my grades by this evening. Whew!

Today, I had to enter interim grades for the middle school students. It wasn’t difficult, but it’s always a challenge learning new programs. Thankfully, there’s always someone around I can ask for help!

I’ve seen several English jobs posted for next year, and I’ve been applying for them…keep your fingers crossed for me! There’s actually a job at the school where I’m working now, but I’m not certified. (It’s a 6th grade position, and I do not have the grade 5-6 extension. If only I had known how frequently that would come up…)

Okay, I should get back to work…happy hump day!

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

Whenever I start writing “a little bit of…” I always start singing “Mambo #5″ in my head. Is it wrong for me to kind of like that song?

Ahem. Anyway, it’s been a busy week. Grading? Almost done…yeah, yeah, I’ve got class in an hour and a half. What’s your point? I’ve ventured out of the apartment to grade papers a couple of times this week. Yesterday, I walked down the street to Starbucks and got myself a sugar-free cinnamon dolce latte, sat with my shiny new iPod (which I did find a wee bit of time to play with this week–more on that later) and graded papers. It was most productive.

While I was at Starbucks, a random guy came up to me to tell me that he liked my hair!

“I love girls with short hair,” he said, “and I just had to tell you that yours is adorable.”

Aww. *Blush*

He also said that he noticed I had a ring and figured I was engaged. “Yeah,” I said. “I am.”

“That figures,” he said. Then he told me to have a great day, and left. I feel for the guy…I’ve totally been there…but random compliments are never a bad thing!

Today, I spent some time grading at Caffe Aroma before meeting Rand for lunch. We went to Tru Teas on Elmwood, which is a really cute place. I’d love to go there for high tea sometime! (I’ve been to high tea exactly once–in Scotland) I had the ginger carrot soup and an order of hummus with flatbread. Yummy!

Today, I had my manicure and pedicure. While I was having my toes done, I spent some time rereading The House on Mango Street, which I’m going to start teaching next week. I have, so far, made zero progress on preparing lessons.

And, I think I can talk about this now publicly…Rand and I are going to be closing on a town house in approximately a month. Can we talk about how crazy I’m going to be for the next couple of months? Teaching? Moving? Planning a wedding? Ack! Good thing I’ve got yoga to keep me somewhat grounded and sane. (Being back in class this week was awesome, and I SO needed it.)

Okay, I have to run. These last few papers aren’t gonna grade themselves…

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

So I got up to go to work this morning, went to the room of the teacher I was supposed to be subbing for, and she was there. This doesn’t always indicate that the teacher is *there*, though–there are lots of situations where the teacher is actually in the building but not in the classroom. So I said, “Am I in for you today?” And she looked at me like I was high.

So back to the office I went…where there was another sub in the same situation. Some calling around confirmed that there were several teachers who were supposed to be at a conference today, but it was canceled, or the district decided not to send them, or something. Three of the subs were notified, but the two of us got lost in the shuffle.

They called around to see if anyone was short subs, and the answer was no. Bottom line? Because it was a district mistake, I get paid for half a day and I got to go home. I’ll take it.

And so I went shopping…check the wedding blog later for some of the things I bought!

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

So I spent a good chunk of yesterday in my classroom. I can’t say I accomplished much, but I was in my classroom.

As I believe I’ve mentioned before, the school where I’m going to be working is undergoing extensive renovations. The bulk of the work was supposed to be finished by the end of summer…and, well…

When I arrived yesterday all of the stuff (desk, computer, shelves, etc.) was in the middle of the room. New student desks and chairs were in big cardboard boxes. I was going to move the textbooks over to one of the new countertops, but then I realized that the counter wasn’t actually attached to the wall yet. I wandered about the school for a little bit, picking up a massive pile of mail (mostly book order sheets), student agendas and a desk calendar. I met with my co-teacher, who will be with me for two of the five classes I’m teaching, and planned out the activities for next week. (That, at least, makes me feel a little bit better!)

After lunch, I began opening the cardboard boxes the teacher had packed up at the end of last year and tried to get some of it put away. Everyone’s kind of in the same boat–unpacking boxes–but I’m in the unique position of unpacking someone else’s boxes. I couldn’t really do anything with the desk since there were still things unfinished, and the phone and computer hadn’t been installed yet. The school will be open today, so I may head over there this afternoon to see how things look.

Possibly the worst thing about it is that everything is still covered with a layer of construction dust and grime.  I picked up some Clorox wipes yesterday to try and get some spaces clean enough that I felt comfortable putting things on them.
I just got my schedule yesterday, and I don’t have class lists yet.  I can log on to the computer (well, whenever it gets hooked up), but I don’t yet have access to email or other necessary classroom applications. Those things won’t be dealt with until, uh, Tuesday morning.

Isn’t this fun?

Originally published at erin-go-blog!. You can comment here or there.

• If you could direct some good vibes/positive energy in Rand’s general direction today, we’d appreciate it. Thanks!

• For the past few weeks, Tuesday has become cheesy TV night at our place. America’s Got Talent, Beauty and the Geek, The Singing Bee. Last night, I was disappointed because the Singing Bee was on *after* the TWO HOUR finale of America’s Got Talent. I thought American Idol had the market cornered on milking an episode…anyway. I was rooting for Cas Haley, so bummer. (we’ve only caught about the last 4 episodes…) I found the “audition all stars” bit funny, especially the pogo stick guy, for some reason.
• Beauty and the Geek amuses me. Of the girls, Jennylee seems to be the least vapid and most sincere. Cecile seems like someone I would never, ever want to know in real life. Ugh. I’m not sure if I have a favorite of the guys that are left…I think they’re all cute.
• And The Singing Bee–what great fun! I ended up recording the 1-hour episode last night for later viewing. (as it turns out, I could have stayed up and watched it. I had trouble falling asleep.)

• I have to go get a physical for work later this morning. Whee! Any teachers out there, feel free to send any advice my way. I’m a bit nervous about the beginning of school!

• My issue of Buffalo Spree arrived yesterday. I contributed several bits to the “Forty Years, Forty Events” piece. They even spelled my name right this time. Bonus!

• I have about a week’s worth of grading to do in the next, oh, day and a half. Lucky me.