The excitement of the century

Ok, maybe that's a slight overstatement. But, Shawn will be loading up his car and UHaul truck on Saturday morning to move to Terre Haute. For all who are around there, you are more than welcome to stop by early in the morning to help out. For all those near Terre Haute on Saturday afternoon, we'd love to have help unloading everything into my house as well. So come, have fun loading/unloading my stuff, and I may even offer up some pizza.

One more day!

Welcome to all my student readers!

Apparently the task of choice today at school during some class was to look at Shawn's blog, and then harass him about what it contains later in the day. For the record, I don't hate any of my classes. :) Maybe I should start posting extra credit on here...didn't you do something like that, bum?

Anyway, tomorrow at 5:30pm I officially close on my place. Afterwards, Jim and Ida Jo are taking me out to dinner. I think, after that, I'm going to go "home" and sit out on my deck with my guitar, and just worship the Lord God Almighty for a good hour or so. What bettter way to break in a new house? I'm already looking forward to it. Of course, I'll need to buy some groceries and some lightbulbs, too, but those are details. Let's worship! Anyone who wants to praise God with me tomorrow evening about 8pm or so, feel free to stop by--the more the merrier! Plus, I have guest rooms where you can sleep...one the floor, just like I will be. :)

My feet hurt

I had my first hit from Sullivan! Don't really know who or what it was, and it didn't look like they stayed on the blog very long, but it's still cool to get it. What are the odds it's a student?

Speaking of my students, I think as long as I keep my talkative class doing things they don't know and/or challenging most of them, they seem to be much more focused. Go figure. I do think I'll have to keep using the overhead with them. I don't trust turning my back to them to write on the board...plus, right now, my whiteboard is so dirty, I don't want to use it. Ever. Seriously, it's really gross. To the point that you can't even read a lot of stuff that's written on it. Anyone know a good way to clean a whiteboard? Is there an actual risk of doing bad things to a whiteboard if you use water or bad chemicals?

Oh yeah, and my feet hurt because I golfed today for the first time in a month and a half, and walked for the first time in many many months. Golf shoes aren't exactly the most comfortable, especially after standing for the previous seven hours.

More house troubles?!?

So, those of you keeping track of my house-buying fiasco, I have had just about everything possible go wrong. Well, last night I realized things could get worse....

I dreamt that the loan was refused because I lost my job. In my dream, apparently the school realized that since I had a valid teacher's license, they had to consider me having four years experience, even though I hadn't taught in HS. This increased my salary enough for the cash-strapped corporation, and so they wanted to reconsider their decision to hire me. In particular, I was let go (two weeks into the semester) because I was too expensive. With no job, it's hard to pay a mortgage. So, in my dream it was a really good idea that my house in Bloomington hadn't sold, as I was having to move back.

See? Things could be worse...

Let the countdown begin

In one of my classes yesterday, we got onto the topic of Google-ing me. I told them they would get a lot of hits, as I have a decent amount of things on the internet. They asked for details, which I didn't give, but almost for sure this blog is going to come up in the near future. One student even vowed to get on yesterday. So, any guesses on how long until my students start posting replies on here?

On a different note, swing dancing last night was a lot of fun. It felt good to get out and dance again, break a sweat, and see some old friends. Jennifer came from Taylor, Carolyn is back from Florida, and it was Liz's last time before going to France. Oh yeah, and I taught, too, which means I got paid and the water is free! All in all, a good end to the week. Of course, I crashed in Indy last night because there was no way I was going to drive all the way to Bloomington being as exhausted as I was. So a morning with the Bum and a sick Mrs. Bum is in store before Ma and Pa Bum come to visit. Of course, almost no one knows all of these people, so why am I sharing?

Greatest column ever

Ok, that's a little extreme, but I did really like the last line of the column. So, a little background. For those who know him, Gregg Doyel at CBSSportsline is a columnist with a lot of opinions, most of which are controversial. I have many friends who just plain hate him. But, today he wrote an article about who God would root for if the Tigers played the Yankees in the playoffs: Joe Torre's sister (?) is a nun, while Jim Leyland's brother is a priest. Both seem to be very "good" people, so what does God do? He ended the article this way:

Solution? I've got the solution. Detroit wins, of course. The day God sides with the Yankees is the day He needs to be fired.


Oh, for what it's worth, it sounds like closing will be on Wednesday.

It's official

One of my classes officially hate me. Basically, they wanted to do what they wanted, and it wasn't one of the options I gave them, so I chose one of the options for them. Then, I made them either 1) work on homework, or 2) sit without talking. They didn't like those options, either, and I kind of enforced them. So, one of my classes hates me. It's about time... :)

On a somewhat lighter note, my current hotel/residence has a microwave, mini-fridge, cable (ESPN), and wireless internet. Oh yeah, and free continental breakfast. So, other than the cost, I'm pretty happy. Now, off to dinner...or should I say, microwave lasagna.

Who needs a contract, anyway?

Apparently, I don't, and neither do any of my co-workers. We are apparently in the middle of a contract dispute with the school board about our contracts. And by "in the middle," I mean "have been for over a year and the next meeting isn't until October." Not only do they not want to give us any real raise or anything, but actually want to cut out benefits. Not usually an effective way to keep up with inflation. And can I say, as a first year teacher, it's really excited to get involved in the middle of a contract dispute? I can't really complain about past anything because I have no past, and I can't do or say much because I don't have tenure. Gotta love the politics involved in living in America... So, for the next few months, I will be teaching on a 2004-2005 contract. Woohoo!

Haven't resigned...yet

Sorry my peeps. It's been a crazy couple days, and since I don't have a place to crash, I don't have internet. The net nanny at the high school won't even let me access Wikipedia, so blogs are way way out. I don't know how much I want to talk about my classes, since my students could actually read this. But, I will say, most of my classes seem to have gone pretty well so far, although there is one class that is going to make me bear down some. I'm going to have to be a little bit of a jerk, and maybe even hand out some detentions and whatnot. But, I will update when I can, and I should be in Btown this weekend for lots and lots of grading and some good old-fashioned home cooking (unfortunately, by me), so I should be able to actually do things like email and blogging. So, until then...

Weekend of....something

So, I attended a wedding this weekend, and I have to admit, I seriously need to give a toast seminar. Now, I've never actually given one, but from what I understand, my toast-that-almost-was was a big success. And since I like public speaking and hamming it up a little bit... Not that the toasts were bad or unenjoyable, but I could have used a few more laughs and a little less repeating. Ok, so maybe I'm a little uptight. Or as Christine (again, not my wife) would say, a little OCD.

But I digress. At least, I think I do, given what I think is the meaning of that phrase. It looks like my loan stuff is moving along, so by Tuesday or Wednesday we'll probably be closing. That's exciting, even if it means I get to sleep on the floor for a couple of nights. Sleeping on the floor in your own house trumps sleeping in a hotel for a couple of nights, which is what is likely to occur for the next night or two. There's a small, family owned place in Sullivan I'll be giving a phone call to shortly...

I'll probably finish this post off with some thoughts from church on Sunday. I've been real blessed over the past couple weeks to have God show me some of the ways He's using me, not just in Romania, but even since my return. It's been very exciting, but I've started to lose sight of Him a little bit in the fiasco that is Shawn buying a house. I still need that desire, that yearning, for Him and His strength. Am I a saint? Yes. But, what makes a saint a saint? God. It's got nothing to do with the person. I'm not someone special, someone to be put on a pedastal, someone who can move mountains. On this earth, I am still an underdog, but with a really Big Guy going to bat for me. Kind of a simple message, but really what I needed to hear.

Why would things work out correctly?

Shawn starts work on Tuesday. Shawn is living in Bloomington. Shawn's job is not close to Bloomington. Shawn is buying a house close to his work, and has been in the process for many many weeks/months. Apparently, that was not enough time. Why? Because banks are stupid. That being said, I will not be closing on my new place on Monday. Which means, among other things, that I will not be living in *my* place until at least Tuesday, and quite possibly the weekend. So, I get to spend a week of school either crashing at someone's house in the area (I know no one in the area) or a hotel room or I drive 80-90 minutes each way for a week. Sounds like fun...

Free stuff

So, one of the unknown perks of working at Sullivan--laptops for the teachers! Complete with DVD drive and wireless modem. Of course, there are the usual annoyances, and I can't change the desktop (it reverts back to "basic" when you log on at the HS's network). Plus, I can't input grades when I'm off the network... But still, a laptop for $0 is hard to complain about.

Now, for things to comlain about, my largest class is 27 students. Any guesses on how many desks Shawn has in his class? If you guessed 24, you win a bright, shiny, brand-new Corvette (some restrictions apply, see store for details). Since I probably won't get back to my room before school starts, here's to hoping they get put in before now and then...

International flair

I've gotten a lot of international hits in the last week, so I thought I would share some of the countries:

France (Paris)
Saudi Arabia
Switzerland
Guam (looking for Carmen Sandiego lyrics, actually)
Portugal (looking for "couple"...your guess is as good as mine)
United Kingdom
Canada (actually, from a maternity hospital)
China

Plus, a few days ago, I believe I was getting some hits from Romania... :)

More Romania lessons

Just a couple of ideas God seemed to share with me yesterday at church while we were worshipping in Yorktown...

First involves an incident I think I emailed about, but maybe not blogged about. It was at the Black Forest, and Laszlo had just wet himself (at least, I had just noticed it). The Romanian worker kept piling on the shame and guilt, telling him how embarassed he should be, how the greatest shame was on him, and whatnot. One of the more permanent Swedish staff people told him as he was walking in to change how Jesus still forgave him and loved him. Not surprisingly, when Laszlo came back out, it wasn't long until he had wet himself again.
God began to show me the idea that, spiritually speaking, we aren't that different than the orphans in Romania are. In some senses, we are to be more like them (like children, totally dependent on God type of thing). In particular, that picture of Laszlo came to my mind, with me in the place of Laszlo, and the "accident" just being an arbitrary sin. How often do I just completely beat myself up over my mistake, often to the point where I very quickly do it again? The important thing was the God forgave me and loved me--that trumped everything else, and hopefully Laszlo got that message somewhere in his subconscious. In particular, what we think as the "greatest shame" often isn't remotely close to that, like Laszlo having an accident. He's not really to the age where you would expect him to be potty-trained, especially for someone who's an orphan. Not to dismiss sin, but realize that God still wins.

The second one is a little shorter. :) On the last day of camp, as I was carrying a little girl (I wish I remembered her name) back from the creek to our little activities deck, she started calling me "Isus," or Jesus. I thought it was kind of cute, and I had played the role of Jesus in all of our skits and whatnot. Still, I was worried that she might confuse me for the real Isus...I mean, she was only 2 or so. But God comforted me yesterday about that--she was completely comfortable in my arms, and really just wanted to be held by me as we walked back to the deck. So, she related Isus with someone who would love on her, hold her, and be happy about that. What better picture of God is that? In that instance, I was Jesus to her. Whoa...

A couple more pics of my kid

Christine (not my wife, but another Romanian team member) sent me these, and they're are just too gorgeous to pass up, so you get to put up with more pics of Laszlo. Just pretend that my shirt, which was a little big already, isn't really wet and hanging down really low (hey, when it's 95 out, you find ways to cool yourself off).

The Cubs are youngish

The Cubs are having a rough year, this is not news. And they are really young, which is also not news. In particular, they haven't started 2 rookies consistently in the field, and I think it's like 8 rookies have pitched for the Cubs this year.

In particular, now that the Cubs are without the services of veteran Greg Maddux, the Cubs starter yesterday--26-year-old Rich Hill--is now the oldest member of the Cubs starting rotation. Maybe we should expect some struggles...