Planting ice seeds

Yesterday I decided that I must go outside and plant some ice cubes into the ground. My hope is that they cause the temperatures to decrease and the amount of snowfall to increase.Over the next few weeks I will monitor its growth. 

This should ensure that we have a nice, cold winter with loads of snow!

Got the ice cubes (seeds)

Dug a hole. Journey helped start the hole

Seeds planted

Covered up with dirt

Here is to hoping this works and the weekend is the last we see of the 30+ temps until March!

It begins again

My day-to-day subbing starts again tomorrow morning. This is the fun routine of either going to bed knowing  I have a job the next day, or waking up at 5 am to check for jobs. The automated calling starts at 5 am and go till about 8 am for jobs for that day. Then at 5 pm till 10 pm the automated systems calls for jobs for the following day or other days in the future. Basically, I feel as though I must always have my phone on me to have the possibility of getting sub jobs. I can't stand that feeling. If I go for a run or a ski in the evening I feel as if I gotta bring my phone, which I really loathe. The only electronic thing I have with me should be my watch. Blah. It is not all bad though. I get to be loads of different classrooms and I don't have to worry about grading papers in the evening. The districts I am on the list for are Edina, Richfield, Orono, and West St. Paul. Orono and West St. Paul are new so we shall see how they go.

I also went for a nice run tonight. Left with Journey and got in about 9 miles. I do enjoy doing my runs in the nighttime because everything is way less crowded and it's much more quiet. Started at the house and went down to Minnehaha Parkway. We then ran east to Lake Nokomis around part of that and then back home. He is now laying on the floor sleeping. Journey is showing his age (9yrs old), but he can still run with the best of them.

Anyways
I am going to go to bed. Hopefully I can get myself outta bed in the morning to go for a run.

Thanksgiving week

I have finished my long-term sub stint out at Moreland Elementary. I did have a great time out there (some days better than others). I will get on the sub list for ISD 197 and be able to sub out there when a teacher calls in, but otherwise I don't know how frequently I will go out there. It seemed far too short. Once I finally felt as though I had a grasp on the classroom and developed friendships with the staff it ended. I can't stay put forever though, and the principal did give me some great advice on how to get a full time position. I am confident that I will get a full time position sooner than later (although if I don't get one for next fall I will alter my plans).

On another note I started my loppet training on Monday. I have now gone rollerskiing twice. Twice in one week! Damn right. Hopefully we get some great snow soon so I am able to go skiing on one of the many trails within a 30 min drive from my house.

We are dog sitting Theo for the next few days. He sure does like to bark at everything that moves outside. haha

I have also recently acquired a new (to me) road bike frame. Still debating on what I wanna do with it. I could either swap components from my current bike to new frame, or buy a new group set. If I do the group set I would do sram force. Buying a new group is more expensive though... Decisions decisions.

I have also been looking at mtn bikes. Still haven't made up my mind. Part of me wants a single speed because they are fun, but I also would love a high-end mountain bike. I also haven't really saved up enough to drop the cash and I do need a car of some sort.
Blah

I will keep you informed.

Here again

I only have 2 days left out at Moreland Elementary. The past 8 weeks have gone by incredibly fast. I will be sad to leave, but I know that I got an excellent experience and opportunity. It just is annoying that now I finally feel as if I have a grasp on things, made friends with the staff, am in a nice little routine and its just going to end in 4 days time. I guess I will go back to day-to-day subbing. Blah. Such as life.

I still am excited though because I will be able to use this on my resume to pursue other endeavors at other schools. 

Looking ahead is alright though. I will volunteer my coaching expertise (and skiing skills?) for Orono Nordic. I like coaching. It is very fun to see athletes improve and enjoy the sport.  

Sorry for the delay

Hello again,

What can I say? The past month flew by and now it is November. The past few weeks have been absolutely crazy. My long-term sub position is over halfway done. I had conferences the last 2 weeks. Tuesday and Thursday and then Tuesday. Needless to say they ended up being very long days. get to school around 630am and leave around 7pm. It was very fun meeting all the different families. They all went very well too. I think the best part was that the families viewed me as a teacher and not a sub. They actually took what I had to say about their child as legitimate. It was an experience that I will be able to put to use in my quest for a full-time position.

I have been pondering the ideal grade that I would enjoy teaching. So far I have taught (taught being longer than 1 month) 2nd grade and 4th grade. I am thinking I need a middle school long-term sub position to really nail down where I would like to end up. As of late I have been leaning more toward the older population because they can do more higher-order thinking and more in-depth projects. I do enjoy teaching the younglings, but I think I may be better suited for grades 3 and above.

Onto another subject! Cyclocross racing. That sport is fun. I love it. I did the Velo Cx race up in Blaine last Saturday with Mr. Jones. We did the cat 4 race together. I did it on my single speed crosscheck. I don't think I could own a bike that is more fun than that (ok, maybe I could but that's neither here nor there). The race was hard, but the course was very nice. We started in a pack of about 20ish? I am not totally sure on the numbers, but I started somewhere in the middle. Needless to say my starting position wasn't the greatest, but I just kept picking my way thought the crowd. There was a pack of about 4 or 5 guys that were stupid fast so catching them was out of the question. There was 3 guys in front of me that I was chasing hard to catch, but eventually the just kept pulling away and at that time I was in no-mans land. Either way I think I finished well and had a great time (did not crash this time either). They had free beer after the race and beer is always good after a race.

Well, for now that is all I have to say. I will put up another post soon. In the meantime I leave you all with this message: VOTE NO
Vote no for the marriage amendment and vote no for the voter ID law.
also: Go Obama!