Blog Archives - The Land of the Weird

The Land of the Weird

Up Too Late

6/15/2017

This entire week I've found myself staying up past midnight without good cause. Already this summer I find myself losing track of time. The fact that it's only twilight up here at midnight probably doesn't help the cause, but I think part of the reason is that I'm used to staying up past when my sons have gone to sleep, and they all have later bedtimes for summer.

Part of my problem is my addiction to Overwatch as I try to get a platinum ranking again for this season. The game certainly has a successful loop for keeping one interested in it. Part of me wonders if I should stop playing the game cold turkey. Another part kicks that part under the desk and boots up the program.

We have been slowly getting things accomplished. The outdoor thermometer and hammock chair are now up. Trevor has his driver's permit (we've been taking driving practice VERY slow). The younger boys are working on their summer workbooks. The cabin is ready for guests. I've even been exercising (which freaked out my dogs today).

Still I should probably go to bed a bit sooner. Probably, I should start by not playing "one more match" after sending Trevor to bed.

Teaching

6/14/2017

Two of my friends retired today. As today was the end of the school year in Michigan, I can only image that today was a bittersweet day. Most people who stay in the teaching profession long enough to retire are there because they love what they do. However, they have also been there long enough to see the downward slide that our nation's attitude has taken to our profession. They've watched as students became more disruptive and distracted while piles of paperwork and useless tasks bound up much of a teacher's time.

I love teaching, but the bureaucracy and prejudice that are working against teachers is staggering. Add to that the job uncertainties: the drastic changes in pensions, healthcare, even job security has made such a specialized, educated profession much less desireable. We are seeing it in a significant drop in the number of people entering teaching programs in college and in the large number of people leaving the profession each year.

I believe that the only way for a democratic republic to work is if all of its citizens has access to a free, quality education. I have watched as politicians have continually demanded that schools and teachers do more while giving them less. That trend frightens me, and I believe that we are already starting to see the results.

Still, this is a battle that I will continue to fight. Every student who I help is another victory towards a better future.

Superhero Movies

6/13/2017

Today was certainly a superhero themed day. The boys and I watched 2 1/3 superhero movies, two of which we had never seen before but would be willing to see again. The first was the Incredible Hulk (the second Hulk movie). We had recently finished all of the Batman movies (starting with Tim Burton's) and decided to start on the Marvel Universe. The boys do not remember this Hulk movie, and I mostly enjoyed it when I saw it, so we watched about a third of it while we were eating lunch.

We then left for the theater to watch the new Wonder Woman movie. We all enjoyed it. There are some mythological elements that I was uncomfortable with (for both religious and literary reasons), the main reveal raised a great deal more questions than provide any sort of "ah ha" moment [although, for history buffs, there is an implication in the reveal that I do not believe was intentional, but certainly has had me thinking], the villains were a bit ... weak, and some of the fight scenes were just ... too much. That said, young Diana is adorable enough to be worth the price of admission alone. Gal Gadot and Chris Pine were remarkably well cast. Like the other movies in this DC universe, some of the shots look like they came directly from a comic book (which is a good thing in my opinion). Plus, I got to see Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) as a kick-butt Amazon general. The boys said that they liked it even better than Iron Man (which we just recently watched). I don't think that I rank it quite that high, but it's one of the better DC movies (certainly the best in this DC universe -- which doesn't include Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy).

This evening we watched The LEGO Batman Movie. Set in the same universe as The LEGO Movie (which I love), this lighthearted, yet surprisingly deep, comic take on Batman was enjoyable from start (including the opening logos) to finish (although I expected more in the credits). Basically, this movie plays like it came straight out of the imagination of an incredibly funny 11 year old who grew up watching Batman movies and 80s entertainment. There were a quite a few laugh out loud moments. I'm not quite sure where I would rank it in comparison to The LEGO Movie or even other superhero movies, but I certainly plan to watch it again.

Day Off

6/12/2017

I've been running a figurative marathon for over a week. It started with my flight on June 1st, continued through the nine days of work and travel that followed, and then ended with yesterday's church gathering and picnic as well as the two papers I had to write. Even today had a trip to the dump, a doctor's visit (regular diabetic checkup ... I keep fending off the high blood pressure medicine), and a cabin to clean and prepare for tomorrow's renter. That said, I still got in some quality Overwatch time before its current special event ended.

I have yet to really establish a rhythm for my time during the week. It's going to take some planning and a bit of adjustment to make certain that I do not simply let this summer slip by. So far, the two main events that I've trying to make certain I incorporate are workouts and job searches. I would not say that either have been that productive so far.

The Feast of the Holy Trinity

6/11/2017

Today's celebration was made even more special because it combined the parishes in the area for one special event. We met in Ninilchik (an hour's drive from my house towards Homer) at the fairgrounds to share in celebration, food, and games. The sun did not come out, the temperature was a little low, and the breeze was coming off the Inlet, but the rain stayed away for the entire mass and we had a good time anyway.

Only Trevor and I were up in the choir with the local guitarist. Either the cold, distance, or the prospect of rain kept our normal compatriots away (except our deacon who was performing his duties). Still, people seemed to enjoy the music nonetheless.

This is the second year that they have held this multi-parish gathering. Although I was grumbling a bit in anticipation, especially considering the distance, I was glad I attended. I just hope to see more sun [read: any] at next year's event.

Safely Home

6/10/2017

Today was a long day of flying. I'm continually amazed at how spending hours sitting in cramped chairs can make me so exhausted. As today's flights were during the day, the airports were much more crowded than my flights out to Salt Lake City. I will say that the flight crews today seemed to be in good mood, creating some very positive atmospheres on the flights.

I had a good time at Salt Lake City. I met up with old friends, made some new ones, learned a great deal, and generally enjoyed each day. I was surprised at how fast the days flew (although I feel like I say that a lot). Still, even though Janelle immediately had me shopping, chopping up melons for the fruit salad we're bringing to the church picnic, and helping to put up a fence around the new raised garden, I am really glad to be home.

SLC 2017 - Day Eight

6/9/2017

It is a bittersweet day. It is nice to be done with grading and to get ready to go home, but it is sad to know that it will be (at best) two years before I get to hang out with these wonderful and dedicated people again. In a sense, it's kind of like the end of summer camp, one where you make great friends and had a good time even if you were a bit homesick the whole time.

Despite a surprise set of boxes that contained ungraded and half-graded essays, we still ended early today. I used the opportunity to go to the Family History Library and set up my online account. I worked on filling in a bit of my family tree, and discovered that someone (I'm guessing it was my Aunt Keisha) filled in about 16 generations of the family tree on my mom's side of the family, all the way to the 1400s on some of the roots.

Now, having said most of my goodbyes and packed nearly everything for tomorrow, I'm nearly ready to leave Salt Lake City once again. I'm not really looking forward to the flights tomorrow, but I'm certainly looking forward to being home.

SLC 2017 - Day Seven

6/8/2017

Today's reading went by pretty smoothly. Our table leader had us slow down a bit as it's easy for careless "senior-itis" mistakes to get through after grading essays for so long. That said, I had to slow down a bit anyway as today's essays were, by and large, of longer length and better quality than the past couple of days. I even had a couple of essays that were so good they restored my faith in humanity once again.

It looks like we will finish tomorrow with no problems (they have had to stay late ... even for extra days ... in years past). The scope and logistics of this sort of operation stagger my mind. They have to calculate the number of people needed to grade 300,000+ students' essays in the course of seven days (my day seven counts the day of my arrival, which was the day before the essay grading started) so that we all finish at about the right time. If we finish too soon, that is obviously wasted money. If we finish too late, they have to pay a LOT more (especially if flights and hotels have to be rearranged). To top it off, it was a new test this year. They had to base the average reader's pace off of a sample test that they ran last year. That's some crazy math!

I used my Uber app for the first time today to go to the Natural History Museum of Utah's viking exhibit. It was informative and interesting, but I don't know if it was worth the overall cost (admission and Uber). The rest of the museum was blocked off (they kept this section open for us World History teachers at special request) so I didn't get to see their dinosaur section. The gift shop was closed. Also, they didn't have any of the cardboard viking hats left by the time I asked (I had hoped to at least get a couple for the boys). Still, I enjoyed my time there and I certainly learned some interesting elements of viking life.

Included are some pictures from the museum. I took pictures of all of the swords I saw. In most of them, I tried to get my hand in the picture to give a sense of scale (and to not how small the sword hilts were ... none of these were used two-handed). One set of broaches looks like viking figit spinners. There is also a picture of a snail that was on the sidewalk outside of my hotel this morning.

SLC 2017 - Day Six

6/7/2017

I had a rough start to the day as I had an intestinal reaction to something last night (most likely because I had missed a day of medication on Sunday) and did not sleep well at all. Thankfully, I was feeling more like myself (if a bit tired) by morning. Honestly, I haven't slept the best on these beds (nice as they are).

This is always one of the hardest days for me. We passed the "hump" day, but are still on full-on mode. It's not until tomorrow that we have a better idea of what our pacing needs to be for the last two days of grading. Thus, today was a bit of a slog. It didn't help that I was so tired. I even got out of my seat and did a few push ups to keep the blood flowing.

I know that I've gained a little bit of weight just due to my rather sedentary schedule, not to mention the great food, this week. However, I've been good about not snacking during the breaks, and I even avoided those wonderful fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies at lunch ... I did not, however, avoid the ice cream sundae bar or the small slice of tiramisu. This place is certainly awash with food temptations.

Once again, I had to come directly back from working to get my class assignments done. Although one was a little bit more frustrating (due to technical issues) than I had expected, I am caught up for the time being. That means I can go to the Viking exhibit tomorrow with a clear conscience.

SLC 2017 - Day Five

6/6/2017

Today, we passed the midway point of our time here in Salt Lake City. The reading went pretty well. While I am much more concerned with accuracy than speed, I have become much more efficient in grading the essays and was thus able to get through many more than I did yesterday. Part of it is about building a routine.

I would like to point out to any non-essay-grading people out there: it has only been on the fourth day of 8 to 5 work days that I have been able to grade over a hundred 0-7 handwritten page essays in an eight hour block of time. That is fewer students than I see on a given school day. This is grading only, with no comments written. This is with some of the essays being completely blank or barely a paragraph long. This is done in a nearly completely silent environment with the peer pressure of having hundreds of highly professional people diligently working on the same task around me. There is a reason that it takes teachers so long to grade your or your children's papers.

Anyway, today was also our dine-out night. This year we forewent any establishment that required a reservation and went to Rich's Burgers and Grub for dinner and Capo Gelateria for dessert. While I preferred Chedda Burger, Rich's was still pretty tasty. The gelato was fantastic! It was a nice evening, spent with great people.

I returned to work on homework and plan to head to bed a bit earlier this evening (no late night insurance searching tonight).

SLC 2017 - Day Four

6/5/2017

Since we worked through the weekend, today felt more like a Wednesday than a Monday; although, tomorrow's our actual halfway point. The essay reading went smoothly, even if this new rubric has me reading about 25% slower than last year. Part of this is because we have four times the amount of bubbling. Instead of just giving one score for the essay, we are now giving scores in four different categories. Hopefully, this will give AP World teachers better data to help hone their lessons (even if one category has both the easiest and the hardest points to get in the essay: thesis and argument).

It was much cooler today with highs only reaching into the mid 80s, but it is still much too warm for my taste.

I've certainly not been as active this time as previous years. Coming back to the hotel to work on homework (or drift into a nap while trying to do homework) is not nearly as exciting as the daily excursions I had gone out on the past two years. I didn't even bring my swim suit this time around (which I do regret). Thankfully, tomorrow is our dine-out night, so I'll be out and about at least a bit more. I have nothing really planned for Wednesday or Friday (when I have some assignments due), but Thursday will be my museum trip to see the Viking exhibit.

Well, back to reading ...

SLC 2017 - Day Three

6/4/2017

I'm keeping this short because it is late and I need to go to bed. I graded essays from 8-5. I walked to the Cathedral of the Madeleine for Pentecost Mass at 6pm after which, I rode in my first Uber trip halfway back to my hotel. I then walked the rest of the way to the hotel and worked on homework (with a bit of a stall in the middle) until just a few moments ago. It's been a packed day.

SLC 2017 - Day Two

6/3/2017

Technically, this is the first actual work day, and ... wow ... I forgot how tiring these days truly are.

I usually leave the hotel to walk to the Salt Palace for breakfast by 7am, getting there by about 7:15. In the past, this usually gives me some quite time at the breakfast table with some of my friends. However, today, the place was packed! I have received varying numbers, but they have apparently recruited anywhere from 400 to 600 more teachers and professors than last year to help with just the world history test.

Our first half of the day is spent receiving instruction on how to score the essay we are assigned. This test had six different written responses with one of them including a choice, and then at least three versions of the test. I believe that separates us into over twenty different groups, but I could be wrong.

The second half of this first day is then spent paired up and going through our first "live" essays at a slow pace. We then compare our scores with our partners, occasionally asking the various levels of readers for clarification as we make certain that we are all scoring consistently. This way, no matter who gets a student's essay, that student should receive the same score.

We finished at 5pm. I ate dinner, walked home, and have been working on homework since (I have nothing due today, but a couple of things due tomorrow that I am trying to get a jump on). The plan is to go to bed in another hour or so and start the process again.

All I want to do at the moment is go to sleep.

Salt Lake City (SLC) 2017 - Day One

6/2/2017

For the most part, I had good flights. The last one was a little over-warm for my taste, but I suppose that it was just preparing me for my next week as it is much warmer here than I would like. I also did not get much in the way of sleep, catching only a few hours during my second flight.

It has been really nice to once again get back in touch with friends from the last couple of years. It's so strange that such a grueling session of essay grading can create such rewarding experiences. That said, I'm already missing my family and my home.

These mountains are impressive, but they're not my mountains. The air is not as sweet. The sun is setting entirely too soon considering the time of year. The temperatures are stifling.

I don't have pets climbing into my lap, both asking for and providing comfort. I don't have my children trying to share something that they learned to love today. I don't have my wife to talk with or hold.

I still believe that what I am here to do is worthwhile. It's good to be around these friends again. I have learned a great deal from this each time and am well-reimbursed financially.

However, it's going to be a long week if I'm already homesick.