Blog Archives - The Land of the Weird

The Land of the Weird

Halloween 2020

10/31/2020

Neither of the older boys were interested in Halloween activities this year. As only Rowen really wanted to do anything, and I needed Trevor to be at the house for when the refrigerator was delivered anyway, we decided to forgo our normal trick-or-treating. Instead, it was just Rowen and I who went to Solid Rock for their outdoor trick-or-treating event.

I was amazed at how packed the place was. The camp workers seemed similarly surprised and found themselves directing traffic up and down their one-lane drive. The trick-or-treating was set up in the Old West town with socially distant candy delivery shutes. Although we were cold by the end (as Rowen insisted he didn't need a coat despite the freezing temperature), I'm glad that we went.

While we were gone, I had Trevor set up a miniature scavenger hunt for Rowen (something Rowen had requested). As Rowen was dressed in the "Iron Spider-man" costume from the last two Avenger movies, I asked Trevor to hide Rowen's Avengers action figures. When we got home, I told him that the Avengers were in trouble and that Spider-man needed to find them to save them. He seemed to enjoy the activity, even if it only lasted for about ten minutes.

We had "mummified" hot dogs for dinner (with salad) and watched the original Ghostbusters for our holiday movie (I wanted to watch The Addams Family, but was outvoted). Earlier, we had watched the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that introduced the Frankenstein's monster-like Adam from season 4 (very Halloween appropriate). Unfortunately, our refrigerator has still not been delivered--the ultimate trick instead of treat. Despite the email which said it would be here between 11am and 1am (which I believe to be a typo), we will likely have to wait until next Tuesday (which was the next open delivery day when I bought the fridge last Tuesday).

It still was a good, if strange, Halloween.

The Orville Season 2

10/30/2020

While Star Trek: Discovery made large improvements in its second season, The Orville faltered. It's not that anything about it was particularly bad, it just didn't seem to go anywhere--literally. For a show about space exploration, there was almost no exploration in any of the episodes. Instead, this season seemed to focus almost entirely on interpersonal relationships.

Ironically, it's almost as though The Orville and Discovery switched places. Out of their first seasons, I preferred the campier, but still heartfelt, Orville and its crew to the constant angst and distrust on the starship Discovery. Also, The Orville seemed to be stuck on the same ideas, making a few of its fourteen episodes feel like filler.

I hope that it can get back on track for the third season--which has had major production delays due to switching production networks (from Fox to Hulu) and then the current pandemic. There were still plenty of good parts in season two, and I still like much of its premise (Star Trek, but with less-than-perfect people). However, I also feel that they need to need to get their ship back on course.

Parent-teacher Conferences Fall 2020

10/29/2020

Like many things this year, Covid completely changed how we ran/are running parent/teacher conferences this year. Instead of our normal open-gym round-robin format, all of our conferences were virtual and based on appointments. While last year's conferences had a low turnout due to the day of the week, this year's virtual conferences clearly was more of a detriment to our numbers. Granted, we would only be seeing half the number anyway as we are teaching half the classes (our "year-long" classes are a semester long this year). Still, the numbers have been disappointingly low even when that is taken into account.

I'm a strange teacher (I suppose I could just end this sentence here) who has come to enjoy parent-teacher conferences. They are a chance to get to see the parents of my students and get everyone on the same side. In the down time, we are surrounded by our colleagues whom we rarely get to see in the school day. We not only get to hang out with them, but we get to see them in action as they deal with their conferences. Unfortunately, we were all locked away in our rooms this year, and half of my parents chose to have their conferences by phone (which I do not prefer) rather than use Zoom.

There were also some silver linings. Foremost, our administration stepped up once again and not only provided the traditional pizza dinner, but had volunteers from the staff face off in a Family Feud-esque Halloween-themed contest. It was a blast to play and had us laughing through it and for a while afterward. I think that our staff is bonded better this year despite (and perhaps in spite of) the isolation.

Also, being shut in my room with few conferences afforded me the time to get a little bit ahead in my story read-alouds for my classes. I've made it a point to enjoy making these and just allow my mistakes to be a part of the experience (as opposed to the more-rehearsed and deeply edited recordings I did last spring). I've been enjoying the sounds and wit within the literature as well as learning to laugh at more at my own mistakes. I'm also finding humor in strange things. At one point, I spent a while chortling over the "Is this video made for kids?" question I have to answer to post a video on Youtube because the video I had uploaded was my reading of "A Modest Proposal"--a satire by Jonathan Swift about eating infants.

In general, I prefer the previous way in running our parent-teacher conferences. I hope that we can return to them next year, if not next spring.

Costumed Heroes

10/28/2020

Our next two days are parent-teacher conferences, so we had planned to do our Halloween festivities during the school day today. We've made a deliberate effort at improving school spirit this year, something that was a bit of an issue even before Covid, but is a necessity now. Unfortunately, many of our plans derailed when we found out that we were moving to remote learning again. Thankfully, instead of just complaining about the change and scrapping everything, our administration and student counsel came up with alternate, appropriately socially distant activities for this week.

They include a costumed scavenger hunt, a baking competition, a pumpkin carving competition, and a staff costume contest. It's the latter which took place today. Students were to encourage their third hour teachers to participate. Teachers and staff who chose to dress in costume (either alone or in groups) were placed in a bracketed voting competition. The students will be voting through the brackets these next two days.

I pulled the old Renaissance outfit out of storage and put it on again after about six years. Interestingly, it fits better now than it had before. I will say, I looked pretty dashing today.

However, I don't like my chances of winning the competition, as the faculty and staff of SoHi stepped up in a way that has been thus-far unpresidented during my time here. Themed groups included a fruit salad, hippies, twenty-somethings from the 1920s, the Scooby Gang, the trio from Shrek, Bob Ross and his art, "Stars Bucks" coffees, and something about a jellyfish and a pirate captain (... I've been assured that the last was not meant to be erotically inappropriate no matter what I might think). Meanwhile, solo artists such as myself included a Covid-tester, a Covid exterminator, a pirate, a ghost, Minnie Mouse, an identity thief, a baseball player, a hockey guy, a duck hunter, a tourist fisherman, 2020 (a dumpster fire with a mask), Where's Waldo, a Day of the Dead celebrant, RBG, the Tiger King, and an astronaut in a jetpack (the tallest costume, by far).

The day was cheerful and celebratory. The continual refrain was, "I wish the kids were here." While I agree (and even sang a few verses with that refrain as well), I wonder if we may have stepped up our game as a response to what's going on in our world at the moment. We took the situation that the world has given us and made something great out of it. Hopefully, this helps to lift not only our spirits, but those of our students as well.

To paraphrase a pair of quotes from Firefly: What does that make us?

Big damn heroes.

Dangers of Not Having Kids in School

10/27/2020

I completely agree with those who say that in-person instruction is vastly superior to remote instruction. Similarly, I worry tremendously about many of my students not being physically in school during this time--not just because of their educational progress, but because of the many other issues that they might be facing for which they will have no outside help. I am concerned about their social isolation, the increased amount of time around possible abusers, the limited resources, and even some of their access to things like a shower.

This situation has been taxing on everyone. Even homes with both parents present are struggling. Those homes that have one parent often gone, both parents working, and single-parents who have to support their whole family are all facing even more difficult challenges. One thing that our situation is making clear is that our school systems are a major element in many parts of the lives of all American families.

I cannot help but wonder, why aren't they treated that way? Nearly my entire educational career has seen year after year of educational funding that is lower than the inflation rate, entirely flat (and thus even farther from the inflation rate), and even defunded (thanks, former Governor Snyder). Meanwhile, more and more services have been demanded of it, while teachers and staff have been vilified and forced to watch as their benefits and pensions have been stripped while their pay has been falling in comparison to jobs which require similar levels of education and training.

Even now, when it's clear how needed our schools are, people are ranting about wanting to defund or dismantle them even more. The current Secretary of Education has used this crisis as justification of her claims that public education is a "failed experiment." While the teachers I know have been dealing with stresses beyond anything I have seen in over two decades of an educator, people are making claims that they are lazy and not doing their jobs.

Thus one of my biggest concerns about not having kids in school right now is that morons will use this as an excuse to further defund and dismantle rather than to realize that a major issue is that education is currently underfunded and understaffed. These troglodytes are a danger not only to education now, but to the future of our educational institutions. Ironically, they are usually the ones most loudly complaining about their kids not being in school.

Some Progress

10/26/2020

I was finally given approval to submit my doctoral proposal to TaskStream for committee rubric review. Supposedly, this is a formality which will then see the proposal move to the University Research Reviewer. Once the URR approves my proposal, I can open a Dinobot package in celebration and then submit to the IRB for ethical considerations. Once they give me approval, I can then open a third Dinobot package (I've already opened one for the prospectus approval I received a year and four days ago) and then I can actually begin my research study.

Wow ... Slash has been sitting alone on my desk for over a year ...

I bought her and the other five Dinobots back in May of 2018 as celebratory rewards for hitting the major milestones in this process. The others are sitting in my closet, waiting for the various approvals that mean I can open them (the two approvals noted above and then the URR Capstone approval of my research, the GAO approval of my doctorate, and finally my actual robing as a doctor). This is taking far too long.

... I'm going to a darker place than I originally intended with this post. I'm going to celebrate the progress that I've made (I received word at 7:29 this evening and only just finished my clean-copy submission), and I will keep pushing forward. I'm getting closer, and I will see this done.

The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

10/25/2020

Life is full of strange coincidences. For example, my personal Bible reading today contained similar language to both the first reading and the Gospel from today's mass. That there are these echoes throughout the Bible is not surprising as much of the text is built on previous writings. Nor is it surprising that the first reading and the Gospel would be similar as they are usually chosen to be complementary in theme. It was just odd that my own personal reading would happen to coincide with that particular theme today.

As I am reading Leviticus, it makes sense that it would echo ideas given in Exodus, which was where our first reading come from. In this case, Leviticus 19:34 is a slight expansion on Exodus 20:20. Both sections tell us to treat foreigners (aliens) fairly as the Israelites were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. While the first reading just asks us not to molest or oppress foreigners, the reading in Leviticus tells us to treat them as we would those native born.

That theme is an expansion of Leviticus 19:18 which tells us to "... love your neighbor as yourself. ..." This is the commandment to which Jesus specifically refers in today's Gospel from Matthew. When the Pharisees challenge Jesus by asking which commandment is the greatest, Jesus gives them two. The first encompasses loving God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. The second is directly a reference to the verse in Leviticus. Together, these two commandments encapsulate all of the commandments and laws given to the early Israelites.

Today, I was reminded not just of how recurring themes crop up in the Bible, but in my life as well. God knew that I needed these reminders today as I have been struggling with the "love your neighbor" aspect lately. Even foreigners, in both birth and in mindset, deserve my love and respectful treatment. The Lord knows that He needs to repeat ideas to me to get them through sometimes.

In the Zone

10/24/2020

One of the strange things about our house is that the thermostat for our dining room also controls the heating pipes in our master bathroom. Meanwhile, the thermostat in our bedroom controls the heating in the other downstairs bedrooms and one of the baseboards in the dining room. It's that last baseboard which poses the problem, as it is directly underneath the thermostat for the dining room.

Now, having a thermostat directly over heating pipes isn't a great idea to begin with. Having the thermostat directly over a baseboard that is controlled by a different thermostat is downright ridiculous. The problems really arise when the heat in our bedroom needs to turn on, as it heats the thermostat to the dining room so that zone does not turn on. As I noted earlier, that zone includes the bathroom, so that can lead to some chilly mornings in the bathroom.

To deal with this issue, we've had the thermostat in the dining room set well higher (74-75 degrees--higher if its really cold outside) just so it will come on. The technicians who have serviced our boiler have not had any real suggestions and have said that moving the thermostat would not be an easy process. Thankfully, modern technology has stepped up.

We purchased a Google-Nest thermostat and a couple of wireless sensors to go with it. I placed one sensor at the other end of the dining room and another one in the bathroom--both well away from the baseboards or other heat sources. While the thermostat is still in the same place, it uses the readings from the temperature sensors to determine when it needs to go on. It also sends that information (and the controls) to an app on my phone.

The process took a good part of my day, but that was mostly due to a defective unit. Once I returned it and picked up a new one, everything connected. The system seems to be running smoothly now. We purchased the higher-end "learning" thermostat (they were sold out of the less expensive one--at least, after I returned the defective one I first purchased). It claims that its efficiency will make up for the higher cost in a year or two. We will have to see.

I'm just excited that we have it basing its activity off the correct temperature now.

Carpe Diem

10/23/2020

It is so tempting to wish away time, especially in our current circumstances. I often have this problem in more normal years--desperately looking forward to upcoming events and hoping that the time in between would pass swiftly away. I need not have hoped, for time passes all too rapidly as is.

Like many people, I'm eagerly waiting for "it" to be over. The present moment is so full of trials and tribulations that I am ready for a more peaceful time to make itself known. There are a number of things that are left in conditions that are less than desirable, and I am aching to see them resolved.

However, I do not yet live in the future. My life is here, now. If I spend my time in continually agitated anticipation, I miss out on what is right before me. Nor is there any certainty that what awaits me a month or two (or more) from now will be any less challenging.

No. I need to be present in the present. I need to work on making my life and world better now so that it will also be better in the future. While there are difficulties and frustrations in abundance, this present moment is worth our attention.

Costume

10/22/2020

I like getting dressed up in costumes, but I'm not particularly good at it. Generally, my costumes do not look like what I would want them to be. Aside from my Renaissance outfit, I can't think of a single costume that I have worn which has been particularly successful. Thus, I usually do not dress up for Halloween.

This year, we have been asked, as a staff, to dress up in costume for next week Wednesday's classes. Students will vote on the best costume or set of costumes (teachers are encouraged to come up with a theme with other teachers), and the third hour of the teacher with the best getup will get some sort of reward. However, I am drawing a complete blank.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a set of Jedi robes, a Hobbit outfit, a Ghostbusters jumpsuit, or a Starfleet uniform for occasions like this. It's just never been a priority. Also, it's only been recently that our finances have not been continually tight. Costumes, especially ones that are only used once or twice, were not a practical option. I felt guilty spending the money we did on our Renaissance garb, and we used that at least once a year.

Still, I'd like to do something. I just don't know what.

Mind Worm

10/21/2020

Why is it that many things can be going right in life, but one bad moment, one hurtful phrase sticks with me, refusing to let go? It doesn't seem to take much some days. Despite some wonderful things said directly to me today, one comment, not even directed towards me, sent me in a mental downward spiral where all I could think about for hours was the reply that I wanted to make.

Even now, I'm intentionally trying to divert my attention to a topic tangentially related as a way to purge the response that has been forming in my mind, as well as the feelings that go with it. Thankfully, I did not write what I wanted to write the moment that I wanted to write it. However, I do wonder if it was prudence or a bit of cowardice that stayed my hand.

It's times like these when I find it beneficial to count my blessings (and they are many). Too easily do dark clouds gather around my thoughts with flashes of angry lightning ready to strike. I have to be careful that, in my avoidance of dealing with an issue directly, that I do not focus that negative energy onto unintended targets. Instead, I need to actively call for a divine breath to disperse the rising storm and bring light back to my mind.

This is an ongoing process and not an easy one. The mind worm wraps its way around the pleasant portions of the brain, attempted to feed off of them completely. Excising it requires me to let go and forgive.

My the Lord breathe into me that cleansing Spirit which brings forgiveness, peace, and love.

Still No Refrigerator

10/20/2020

It's been three weeks, and LG has still not fixed nor replaced our broken, less-than-two-year-old refrigerator. For three weeks, we have been trudging back and forth to our detached garage in order to access our significantly older refrigerator for any of our cold storage needs. This has included trips through rain, and even snow, in the cold, dark hours of the morning. Again, I'd rather that this defective refrigerator had been sold to us, who have the means to deal with this, than someone less fortunate, but this is pushing the limits of my patience.

I'm making my weekly call tomorrow morning, ready to face the forty-five plus minutes of electronic answering systems; clacking keyboards; hard to understand, polite, muffled, and electronically distorted voices of service representatives; hold music; and my own impotent frustration. I might be increasing the frequency of my calls if this one, too, just results in them saying that they are working through the process. Unfortunately (and probably intentionally), LG recently moved their service call hours so that my only real option is to call them before I head out to work as their office hours now end at 2 PM AKDT (three weeks ago, they were available until 5 PM).

This could all just be overall bad timing in regards to the availability of repair technicians, COVID reductions in staffing, and other areas outside of the control of LG. However, this has almost always been my experience with warranties. Companies intentionally make them difficult to navigate so that people will give up in frustration. It saves them money to do so ... nevermind the ethical issues.

I just want our refrigerator in the house (or its replacement) working again.

ATV

10/19/2020

Janelle is starting to come to understand that my desire for a multi-purpose ATV might be more practical than she has so far believed. Yet another person today remarked that having one with a plow attachment would be a good idea considering the size and length of our driveway. The recommendation was also that a winch would also be helpful in dragging some of the felled trees. They gave this advice after collecting all of the wood we had in our log piles.

For my part, while I still believe that having one would be practical for our situation, I am less interested in having one for recreational purposes. I am especially more concerned about my sons using one safely, especially the younger two daredevils. Also, the cost, upkeep, and storage all make this more of a wish-list purchase than one that will happen anytime soon.

The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

10/18/2020

Today, Alaska Day, with its early morning covering of snow was extra special as it held the Confirmation of fourteen young people who completed their Baptism in the Church. Our Archbishop was present to officiate the ceremony. These events occur at our parish every other year, with the candidates taking classes for two years in preparation to receive the Holy Spirit.

This year, I knew nearly every one of the candidates and had taught almost all of those at one point or another. The event was even more special for me as I was sponsoring one of the young men. While COVID and other issues have made it difficult for us to spend a lot of time bonding, it has been nice to share my faith, answer questions, and get to know him outside of our normal school environment.

Confirmation is a special sacrament as it offers the candidates a chance to publicly join the faith. As the sacrament of Baptism usually takes place when they were infants, the process toward Confirmation allows the candidates to examine our faith more closely and decide if it is the path that they wish to follow. As a sponsor, I had the chance to examine and explain my own part in the Catholic Church as well as my relationship with the Lord. I learned from this process as well.

I pray that the gifts of the Holy Spirit which these candidates publicly accepted take root in their daily lives. May their faith and love for God and His Creation continue to grow. May they help to make our world a better place.