This month is about to end with me heading to Kansas City for the AP World History Exam Reading. I'm packed up and ready to go, so I figured that I should write this post while I still have access to my computer and a full sized keyboard. I've been tempted to purchase a traveling keyboard for occasions just like this one. Anyway, May has been a busy month in many ways and a month for waiting in others. Here are some of the highlights:

• I came to the decision that I'm going to hold off on purchasing a new vehicle for at least another year (barring the something unforeseen changing my mind again). Mera (my Prius) has been a great car for me, and she's still driving well. With her newly fixed smile (front bumper), she seems as good as new.
• I finalized my travel arrangements to Michigan for the end of July and beginning of August.
• Rowen surprised us by inviting friends over for his birthday. They all seemed to have fun while they were here. 
• On a similar note, Rowen has passed Janelle in terms of height. He did so just before he turned thirteen. 
• We enjoyed watching Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 at the theater. I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I hope to have a Guardians marathon either this summer if the DVD is out by then.
• I replaced the LED bulbs in our refrigerator (which is only a couple of years old).
• My AP students had their exam--the one which I'm heading Outside to grade. We will know how they did in July.
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released, and my wife and children have all played it while I am waiting until their fervor dies down before starting. Rowen has already beaten the main questline. Connor is using an emulator on his computer to play (which is technically legal as we do own a copy of the game) because he can make the graphics look better that way. Janelle is trying to squeeze in game time whenever she can.
• Speaking of games, I defeated Elden Ring, including its most difficult boss. I was determined to do so despite my frustration with many of the game's elements to demonstrate that my complaints weren't because I wasn't "gud" enough for it. I will be avoiding it and any similar games in the future.
• I have pictures documenting that over a dozen students decided to dress as me for "dress as your favorite teacher day"--Hawaiian shirts, facial hair, hip pouches, and all.
• It's finally been warm enough to wear shorts, even to one of Connor's track meets.
• I made a list of items to accomplish this summer (that has thus far been largely ignored).
• The school year came to a close, and Connor applied for a job (and was hired).
• I climbed onto my metal roof and put my Starlink dish at the highest point that I could get to. It was traumatizing. Even thinking about it gave me a wave of vertigo just now.
• Janelle and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary by going down to Homer together. 
• Our union president, who is my friend, was arrested for allegedly having sex with one of his students years ago. For a variety of reasons, I do not believe he is guilty of the charges. Hopefully, he will be found innocent and released soon.
• We had our last bit of snow finally melt from the ground last week.
• I enjoyed playing and finishing the short Horizon Burning Shores DLC.
• I finally took down our holiday lights. 
• Janelle and I made a Costco run to Anchorage and back. 
• Connor is now the first in our family to have a credit union account here on the peninsula. He wanted a way to more easily access the money that he is getting from his first job (at Sweeney's).

May has been a busy month. I wouldn't mind if June was a little bit more mellow, but I doubt that it will be.

It's too late to back out, but I don't want to go to the AP Reading. I really don't want to face airports again, let alone the exhausting work of grading essays (at speed) for eight hours a day for eight days. Meanwhile, the temperatures are set to be in the high eighties and low nineties while I am there. The real bright spot will be seeing my friends again.

I still need to pack for the trip. I'm thinking of forgoing my Hawaiian shirts (except maybe one for when I go to church) and sticking to just T-shirts to reduce my packing load and to better follow the day-by-day themes. I believe that I can pack for the nine days using just a backpack, which would make airport travel MUCH easier. I haven't fully decided, but the idea is certainly gaining appeal. I've certainly come a long way since my first Reading when I packed a full-sized suitcase. 

Tomorrow, I also need to play dad taxi for a while with Connor, including setting up a credit union account--I'm thinking at Global--so that he can better access his money. The problem is that our current credit union is in Michigan and will not issue him a debit card unless we present him there in person. Meanwhile, he just received his first official paycheck. Sweeney's was kind enough to give him a job this summer.

I'll probably feel better about my trip once I'm actually there. I just don't like being gone from home--especially in the summer. I'm already counting the days until I get back.

The deadline for nominations for the special election to fill the sudden union president vacancy is tomorrow. Just as I have no desire to take an administrative job in education, I have no interest in being (letting along running for) union president. That fact did not stop me from daydreaming about what my "campaign" would be. It would run something like this:

Don't vote for me. Here are some reasons why:

1. I don't want the job. While I would do a great job as union president, I am too excited about teaching next school year to give that up for an office job (something I actively avoided when choosing careers). In particular, I get to teach AP U.S. History for the first time (and am taking a class this summer in preparation), I will have my second season as a coach for our newly formed DDF team (and I almost know what I'm doing), I'll be recruiting more for the 2025 Japan trip, and I will have Connor in my AP World class. 
2. My politics tick everyone off. I'm too liberal for most conservatives and too conservative for most liberals. As a specific example, I believe that trans students should be treated with dignity and guarded from harassment. Teachers should use the names, nicknames, and pronouns which the student requests out of courtesy and respect. However, I do not believe that students who were male and have transitioned into females should be allowed to compete in girls' sports teams due to the significant biological advantages that their birth gender provides. Nor do I believe (and I apologize for the crudity) that people with penises should be in any school room (such as bathrooms or locker rooms) where people with vaginas are in a state of undress, and vice versa. I do believe that schools need to make arrangements for trans students to not have to use the restrooms or locker rooms for the gender with which they no longer identify.
3. I often don't agree with the majority of the union members. As a specific example, I am still furious about the tiered health care system that the majority of our union members voted to adopt. I don't believe that they have an understanding of the unfairness of the system nor the long term harm that it has brought and is going to bring. It was for this reason that I stepped down as building representative last year; I simply did not feel that I could represent a union when it made such regrettable decisions.
4. I believe that our school board and administrators are genuinely trying to do what they think is best for our school system. I do not agree with all of their ideas, but I do not think that they approach their positions from a standpoint of malice towards public education (well, maybe one or two, but not the vast majority). This might mean that I am too trusting--or even downright naive. Especially as this is a negotiation year, people usually want more aggressive personalities to deal with what they often consider "the enemy."
5. I wouldn't dress the part. I would be in Hawaiian shirts and casual pants or shorts unless the situation specifically demanded that I dress up (such as in a court situation or when addressing the state legislature). I feel that the tie and suitcoat are thankfully quickly disappearing fashions that I do not want to support.

In short, many people would be unhappy if I were to become union president--especially me. 

From a historical standpoint, the events of the first Pentecost might be the most significant of the New Testament. Until the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus' disciples, they were content to remain in hiding. Without their change of heart due to the inspiration given to them, all of the teachings of Jesus could have disappeared into something less than a historical footnote. Instead, overcoming their fear of persecution and death, His disciples headed out into public and began their missionary work, spreading the Good News.

They were clearly changed men. As our pastor pointed out in today's homily, Peter, who was certainly not know for his eloquence and who had denied even knowing Jesus, is now able to give an impassioned speech that converts thousands as he boldly proclaims Jesus' teachings and miracles. As he and the others proclaim the Gospel, people of all different nationalities are able to understand them in their native languages. Here, then, is the beginning of the Christian mission--the true birthday of the Church.

Christian religions have not all had the best track record. There are plenty of instances of atrocities horribly committed by people who claimed to be doing God's work even today. However, the message of Christ is still the greatest one that our world has ever known. Spreading the love of God and the message to love and forgive one another is a mission that is always relevant. Had it not been for that blessed Pentecost almost two thousand years ago, we would have never known it.

Janelle and I took a day trip up to Anchorage and back as we've been running low on supplies that we usually replenish at Costco. Strangely, I've been up to Anchorage more this year than any other at this point in time, but because those trips were due to DDF events or the Rome and Athens trip, I did not have the opportunity to do any shopping at Costco. Thus, I believe that it's been about five months since our last trip up. Usually, we try to do a run every two to three months.

We also had the opportunity to have lunch and play a couple of games of Catan with one of our friends. I have to say that I look forward to that more than any time spent in Costco (although, for whatever reason, I do like shopping there more than anywhere else). Quite frankly, we don't get hang out nearly as often as we would like. 

Even though it was a cloudy, drizzly day, the view on the drive were still awe-inspiring. With the melting of the heavy of amounts of snow these mountains received this past winter, the waterfalls were running at full force. This is such a beautiful place. I hope to never tire of this drive, even if the drive itself might be a bit tiring. 

Thus we had a full day that saw a lot of time inside Janelle's SUV, but still felt rewarding.

I finally took down our holiday lights today. It seemed fitting for them to get boxed up now that the snow is finally gone (by the way, a little bit was still left this morning, but it has since disappeared). We haven't needed them to fend against the darkness for a while now; although, they have been nice in warding off gloomy days like today. The kitchen and dining room certainly look less festive and a bit more bland.

Still, one appreciates decorations more when they are not up all of the time. We tend to enjoy novelty--even if it is repeated. In about six months, we will put the lights up again, and they will brighten our lives once more. 

It's May 25th, and we still have snow in our yard. Granted, the snow is from the pile that was a combination of what was on the ground and what came off the roof. Also, it's on the side of the house that gets very little direct sunlight throughout most of the year. Still, it's sitting there.

I believe that it will be gone by tomorrow. Although the temperature has not been particularly high, we've had a steady rain throughout the day, and rain is supposed to continue through the night. While I would be surprised to see anything left of that minimal pile in the morning, a part of me wonders if it is just stubborn enough to stick around for a little bit longer.

I don't have any concrete proof, but I believe that this is the latest that we've still had snow on the ground in our yard. I know for a fact that I have had to mow the lawn earlier than this on multiple years. This year, I don't plan on mowing it until after I get back from Kansas City after a third of June is over ("No-Mow May" is easy for me).

Certainly, this little patch of snow will be gone by then. 

As I have mentioned, Mera (my Prius) has sported a damaged front bumper ever since our accident in early February. While she suffered no damage to her internal workings, she was left with what looked like a broken jaw. Unfortunately, body shops in our area (that are approved by our insurance) were booked out for months. I was able to make her appointment today only by setting it over three months in advance.

Kenai Auto did a fantastic job with her. Aside from missing the front license plate (which was the main culprit for the majority of her damage and is no longer legally required), she's back to (and better than) what I remembered. One of the things that I love about the Prius' design in 2014 is that the front end looked so happy. 

For now, I'm going to avoid venting my frustration about the accident itself, uninsured drivers, or insurance companies, as I'm just so glad that she's smiling again. 

I am fascinated by the world of the Horizon series. For a post-apocalyptic series, this world is filled with wonder and hope. Thankfully, this expansion gave me a reason to spend more time in it. Once again, the writers manage to flesh out more of their remarkable world in mostly believable ways. 

I say mostly believable, because some of the story elements are tremendously campy with various characters acting in almost cartoonish ways--which is a bit jarring considering the otherwise grim depictions given of the world as it was approaching its apocalypse. I was also particularly bothered by the villain whose head (perhaps symbolically) was noticeably too big for his body. I'm also a little concerned that this DLC--due to some of the events in its story--has essential information that players will need before the next game comes out. The DLC for the previous game (which I felt was better in terms of story and game design changes) was not as essential and was thus more forgivable as an add-on. This should have been part of the main game from the start.

With those issues aside, I loved playing the game. I particularly like using a flying mount (who gets a great upgrade) through most of the game, and I hope that the next game allows its use from the beginning. This DLC used clever ways of limiting the flight ability from time to time which were believable for both the story and the game mechanics. Basically, this DLC makes a great game even better.

I found out today that a colleague and friend of mine was arrested this past weekend. He is accused of having sexual relations with one of his students five years ago. I do not believe that he is guilty of this; however, I do believe that all accusations of this nature need to be taken seriously and fully investigated. I also believe that a full examination of the evidence from that investigation will exonerate him. 

 Again, I believe that it is essential that allegations of this nature should be fully investigated. Too often, victims of sexual abuse are ignored or even made into further victims in retaliation due to their accusations. However, I also personally know of two occasions where a student falsely accused a teacher of sexual abuse out of a way of getting attention or holding power over the teacher. Sadly, I personally know of three other occasions where the allegations ended up being true.

Unfortunately, just the allegations can completely ruin an educator's career. This is one of the main reasons that I try to leave my classroom door open if there are any students in my classroom, and definitely if there are only one or two students in there. This is why I do not invite students (other than friends of the family) over to my house. This is why I try to limit communications with students by using the school email only. However, this year, I did have to branch out to the Remind app for DDF and then Whatsapp while traveling to Italy and Greece. Even with that, I am terrified of this sort of accusation. All it takes is one allegation and, at best, a teacher's life can be put in a spiral for months.

The news reports I have now read and heard about my friend have certainly cast an early judgment on him. From their headlines to the way the alleged evidence is framed in their stories, it seems clear that they are looking for sensationalism more than fact. Clearly, there was enough evidence for him to be arrested, but I have seen that done to an innocent educator before--which I believe is the case here. The thoughts of what he and his family are going through are horrifying. 

My heart and prayers go out to him and his family. Honestly, my prayers go out for his accuser as well. While my friend was not the cause, this person is clearly dealing with some sort of trauma--however misdirected their actions are.

The word "terrified" literally means to shake with fear. This is slightly different than stupefied which is to be unable to think (often due to fear) or petrified which is to be unable to move (often due to fear). Today, I was terrified, so fearful that I could not keep my shaking under control. For me, this was actually an improvement as my fear of heights has actually left me petrified and stupefied in the past. However, I'm still recovering from the experience all of these hours later. 

I was attaching my Starlink to the top of the gable on the roof of my house this afternoon. This is well over thirty feet from the ground. The job required me to look over the edge of the roof to drill into the gable as we do not have a ladder that goes that high (nor do I think that I would have enjoyed that either). I was not able to reach far enough down to attach the cord to the soffit, and even thinking about my attempt to do so to write it down now is giving me vertigo. 

We had a full morning leading up to this time of terror. We had taken care of the trash (which had been piling up due to a couple of busy Saturdays) and the dog yard (which had piles from the winter) and decided to eat lunch before tackling this multi-step project. After finding the pieces and the new cord for the system (since the old one had been crunched in a couple of windows), I drilled a hole in our wall and put the new cord threw it. 

We then had to remove the satellite dish from the top of the garage's gable. Connor was overwhelmed by the experience, but Janelle asked to go up before I made my attempt. Although the job was an awkward one, she managed to do it rather easily. Her only issue was that she got a little stuck coming down. Connor thought that she said that her boots were stuck, but she wasn't wearing boots. Thankfully, she was able to get unstuck and come back down without further incident. 

I went up and removed the long wall mount, but Connor finished up with removing the anchors that held the cable in place along the garage's soffit. We then moved the ladder to the back of the house (the most level place that can reach the edge of the roof). Connor wanted to see if he could handle it. When he got to the top of the ladder, he declared that we needed to hire someone else to do this for us.

Although I was in full agreement, we had passed the point of no return if I wanted to restore our Internet anytime soon. I took everything I need up and took my first tentative steps onto the roof. For me it was as momentous as Neil Armstrong's steps on the moon; although, I did not handle it nearly as bravely. I was hunched over, ready to drop to my hands and knees, fearful that I would start sliding off the metal roof. 

I was able to straighten a bit as I got more comfortable with the broad expanse of our roof and was able to move the cable around from the back of the house (where I climbed up with it on the ladder) to the front where I was going to attach the dish. However, when I got to the edge, terror swept through me. I took steps back and sat down. I then crawled over and peered over the edge. I was trembling so bad that I did not see how I would be able to even hold the drill, let alone drill in pilot holes. 

I decided to move back and take some pictures with my phone. I couldn't complete a full panoramic as I was shaking too much (the anti-shake technology on these cameras is amazing) and was too afraid to turn too far around. I then decided to go to the edge again. I noticed that Janelle was taking pictures of me, and I was mortified (scared to death) that she was recording one of my most terrified moments and yelled for her to stop. In retrospect (and no longer having my mind trapped in fear), I'm glad that she took them. 

To complete the job, I laid down on the roof and shakily made the attachments needed while looking down that thirty foot drop. I would then shimmy down the roof to the next anchor point--which I did a couple of times. Unfortunately, I was entirely unable to face my fear of two roof edges, so I did not get the cable all the was to the end of the gable. 

I was most concerned about getting back onto the ladder from the roof. I deeply wished that there could be a trampoline or pile of matrices that I could just jump down to instead (yeah, right). Surprisingly, I made it onto the ladder almost without a thought. I don't know if I can fully express how happy I was to be on the ground again. I now fully understand the compulsion that some people have to kiss the ground after a traumatic experience.

The underside of the soffit at the end of the roof was still beyond the reach of our fully extended ladder. Still, Connor insisted that he wanted to finish up attaching the cable, which he did after taking the time to calm himself. We then placed the cable covers to each side of the hole in our wall and turned on the system. I doesn't seem markedly improved from its other location, but it is working--which had been a concern.

I don't know if the move to the higher location was the best decision on my part. We needed to exchange the cable before putting it through the wall--which we needed to do if we wanted to open the upstairs window again, and I figured that we might as well move it since we would be up there anyway. However, now I'm not so sure; I certainly don't want to go up there again--ever. I don't know what I will do if it has a problem--especially in the winter.

Well, it's done. I survived. That's already a lot to be grateful for.

On my list of things to work on this summer, I almost completely forgot the number of things that I need to do outside. They include the following (in no particular order):

1. Clean up the "presents" that dogs (ours and guests) have left behind in the yard. 
2. Clean the deck (which includes some of the number 2 from number one on this list).
3. Set out the summer furniture, basketball hoop, exercise rings, and hammock swing.
4. Repair the screen to one of the cabin windows (damaged from shoveling out that area after the garage roof snow came done).
5. Set up the aluminum patio gazebo that we bought this winter over the fire pit. I fully expect this project to be utterly frustrating.
6. Clean up the trees that I felled last year, especially the group that I took down in the winter to give my Starlink a clearer view of the sky.
7. Take down even more of the beetle-kill in the yard as well as some of the young trees that are growing too close to the house.
8. Work on straightening the fence in the dog yard a bit more after the damage to it this winter. 

I think that is it for my list. Janelle has some gardening items on hers that includes finishing setting up the center garden with mulch, setting up the greenhouse, planting her garden beds, and setting up new garden beds. Doubtless, she will try to use her wiles to get me to help her despite my complete lack of enthusiasm for such projects.

While faculty and staff still need to go in tomorrow, today was the last day of the 2022-2023 school year for our KPBSD students. While I am certainly happy to start summer vacation--and possibly start catching up on sleep--I am a little sorry to see this school year come to an end. There's not a specific reason why; in fact, there were numerous frustrations this year and a significant reduction to the aforementioned sleep. Still, I deeply enjoyed teaching this year--as I usually do, I suppose.

It was perfect to end with my AP World group. As I had them take their final exam for my class prior to the AP exam so that we could use it to practice, and we spent the past couple of days going over the released free response questions for the AP exam, we used today to play my favorite end-of-the-year party game, Psychiatrist. It's a great game for large groups of people that had us all laughing through the exam period. I will likely see most of these students in my AP U.S. History class next year, but I was still a bit sad to see them go.

Meanwhile, Connor used at least part of his time today to fill out a job application so that we could drop it off on our way home. He walked into the store with his application and then walked back out to say that he already has the job and is supposed to report to work at 10 AM on Tuesday. We don't know specifically what he will be doing at Sweeny's ("the working man's store"), but he's quite excited about having his first (official) job.

Why is watching young people gain confidence and mature such a bittersweet experience?