Summer 2017 Update

There were so many things I had planned to blog about in their own separate entries over the past few months that I just never got around to, so let's put up a few pictures and move on. Here are a few life updates in chronological order:

In May I had my year-end evaluation with my principal.  This is based on Student Growth Objectives (a series of graded assessments given to two of my six classes), a Reflective Practice Portfolio (digital documents uploaded to seven different categories with accompanying written reflections) and two formal in-class observations.  This year I scored a 3.65 out of 4, my highest score yet, placing me firmly in the highly effective range.  I was pretty proud of this given all of the problems I've faced in my personal life this year.

At the end of May it was my turn to bring the beer for Who's Up?, and I once again went with the South Jersey beer theme like I did two years ago.  It's amazing how many new breweries have opened in that short time.  Pictured above:

• Lower Forge from Medford
• Forgotten Boardwalk from Cherry Hill
• Devils Creek from Collingswood
• Eclipse from Merchantville
• Double Nickel from Pennsauken
• Tonewood from Oaklyn

The variety and quality went over very well with the beer nerds I run with.  South Jersey really has an amazing variety of breweries and it truly is an incredible time to be a beer enthusiast.

Global Running Day, as always, was on the first Wednesday of June, and as always, Dave Welsh of the Haddonfield Running Company outdid himself.  He put on a mini expo right on the sidewalk outside of his store, and raffled off 12 pairs of running shoes (runners were eligible for the pair they wore to the run).  Because I wore my Nikes to the run, I put a ticket in the Nike box and won myself a free pair.  I can't tell you how many times I've entered a raffle for a free pair of shoes over the years, and this is the first time I've ever won.  I was ecstatic.

Just a few days after school ended, I left for Germany with 14 students and one other chaperone.  As usual, we spent ten days in both Berlin and Munich, staying in hostels while visiting museums, churches, parks and plenty of beer gardens and beer halls.  Unlike many high school language teachers that plan trips abroad, I don't travel with a tour company, but instead plan the entire thing myself.  Planning the trip this year was like having a part time job, and the trip itself was no less exhausting.  But I'm proud to say we hit every single thing on the itinerary I built with no major snafus of any kind.  I'm pretty sure my kids had a blast while learning a little about German history, culture and language along the way, and for that I would do the trip again in a heartbeat.

While in Berlin, I got to meet up with Christina, an old high school friend whom I haven't seen in ten years.  She now lives in Berlin with her husband and dachshund, and we spent a night at a beer garden catching up.  Also my t-shirt says "it's lit" which was a present that day from my students, because teenagers are hilarious.

While in Munich I got to meet Henrik, who first started reading and commenting on this blog many years ago.  We spent a few hours drinking beer in downtown Munich while talking in German about running, politics, and life in general.  It's the first time I've ever met a blog reader in person, and he was an absolute pleasure to spend time with.  Henrik, if you're ever in Philly, let me know!

Just one day after returning from Germany, I joined some friends for the annual July beer mile.  Because this year's beer mile fell on Canada Day, I decided to go with Molson Canadian beer.  Last year I drank luke warm Budweiser because I had read it was easier to chug, which ended up being a terrible decision because it was so disgusting and was so hard to stomach, and I ended up finishing DFL in well over twenty minutes.  Ice cold Canadian beer was the perfect choice this year, and I finished just 22 seconds off my PR in 11:07.

Last week I took advantage of free passes for teachers and weekdays off in the summer and took my son to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden.  We had the place almost to ourselves for the first twenty minutes until the day camps took over, and it resulted in one of my new favorite pictures of Neale, trying to give a two ton hippopotamus a kiss on the nose.

Erik told me that the website Athlinks now lists your friends on the site as your "rivals," and lists any races together as wins and losses.  The one "loss" I have against him is the 2007 Distance Run which I ran in 1:49.

And there you have some updates from the last few months.  I hope to write more regularly in the future, but who knows if that will happen.  Until the next time, run hard, friends.

End of the school year

Stevie: Wait, what are we doing?
Me: We're going to point at the camera.
Stevie: Why?
Me: Less talk, more pointing!
*click*

It was the final day of the school year yesterday, and as is our tradition, Stevie and I headed to the backyard with glasses and a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

It was my fifth year, meaning for the first time, I taught a class through all five levels of the German program, meaning saying goodbye to my seniors was a lot more emotional than I expected it to be.  I will genuinely miss them when I return in September and for the first time since meeting them five years ago, they will not be in my class.

Technically, this was my strongest year yet.  In the new review system, implemented three years ago, I earned a 3.5 out of 4, my highest score ever, which just barely classified me as a "highly efficient" teacher.

But a single number doesn't tell the whole story, of course, and to be honest I don't feel highly efficient.  Ever since my son Neale was born, I've felt off and struggling to keep up with school work.  Now that he's older, and I have a better grasp on fatherhood, I'm looking forward to next year and making improvements all across the board.

Next year is going to be pretty intense.  Stevie and I are kicking off the year with a half marathon in September (her first).  In October Stevie is acting in a two-woman show called Night, Mother.  We are possibly returning to the Keys during Christmas break, I am running my second Boston Marathon in April, and in June I'm leading another trip to Germany with my students.

But for now... summer!

Your spelling homework

You would hate being in one of my German classes.  Not only do I embrace the role of surrogate parent and try to embarrass my students at every opportunity, not only do I force them to listen to more German rap than is healthy, not only do I actually expect them to speak German in my classes, but on top of all of the German, I also correct their English.

"Can me and Julie go to the office real quick?"

"Sorry?"

"Can me and Julie go to the office?"

"I didn't catch that."

"CAN ME AND JULIE - "

"Excuse me?"

"Oh... Can Julie and I go to the office?"

"And now in German!"

"Ugh..."

Yes, I am that teacher.

The truth is mistakes in spelling and grammar make me a little guano.  I could tell you that being a language teacher makes me hypersensitive to all languages, but in fact I've always been this way.  Grow up with parents who insist you speak the King's English, and you might turn out similarly.

When outside of the classroom, I try not to say anything because I realize doing so would make me sound like a colossal douche.  Likewise, when reading something online, I try to give most people a break.  Blogs, Facebook posts, tweets, etc usually get a pass because they are mostly written by every day folk who don't share my neurosis for perfect spelling and grammar.

But professional publications and/or major brands should probably know better, in my humble opinion.

Which brings us to tonight's running-themed spelling homework.  Can you spot the spelling mistakes in the following examples?

First up is Zelle, the Runner's World offshoot for women:

Next up, Spartan Race shows us again how "your" vs. "you're" can be quite the conundrum:

And on to Runner's World.  Even the biggest publication of them all lets a few errors slip through once in awhile:

RunHaven reminds us that the rule's for apostrophe's can be very tricky.

And last but not least, not even my beloved Haddonfield Running Company can escape my wrath:

This post probably won't win me any friends, but at least I was able to get all of this off my chest.

Seen any mistakes lately?  Let me know!

Coffee date

Let's catch up, shall we?

• I'm back in NJ and back to work, as the picture might suggest.
• I need a haircut.
• I had another student teacher working with me for the last two weeks.  I brought her a cup of coffee from Dunkin' Donuts on her first day and neglected to tell her my cup had vanilla chai in it.  The next day she returned the favor, though I didn't have the heart to tell her I don't like coffee.
• Yes I'm still streaking.
• I haven't raced since the Turkey Trot in November.  
• My mileage hasn't gone above seven miles since the marathon.  Most days it's just a single mile.
• I don't want to think about how much fitness I lost during the holidays or how much weight I gained.
• I'm pretty excited I don't have a major race coming up this spring, which means I don't have to train so hard in awful winter conditions again.  With my luck, though, this will be a mild winter with barely any snow.
• The 2,015 in 2015 challenge I was a part of last year is happening again this year. I constantly see articles about it on running and fitness websites and it's even being promoted by some of the bigger running bloggers I follow.  For the first time in my life, it seems I was a part of something before it became popular.
• I'm not taking part in the 2,016 in 2016 challenge.
• I recently submitted a piece of writing to a running magazine (not Runner's World), and less than 24 hours later they e-mailed me back saying they would love to publish it.  Seeing as the last (and only) time I've published a piece of writing they took almost two years to get back to me, I'd say this is an improvement.
• Unfortunately, unlike last time, there is no pay for this one.  A trusted freelance friend from high school is always saying to never work for free, but I guess I'll make an exception this time.  The piece will appear at the end of February, and I'm sure I'll make a big deal about it then.
• A history teacher at my school is leading a trip to Washington, D.C. next month to visit the Holocaust Museum, and I might get the chance to come along to help chaperone.  I'm very excited at this prospect (inasmuch as one can be excited to spend the whole day thinking about mass genocide) because I've never been to the Holocaust Museum and I'm sure it will be fascinating, albeit depressing.
• What's new with you?

October days

Traditionally, October and March tend to be the most difficult months of the year for me. These are the times of year when work stress wreaks its havoc on me and I do all I can to keep my head above water.

Here's a look at what October 2015 is/has been like:

• SGO (student growth objective) pre-assessments are due.  This is an assessment I create and deliver to two of my six classes, grade, create a spreadsheet of the results, then upload the assessment, rubric and spreadsheet for each class to an online portfolio.
• A professional development plan needs to be written, signed by an administrator, and uploaded to the same online portfolio.
• Two separate nights of parent-teacher conferences with two hour delays the following day that disrupt the schedule.
• Other random events that disrupt the schedule, such as PSAT testing and school assemblies.
• Oktoberfest put on by the neighboring high school's German program that I take my students to.
• College letters of recommendation.  Every year I get more requests.  This year I'm up to 7.
• No days off the whole month.
• New this year: Stevie directed one show and is acting in another.  She has spent the better part of this month in rehearsal.
• Also new this year: I'm mentoring a student teacher from a local college.  She observes me a few times a week and has to complete 2 lessons which I have to give feedback on, then write up a lengthy evaluation of her for her professor.
• On top of all of this, October is my highest month of mileage when I'm training for the Philadelphia Marathon in November.

We're coming to the end of the month, and I can see the taper from here, but there are still some hard training days left to go.

Back to School

Welcome to my classroom.

R
Recently started my 5th year of teaching high school German.  The teachers started work on September 1st with two days of professional development, and the students returned on the 8th.

I teach six classes over five levels (1-4 and AP) in grades 8th through 12th.  I'm a one man show, as I like to say, with over a hundred students as my captive audience.  If you thought some of the jokes on this blog were bad, you should try spending time in the classroom with me.

As with every training cycle for a fall marathon, one of my biggest hurdles becomes adjusting to the new school year. Training starts in July when I have a lot of free time and can pretty much run any time I want to.  Once back in school, though, I have a very strict schedule I have to adhere to.  I try to arrive at school every day at 7am with first period starting at 7:45. The school day ends at 2:30, but we have to stay until 3.  My life is ruled by the school bell.

Strangely enough, I found the last time I went through this (in 2013) that the tighter schedule actually helped my training.  It forced me to be more disciplined and focused and not waste a second of the day, whereas summer training and the accompanying heat made for a more laissez faire attitude.

Not only do I have to find time to cram in training runs, but I also have to keep nutrition in mind.  Our school cafeteria is like most other American public schools in that "beige" seems to be the only item on the menu.  During the school year I have to work extra hard to make time for breakfast and then pack a healthy lunch for the day.

The marathon isn't until November 22nd, so until then, German rap and long runs, grammar charts and pushups, vocab games and sore legs must all coexist peacefully.  But once the marathon is over...

Here comes summer

It's the day teachers look forward to as much as Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries combined: yes, the last day of school is finally here.  Exams have been graded, loose ends have been tied up, the classroom has been dismantled and packed away, and the final countdown begins.  At noon today, the students were dismissed, the faculty attended a brief meeting, and with its conclusion I officially closed out my fourth year as a high school German teacher.  As with every year, I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted, and I go into the summer a new man.

Stevie and I have made it a tradition to drink champagne on the last day of school to celebrate another successful year, so we sat outside in the backyard this afternoon while I reflected on the past nine months of my professional life.

We popped the cork just like always, poured and drank the champagne like always, but I'd be lying if I said this year felt as successful as years' past.  With the birth of my son, my personal life has grown in directions I never imagined, but professionally, it felt like a step backwards. Neale was born a week before school started, and I never quite felt like I got my footing this year.

Mixing a professional life in public education with a quality personal life has always been a challenge, because so much personal time is required to truly grow professionally.  At the close of my fourth year, I'm left wondering just how much I can grow professionally without sacrificing time with my growing family.

These, alas, are thoughts and concerns I will happily relegate to August, because summer is finally here, and Stevie and Neale are all that matter.

What

When I'm not out pounding the pavement chasing the runner's high, I'm on the baseball field working on my batting stance and smacking line drives like it's my job.

I was asked to join the faculty team in the Colette R. Earney annual charity softball tournament in the town where I teach.  Stevie and Neale sat in the shade on a 90 degree day to watch me tear it up with the other teachers.  We made it to the championship game but were foiled by one of the student/alumni teams when the tying run was thrown out at home plate in the last inning.

I played Little League when I was a kid but have barely touched a glove since then.  My instincts took over and I managed a few decent hits, a few runs scored, and played second base in the field where I tried not to overthrow first base all the time.  Old habits die hard, though.

It was a great afternoon full of friendly smack talk and faculty bonding, and I can't wait for next year.

Find your Boston

When I returned to school last Wednesday, I showed each of my classes a few pictures from the race along with my medal, and told them a little about how it went.  I finished by explaining that I didn't expect all of them to want to run the Boston Marathon someday, or any marathon for that matter.  But I did encourage all of them to find their own version of Boston.

I am not a natural born distance runner.  Making it to the Boston Marathon was not a given for me, and I often doubted if I ever would.  But I set the goal and I did everything within my power to achieve it, and I finally did.  The sense of accomplishment, I need not tell you again (but ok, once more), has been profound.

I encouraged my students, and I encourage you, dear reader, to find your own Boston.  Find something that might take years to accomplish.  Something you're not even sure if you're capable of.  Something you're passionate about.  Something that inspires you to be a better person (if somewhat obsessive).  Something that will create amazing memories.

Then do it.

And don't forget to tell me about it.  I love being inspired by others' journeys.

No rest for the weary

I am, shall we say, fairly overwhelmed these days.

• Last week my high school was saddled with the state test du jour known as PARCC.  "Farcical" does not begin to describe last week given the amount of technical glitches experienced and the feeling of building the plane while in the air, but what bothers me most is the instructional time lost in preparing for/administering this monstrosity.
• Our Student Growth Objectives (SGO's) are due tomorrow.  Starting last year, teachers are expected to administer both a pre-assessment (in November) and a benchmark assessment (in March) in two different classes, grade each assessment, chart the growth between assessments and compile the data in a spreadsheet, summarize the information and upload each component to an online portfolio.  Students are expected to demonstrate growth between the pre-assessment and the benchmark assessment, and a certain percentage of growth must be met in order for the teacher to be deemed effective.
• The end of the third marking period is next week, and with it comes an enormous amount of grading to do, grading I could have finished a long time ago were it not for PARCC and SGO's.
• Our Reflective Practice Portfolios (RPP's) are due on April 17th.  This is an online portfolio comprised of seven different categories, each requiring videos/pictures/documents with accompanying written reflections.  The bulk of our year-end evaluations hinge on this.
• I spent the majority of my time in-between classes today playing phonetag with a parent.  She was concerned about her son's grade in my class, and when I finally made contact, I had a great deal of trouble understanding her thick accent.  I may or may not have agreed to tutor her child every day for the rest of the year.  This is why I prefer e-mail.  I am a writer at heart.
• In exactly one week, I am leaving for Germany for the umpteenth time in my life.  I am leading a group of 11 - one other chaperone and 10 students - to both Berlin and Munich.  I have been spending countless hours on the phone with various German officials, organizing parent meetings, collecting payment, e-mailing random PDF forms, negotiating prices and working and reworking the itinerary.  I am slightly dreading the trip because it is going to wreak havoc on both my nutrition and training.
• Because I am leaving for Germany on April 2nd, and Stevie is leaving for Florida on April 1st, we need to get our taxes done and mailed in the next few days.
• I am currently in the middle of the biggest week of mileage of my life.  I'm going for 75 miles. The hunger and exhaustion are simply mind boggling, to the point that I snapped at a coworker last week.  Though I don't believe my actions were completely unfounded, she hasn't spoken to me since.
• We are trying to sleep train Neale, and while he has made great progress in the last few weeks, he still wakes up several times a night and cries solidly for longer than my sanity can handle.  Letting him cry also makes me feel like a goddamned monster.

And that's where I'm at right now.  Just trying to keep my eye on the prize and my head above water.

First snow day of 2015

Always a pleasure to see the above message on your district's website the night before a snow storm.  Well, until you get six snow days in one season and countless half days and two-hour delays like last year...

So midterms week at school was interrupted by our first snowday of the school year today. Turns out my area of New Jersey only netted about three inches, but still enough to make running a little more challenging.  I'd forgotten how tiring it can be to run in the snow, and how every run feels like double the distance once you've finished.

I realize I have two streaks going at the moment: one for running at least a mile every day (since November 2013), and one for avoiding the treadmill (last treadmill run in July 2013). Sadly, these two streaks don't always mix well.

Friday running

Running on Friday afternoons is always difficult.  Even before Neale came along, I was always pretty exhausted by Friday afternoon after a long week at work.  I always hated making plans for Friday nights because all I wanted to do was drink a beer and go to bed at 8 o'clock.

We had parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday night this week (forcing me to miss my beloved running/beer group), and SGO's were due today (Student Growth Objectives... boring teacher stuff).  It's been a particularly tough week, so to have to go for a run after school, even a short five miler like today, feels torturous.

I can't believe I would regularly run 10 miles on Friday afternoons this time last year.  I generally look back at all of last fall and can't believe I kept up that intensity for so long. Sometimes I'm capable of amazing myself.  Maybe next year I'll think, "I can't believe I kept up the streak with a newborn at home."

And now that the miles for today are in the book, it's time for that beer.

Back to school

I've been back at work for the past two weeks.

The teachers started on September 2nd, and the students returned on the 4th.  

Our building does not have any air conditioning outside of offices and computer rooms, and we've had some pretty heinous days of humidity so far in which people could talk of little else. Funnily enough, I'm pretty sure my marathon experience prepares me well for such days. When I've put myself through the masochism that is marathon training, being trapped in a room with smelly teenagers with sweat rolling down my back doesn't bother me too much.  I'm also the only teacher in the building who hasn't brought in a fan from home since the school won't provide them.

While we aren't provided fans, it turns out that every teacher in the district is receiving a brand new iPad this year.

I'm pretty excited since I've never owned one (seems kind of silly when I already own an iPhone and MacBook), and there are a lot of interesting German-related apps I can use in the classroom.  But while I'm ready to embrace the change, there are teachers in my building who have been teaching since the seventies, and I don't think they quite know what to make of this shift.

Then, in October, every student in the district, from 3rd to 12th grade, is going to receive an iPad as well.  I've seen how my students take care of their smartphones, so I'm a bit dubious as to what will become of the majority of these iPads.  But I'm in a district that wholeheartedly believes in technology as the wave of the future, so fad or not, it looks like they're here to stay.

Looks like it's going to be a long year with a steep learning curve.

Are you working harder than a high schooler?

I use the track at the high school where I teach to do speed work.  I usually end up sharing the space with the cross country teams, the field hockey team, and the football team.

The football team is out there five days a week all summer, as far as I can tell.  Several of my students are on the team, and today one of them noticed me and started enthusiastically waving and calling to me.

The football coach was not pleased.

"Hey Michael!  Would you rather practice with the team or go join Mr. Partenheimer in his workout?  I don't think you'd like that though 'cause it looks like he's working a lot harder than you."

Burn.

School's out for summer

Last day of school today.  The last two weeks have been extremely painful.  The last two weeks always are.  4th marking period projects and tests need grading, grades need to be finalized, final exams need preparing and then grading, end-of-year paperwork needs filling out, and a lot of loose ends need tying up.  Throw in a few issues with parents, and suddenly committing myself to a nuthouse seems like a good idea.  There wouldn't be any beer there, so I soldier on instead.

But the other teachers and I prevailed and made it to the final day.  Exams are over, classes are over, and all that separates both the teachers and students from freedom is one half day in which students roam the building at will, clutching their yearbooks, spastically doling out hugs while the teachers make small talk of summer plans.

I had a small crew of regulars who hung out with me all day.  I have a white board with a rainbow of dry erase markers in my classroom, and any teacher knows that shit is like catnip to students with free time, especially excitable 15-year-old girls.  Among the things drawn/written on my board today:

Stevie was mad she didn't make the list.

Teacher Appreciation Week

A Day of Food.  Teacher Appreciation Week style.

Today, in the high school, parents from the PTA hosted an enormous breakfast for the teachers.  The homec room was filled with decadent egg casseroles and sumptuous french toast, fruit arrangements and rainbows of bagels and accompanying cream cheese.

I filled my plate twice with as much as it would hold and laughed off my co-workers' disbelieving stares.

Because I teach one 8th grade class, I was also invited to the teacher appreciation lunch over at the middle school.  This time I piled my plate with sandwiches and chips and veggies and meats and cheeses.  Also, my 8th graders made me thank you cards.  One of them drew me with a German hat and German flag cape:

After school I staggered to the nearest bar for a happy hour to send off a student teacher we had this semester.  I drank four beers and annihilated half a plate of pizza fries the others unwittingly left too close to me.

Stevie and I live above a Thai restaurant, so tonight we ordered take-out.  I had a full plate of curried chicken and rice and finished it faster than a nun leaving a whorehouse.  Or a whore leaving a nunnery.

I don't typically eat this much in one day, mind you, but it just shows you how hungry I've gotten lately, and just how much food I can put away if I buckle down and believe in myself.

My elbows are still hungry.

Goliathon race report

Goliathon Obstacle Challenge today in Mullica Hill, NJ.

A few months ago one of the assistant principals at my school brought up the idea of creating a faculty team for this race.  About 10 of us heeded the call and signed up, and thus the course today was graced with a motley crew of teachers and administrators attempting to cover 4 miles and a series of pesky obstacles.

Before

Goliathon distinguishes itself from other obstacle races in that it has tiered obstacles - G1 (easy), G2 (difficult) and G3 (extreme).  There were over 20 obstacles, with 9 official Goliathon obstacles at which runners could receive wrist bands for completion.  The object was to collect as many wrist bands as possible, and if a runner completed all G3 obstacles, he or she would receive free entry to a future event.

Also, it's worth mentioning that 100% of the proceeds raised today benefit a charity that brings clean water to developing countries in Africa.

God bless Goliathon, because someone finally succeeded in creating a truly challenging obstacle race.  I've done my share of obstacle races and have learned to roll my eyes when races claim I will conquer my fears or push myself to my limits or whatever other hyperbole is splashed across a website or T-shirt.  So when I saw that G3 had been labeled "extreme," I was dubious.  Not anymore.  Yes, I was able to complete the 20 foot rope climb while wearing a 40lbs chain, which I then had to use to ring the bell at the top.  But I was not so lucky at several of the demented jungle gyms of torture:

From Goliathon's Facebook page

My body came away a little bruised, not to mention my pride.

While the majority of the obstacles were badass and extremely challenging, some just weren't built for someone of my height.  Too often I just couldn't jump high enough, or stretch my arms far enough.  My strength, speed, agility, coordination and stamina were rendered useless. These particular obstacles were not testing any of these athletic abilities, but rather one's genetic luck of being the right height.  I could try all day, but I was never going to get over the G3 wall.

From goliathon.com

Also, I'm pretty sure the word "mud" does not appear anywhere on the Goliathon website.  Nor did any of the videos and pictures of the obstacles contain any mud.  Our group assumed this was just a straight obstacle course with no mud, and some in our group didn't even bring a change of clothes.  So we were a bit surprised to find ourselves looking like this at the end:

After

O

Thanks for the heads up, guys.

Overall this was a fantastic race.  It was a great day of bonding with administrators and my fellow teachers.  Laughs were had, a solid workout was completed, and celebratory beers were drunk.  Today was, in a word, extreme.

Some well-earned beers.

2014 HTHS dodgeball tournament

Dodgeball tournament tonight at the school.

A group of students from the crew team asked me to join their team.  They decided to name the team "The Hitmen," and came up with the brilliant team uniform of dress shirts and ties.

It was mayhem out on the courts, though not in our favor.  Like last year, we did not draw any easy teams.  They were all made up of spry student athletes with cannons for arms.  We barely eeked out a win in the first game, and then were promptly dispatched in the next two games.

I played like crap, and as an athlete that bothers me more than I would like it to, considering this was just a fun charity dodgeball event.  I just felt sluggish and slow the whole night, two words that have described nearly every workout I've done over the last month.  Didn't feel like I was contributing to the team at all.

There were no consolation games either, so after our third game we were done for the night.

On the plus side, dodgeball tournaments inspire the best team names:

• The Dodgefathers
• Hold my Balls
• Girls with Balls
• The Ballhawks
• The Brooklyn Dodgers
• The Traffic Dodgers
• I'd Hit That
• Spheres to the Ears
• Vicious and Delicious
• All Dodge and No Balls
• All Work and No Balls Makes Johnny a Dull Boy

I may have made up that last one.

On snow days

My grandmother got me this sign for Christmas a few years ago, and it's been hanging in the teachers' room ever since.

I think it might be time to take it down.  It's working a little too well this year.

School's out for winter...

Another two hour delay this morning.  I'm losing count at this point at how much school we've missed due to inclement weather.

The rain was falling steadily and the temperature was hovering right around the freezing point, and the view from one of our windows looked like this:

I thought about going back to bed for a bit, but instead ran 5 miles through the rain and several feet of slush.  I was soaked by the time I returned home.