North Country Pineapple King

A Boy Named Goo

2006-12-31T19:26:00.000-08:00

This video is in response to Zebro. A bunch of comedians from Boston who made fun of the Goo Goo Dolls.

Lake Champlain Sunrise

2006-12-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

Ellen got digital camera with a 30 second timer and Alison had a new tripod. We set this up on a very clear morning on the back porch at North Hero. I was not sure where the sun was going to come up so I moved the camera a couple of times.

You Tube

2006-12-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

This is the Jonathan video

Graser no longer a threat to High School Students

2006-07-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Sour Grapes

2006-07-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Bad News From The School District

2006-07-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

I got a letter today from the school district. They said they had selected someone else for the Social Studies position. I was dissapointed.

I am not sure why.

I guess I better not quit my day job.

2006-05-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we put in a new toilet. The old one was not a good flusher. Plumbing is tough work for the following reasons.

1. Tight spaces, large inflexible body
2. I am bad with tools using my right hand - can't even hold them with my left.
3. If you screw up - you can't hide it - water can't be swept under the rug.
4. I don't have the right tools and I don't know what I am doing.
5. I don't read instructions or think ahead.

Syracuse lost to Virginia yesterday in lacrosse. Virginia was the better team.

I finished reading "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin for my Women's Lit course. What a bad story. Nothing happens and then the main character swims out into the ocean and drowns. All because - wait I have no idea what her problem was. She had it made in the shade. This classic was written in 1899 and remained an unknown work until femanists discovered it in 1970.

Saw "Walk the Line" yesteday. Another bad movie/story. Johnny Cash is in love with June Carter but married to another. Booze, pills, and no June lead to a downfall. June gets him cleaned up and he marries her and revieves his career. Most of the movie he is depressed. And so was I.

Home Repair and Maintenance

2006-05-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Weekend! Ellen turned 18 yesterday. Alison is home from Cortland. I have 10 teaching days left after this weekend.

Diana wants to go buy a new toilet for the main bathroom. I guess we are headed out to home depot to buy one. I get to take out the old and put in the new.

It is lacrosse championship weekend in Philadelphia. In 2002 the girls and I went and saw Syracuse beat Princeton at Rutgers for the championship. The games have since moved to pro stadiums and tickets must be bought in advance. Syracuse plays Virginia, LeMoyne plays Dowling, and Cortland plays Sailsbury in the DI, DII, and DIII playoffs. I have never heard of Dowling or Sailsbury.

Mother's Day Eve

2006-05-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

Is this a holiday? Mother's Day Eve. You can only open one present.

Yesterday it started raining about 5:30 PM. Lots of sun, lots of rain, plenty of rainbows. We had some hail.

This is what my back yard looks like in the shoveling season. We have two seasons in Central NY, the shoveling season and the mowing season. It is kind of like that Robert Frost poem "Fire and Ice". Or as I like to say "mowing is great and will suffice."

Doppler radar image of winter in Central NY. During the periods when we aren't experiencing a major winter storm we have "Lake Effect" snow flurries. This is the same as a major winter storm except it only strikes specific locations, like my driveway, or the road I take to work, places like that.

This is picture of me on the Great Wall of China. What this picture doesn't show is the Great Wall Amusement park. It was great. Go Karts, Mini-Golf, Skee-Ball, Cotton Candy, Fried Dough, and Starbucks in great abundance. China is just like the U.S.A. They have everything we do and Green Tea too. But don't expect to get good Fried Rice!

This photo is from the running of the bulls at that place in Spain. It's not as much fun as it looks. You have to wear white for one thing. You can't sue the town if you get injured. The other nuts running with you are more dangerous than the bulls. They play music the whole time over loudspeakers and it is the same Ricky Martin song over and over. Celebrities get to run with each other and the bulls are photoshopped into their souvenir videos.

Alison's Birthday

2006-05-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Alison is 20 today. She was born on a Friday afternoon in 1986 at Crouse-Irving Memorial Hospital in the City of Syracuse, New York. It was a long day. I went home completely exhausted and I hadn't done a thing.
I remember getting up on Saturday morning and thinking my life has really changed now. And it has.
Alison was a very pleasent baby. She just didn't eat the first week of her life. But then she came around. May 9th. A day I'll never forget!

School Days in May

2006-05-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

The last weeks of school are flying by but each class period itself seems to drag and sap energy from both teachers and students.

Today I lectured on Vietnam. It went ok. For my government class we talked about immigration. Fulton youth is not a friend to the illeagal immigrants.

I was called at 8:30 to sub at the Junior High. My last class at the high school is over at 10:45. I had to go over to the junior high for an 11:20 class. I taught a 20 minute study hall followed by two 80 minute classes. So today I taught an equivilant of 7 - 40 minute classes. Most teachers do 5. On a Monday that is especially brutal. I opted out of going to Carrier this afternoon.

I am putting off writing my Our Town Essay that is due on Tuesday evening. I am blogging instead.

1st Sunday in May

2006-05-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ellen worked a charity auction last night. She met Greg Robinson, the SU Football coach, at the event. She said he was nice. She wasn't sure exactly who he was when she met him.

I stayed up and waited for her last night and we watch SNL together. Tom Hanks was the guest host. It wasn't very funny. I fell asleep before the weekend update.

Started painting the shed this morning. Felt like Tom Sawyer but no one came out to watch me. Need to mow the back lawn this morning.

Watched a PBS show yesterday, Two days in October, about Vietnam. I think I might show it to my class. Its about an ambush in Vietnam on the 17th and the Dow Chemical sit-in the next day at the University of Wisconsin. 1967 what a year. The Colts only lost one game and they didn't make the playoffs!

Alison's birthday is the 9th. The cherry tree next door is in bloom. I remember a cherry tree in bloom when she came home from the hospital. She is going to be 20.
Her plans are to live in Cortland next year. She is going to transfer to Cortland State.

I have to write a paper on "Our Town" today. I am putting off doing it. I am slowly getting tired of writing papers. My media class is over. I got an A. I am taking two on-line classes this summer, Women's Lit and English Lit. Should be ok.

School is winding down. They have a live DWI presentation on Wednesday this week. The prom is Saturday. Ellen is going to the senior ball but I don't know when that is. Five more weeks of classes and then two weeks of finals. I have a department meeting on Tuesday and thats when I'll learn whats expected of me during finals.

I watched 2 minutes of baseball last night. That sport bores me to tears on TV.

Lacrosse Weekend

2006-05-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was beautiful so I decided not to go up to the Dome and watch SU play UMass in lacrosse. The game was on TV. Diana suggested we go to the game on the 6th, which was today, at Colgate. Colgate is about 45 minutes a way. The drive is nice and the campus is picturesque.

We woke up this morning and it was cold and rainy. So I watched the game on TV. Good call. People in the stands looked cold and wet.

I have a shed in my back yard. It houses my lawn mower, the snow blower, assorted tools and junk. Last fall I repaired a hole in the roof and replaced a rotted side panel. Last night I shingled the entire roof and replaced another side panel. I am using the word I, but it was really we, as in myself and Dave. Dave owns the company I work for. That is both of us on the roof in the picture. I am the one showing his good side to the camera. As you can see the roof is really sturdy.

Sunday Sunday

2006-04-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

It was another beautiful day. Ellen got home from Atlanta around 1:00. She survived the 17 hour bus drive. The team had a dissapointing competion, finishing 1-6 in the Archimedes Division.

Listening to the tunes of 1964 which was a memorable year for me and AM radio. That was the year our family traveled across the country in a 64 Chevy Impala on Route 66. It was also the year of the Beatles but what I remember is Roger Miller.

"Trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let for 50 cents."

You know the guy, "chug-a-lug-chug-a-lug".

I did a lesson using Billy Joel's "We didn't start the Fire" on Friday. It went ok. Fridays are tough. Starting the Cold War. Joel's song starts in 1949. He was a baby boomer.
I bracketed the era with three years - 49, 69, 89. 1989 being the end of the Cold War and the year of birth for most of the kids in the class.

Lawn Care

2006-04-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

The Deck in the back yard.
The yellow bush in my back yard.
My front yard - April 28, 2006

My back yard - April 28, 2006

Daily Life

2006-04-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

I am still not sure what blogging is all about. I figure if I just write about my day to day life it will be a series of complaints about everything that has gone wrong that day. Boring.
Today I woke up in bed by myself. Diana was on a business trip. I used the snooze. Drove to Fulton for school. It takes about 20-25 minutes. I like to leave about 6:50 AM. I usually leave at 7:00 AM.
Today I gave a unit test on World War II and Korea. I haven't graded any of the tests yet. I had about 5 kids missing in each class so I am waiting until everybody takes it before I grade it.
I spent a lot of time making copies today. I am a little ahead of the game right now. I need to spend some time tomorrow filing to really get ahead.
Drove to Carrier, got there about 1:00 PM. Not much happening. Left about 3:15. Diana was home from Schnectady. We ate dinner and I was off to OCC for a 6:00 PM class.
Class was pretty boring. We are doing Our Town. Last week was the Great Gatsby. Class is over 3 hours long and she talks a lot. Got home about 9:30 and started blogging.
Alison had car trouble today. She called AAA and got it taken care of. Good for her.
Ellen is in Atlanta for robotics.
I am going to watch Survivor now. Diana taped it for me.

2006-04-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me in Shanghai in the winter of 2005. I was on a business trip. I am an ocasional traveler. Just last week I went to
Marion, Ohio to visit a brother. Actually he is my only brother. We both play in a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball League.

2006-04-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

I am in the Frost Heaves Fan Club. The Frost Heaves are Vermont's ABA basketball franchise. I recently voted for a head coach. The guy I voted for won the election. I only voted for him because he was from Vermont

What is this blogging?

2006-04-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

Many people may wonder, why with such good programs on the television, would anyone decide to type on the computer. I was watching some really good tv and my wife says to me go on in there and blog. I think maybe she didn't want to watch "Big Bass Boat". But here I am on the blogg.