This is the latest in a series about the 40 new things I am trying before I turn 40. My birthday is in March which means I need to do about 5 things per month... You can check out all of the posts related to this endeavor through the label 40 4 40.
Number 9 is a bit different than the first 8 but not from some of the rest I have planned...
One of my favorite TV shows is Bones. It is a crime drama about a forensic anthropologist and her FBI partner. They study remains that are all or mostly bones and determine who, how, why, etc. It's excellent!! Good writing, good acting, good premise. The show is based off of a series of novels written by Kathy Reichs.
Usually, if I've read the book, I don't see the movie. If I've seen the movie, I don't want to read the book. This would also apply to a TV show, though I'm not sure how often books become TV or vice versa. Or at least its not advertised as such.
In addition, although I love crime shows, it's not really my kind of book. I enjoy reading romances and such. Feel good books. This is partly because I do most of my reading before bed and it's always good to go to sleep happy, not scared or tense!!
Sooo... I read the very first book written by Reichs about the forensic anthropologist. A few chapters in, I finally convinced myself it was just a book, not a book about my favorite TV characters, because it was just TOO different in that area. From personality to life style, etc. The book was well written though, kept me interested, and had a happy ending (except of course for the dead people and bad guy). But it was way too intense and graphic for night time reading. I skimmed a lot of the jargon and specifics of the crime scenes and such.
If I liked this kind of novel, I would definitely read more of them. And I highly recommend Kathy Reichs if you do read crime novels.
And now I will go watch the latest episode of Bones. Yay, bones and Bones.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Thursday, October 9, 2014
40 4 40 #8 HS Football Coach
This is the latest in a series about the 40 new things I am trying before I turn 40. My birthday is in March which means I need to do about 5 things per month... You can check out all of the posts related to this endeavor through the label 40 4 40.
Ever heard that saying "it never hurts to ask"?? Well...
I had a crazy idea that it'd be fun to call plays or something at a football game. A Texas High School Football Game. If you aren't aware, football is a big deal in Texas. So several weeks ago, I was chatting with one of our coaches about getting one of his players to pass my class, and I mentioned this crazy idea. He said "Sure, come on out!" Tonight was the night!!!
Now, I had no idea what I was really going to do, and I was quite nervous. High school football is no joke!! We determined that a home JV game would be best. I picked the earlier of the two games, of course. (side note: my school has 5 football teams) He came to see me at lunch today and put my nerves to rest.
The other team took possession first, so I had to wait. Which was FINE!! I was enjoying just being on the sideline. We quickly took over not far from our end zone. Then it was my turn!!! Coach Shepherd told me what to say (it was written on his clipboard), I told the huddle and off they went!! It was a pass play that got within 6 inches of our receivers fingertips!! Should've been a touchdown!! Oh well. Three plays later they scored!!! Added bonus: it was one of my current students who scored :) So, I started the drive that scored the first touchdown of the game :)
I stuck around on the sidelines through the first half (we were winning 14-0). I talked to the student trainers, cheered on players, watched the coaches do their thing, and in general enjoyed myself immensely!! I almost felt like I belonged :) I have a deeper respect for those coaches now too. The quick thinking, positive attitude, and overall good influence they have on those boys is tremendous.
Thank you Coach Vines and the entire Hornet Football team!!! What fun!!!!
UPDATE: Of the 4 football games played by Hornets, mine was the only win :D
Ever heard that saying "it never hurts to ask"?? Well...
I had a crazy idea that it'd be fun to call plays or something at a football game. A Texas High School Football Game. If you aren't aware, football is a big deal in Texas. So several weeks ago, I was chatting with one of our coaches about getting one of his players to pass my class, and I mentioned this crazy idea. He said "Sure, come on out!" Tonight was the night!!!
Now, I had no idea what I was really going to do, and I was quite nervous. High school football is no joke!! We determined that a home JV game would be best. I picked the earlier of the two games, of course. (side note: my school has 5 football teams) He came to see me at lunch today and put my nerves to rest.
The other team took possession first, so I had to wait. Which was FINE!! I was enjoying just being on the sideline. We quickly took over not far from our end zone. Then it was my turn!!! Coach Shepherd told me what to say (it was written on his clipboard), I told the huddle and off they went!! It was a pass play that got within 6 inches of our receivers fingertips!! Should've been a touchdown!! Oh well. Three plays later they scored!!! Added bonus: it was one of my current students who scored :) So, I started the drive that scored the first touchdown of the game :)
I stuck around on the sidelines through the first half (we were winning 14-0). I talked to the student trainers, cheered on players, watched the coaches do their thing, and in general enjoyed myself immensely!! I almost felt like I belonged :) I have a deeper respect for those coaches now too. The quick thinking, positive attitude, and overall good influence they have on those boys is tremendous.
Thank you Coach Vines and the entire Hornet Football team!!! What fun!!!!
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| The field before game time. |
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| One of my players/students and I |
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| Lined up for THE play!! (it all happened so fast so no pic of me in the huddle) |
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| Coach Sully making plays |
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| Me and the team at halftime |
UPDATE: Of the 4 football games played by Hornets, mine was the only win :D
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
40 4 40 #7 Blood Moon
This is the latest in a series about the 40 new things I am trying before I turn 40. My birthday is in March which means I need to do about 5 things per month... You can check out all of the posts related to this endeavor through the label 40 4 40.
I hmmmed and haaawed (how DO you spell that?!?!) about whether or not this should be a new thing. But Facebook says it is!!
Across the world, whenever "this morning" was, people saw a blood moon. Okay, maybe just the states? I really know nothing about astronomy!!! I have always enjoyed other people's pictures of these sorts of things, but have never made an effort to see them myself. Mostly because they usually happen in the middle of the night, or close enough. And if you know me, I love my sleep!
However, this morning, in North Texas, it was projected to be viewable and beautiful at about 5:30am. That's just a little earlier than Slugs and I are out walking anyway!! And today I got up a little earlier and moved a little faster, because I had a ton of stuff to do at school before I conducted a lesson for some other teachers at 7:10am. So between that and the prospect of seeing this moon phenomenon, Slugs and I got outside by just about 5:30.
The moon was indeed blood red or orangey really. It was neat. I didn't take pics. I was walking and keeping the dog from cars and such. It didn't seem any bigger than yesterday, which I thought was part of the phenomenon. But again, I know nothing.
It was still red when I was driving to work at about 6:10am. However, when I got to the Azle area, it either went behind clouds or I saw the eclipse. There were no stars out either, but there hadn't been when it was red... I looked up the time of the eclipse and it could've been...
So, I saw a Blood moon for the first time!!! And maybe an eclipse!!! I'll take it. But tomorrow's new thing is going to be EPIC!!!!! Stay tuned :)
I hmmmed and haaawed (how DO you spell that?!?!) about whether or not this should be a new thing. But Facebook says it is!!
Across the world, whenever "this morning" was, people saw a blood moon. Okay, maybe just the states? I really know nothing about astronomy!!! I have always enjoyed other people's pictures of these sorts of things, but have never made an effort to see them myself. Mostly because they usually happen in the middle of the night, or close enough. And if you know me, I love my sleep!
However, this morning, in North Texas, it was projected to be viewable and beautiful at about 5:30am. That's just a little earlier than Slugs and I are out walking anyway!! And today I got up a little earlier and moved a little faster, because I had a ton of stuff to do at school before I conducted a lesson for some other teachers at 7:10am. So between that and the prospect of seeing this moon phenomenon, Slugs and I got outside by just about 5:30.
The moon was indeed blood red or orangey really. It was neat. I didn't take pics. I was walking and keeping the dog from cars and such. It didn't seem any bigger than yesterday, which I thought was part of the phenomenon. But again, I know nothing.
It was still red when I was driving to work at about 6:10am. However, when I got to the Azle area, it either went behind clouds or I saw the eclipse. There were no stars out either, but there hadn't been when it was red... I looked up the time of the eclipse and it could've been...
So, I saw a Blood moon for the first time!!! And maybe an eclipse!!! I'll take it. But tomorrow's new thing is going to be EPIC!!!!! Stay tuned :)
40 40 40 #6 Sushi (rewrite)
This is the latest in a series about the 40 new things I am trying before I turn 40. My birthday is in March which means I need to do about 5 things per month... You can check out all of the posts related to this endeavor through the label 40 4 40.
So I got into Blogger to blog about today's new thing, but somehow I deleted the last new thing, so I am going to attempt to reconstruct it, with no flair cuz now I'm all frustrated!!
Several weeks ago now, I had dinner with my good friend Carol. She knew I was on this adventure to try new things so we went for sushi! She eats regularly at Big Fish Japanese Cuisine, but always the California Rolls, and other things cooked. My goal was to try real, raw fish sushi. I've had California Rolls and such and they are yummy!!
When I arrived, the joint was empty. This led me to tell the waiter and owner (I'm guessing) about my endeavor. The waiter made sure I knew what was actual raw sushi. I ordered the Boston Roll which was tuna, whitetail, cucumber and avocado (and something called masago but since he didn't know what it was either, I said to leave it out!!). So basically, I got a California Roll but with raw fish instead of crab. Carol got a California Roll and we shared some shrimp fried rice.
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| Notice the wasabi (I think) that looks like a leaf! Great presentation!! |
It was... different. I wouldn't order it again. But it was okay. I ate it all. The fried rice was fantastic!! I would definitely go back to this place.
There's a story about trying the orange and green stuff. It was hot. But not initially. It had a kick basically. So I said it wasn't hot and then Carol tried it. And then I got the hot... I'm sure it was funnier the first time I wrote it!!! Sorry!!!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Could it get worse?
Let's not find out!!
This school year has just not started off right for me. First, they shift my students around, which really is sort of a good thing in the end, but it was quite chaotic for several days. And made me feel like the end of week TWO is when I really got to start getting to know my kids' names. I usually have them down by DAY two!! I still feel like I don't know who they are - their names, mostly, but not anything about them. I hate that. But anyway....
Then I got sick. I am still not 100% and I'm on week 3 of feeling crummy!!! I know a lot of it is that I am just tired. But even sleeping doesn't seem to help!! I took a day off last week and slept all day. Still groggy and in a fog...
And THEN... my Gradebook (the computer one) where we do grades, attendance and such, was attacked by gremlins. Okay, not really. Someone somewhere messed up and to make a long story short, I can't log in. Therefore, I can't take attendance every period, and I can't input grades. I'm on day 3 of this. Yesterday I was ready to throw something because those in charge of reconciling attendance kept "forgetting" and thus making me out as someone not doing my job. If you know me, you know I do my job!!
And then we get to today... students were taking notes today. They copy stuff from the "smart board" which today was a PDF projected from my computer. They write and then I talk about it, etc. The lights have to be off for this to happen. And many students move closer to the board, and sit on the floor even so they can see better. Yeah, so I tripped over a student and fell. I think if I'd just fallen, and not tried to stop myself, I would've been better off. I was also trying not to land on the student... I pretty much landed on my knee (the "good" one) and then rolled hard on to my side. I know this because of what hurts. I am proud of myself that I stood up, after checking on the student of course, and continued teaching. I really just wanted to cry. I'm icing my knee right now. I did at lunch too. I think it's just a bad welt/bruise. Nothing feels torn or otherwise permanently damaged.
Oh yeah, before or after the fall, I can't remember, we had a great deal of trouble getting the classroom door open. I finally forced hard enough that it worked. And then I put in a request to fix it, as its been getting worse by the day. The nice men who came to fix it seemed to have been blaming me for pushing on it too far (don't ask). Whatever.
I've spent much of the day wondering what's next. I would like to just start the year over. Or something. But it's all adding up to me being ready to lose my mind, or quit my job, or at least take the rest of the week off. But I've already taken off two days for the sickness. This is only week 6 of 37!!!!!!
Also, I am so excited that it's almost not hot so Slugger and I can walk more. And now it hurts to walk again. Are you feeling my levels of frustration?!?!
I'm really writing this all down cuz I have found that writing can be kinda therapeutic. And now I'm just going to cry it out. And then take some Ibuprofen PM and see where the bruises are in the morning. Maybe I'll post pictures!!!
UPDATE 10/1: September is over and so far October is MUCH better :)
This school year has just not started off right for me. First, they shift my students around, which really is sort of a good thing in the end, but it was quite chaotic for several days. And made me feel like the end of week TWO is when I really got to start getting to know my kids' names. I usually have them down by DAY two!! I still feel like I don't know who they are - their names, mostly, but not anything about them. I hate that. But anyway....
Then I got sick. I am still not 100% and I'm on week 3 of feeling crummy!!! I know a lot of it is that I am just tired. But even sleeping doesn't seem to help!! I took a day off last week and slept all day. Still groggy and in a fog...
And THEN... my Gradebook (the computer one) where we do grades, attendance and such, was attacked by gremlins. Okay, not really. Someone somewhere messed up and to make a long story short, I can't log in. Therefore, I can't take attendance every period, and I can't input grades. I'm on day 3 of this. Yesterday I was ready to throw something because those in charge of reconciling attendance kept "forgetting" and thus making me out as someone not doing my job. If you know me, you know I do my job!!
And then we get to today... students were taking notes today. They copy stuff from the "smart board" which today was a PDF projected from my computer. They write and then I talk about it, etc. The lights have to be off for this to happen. And many students move closer to the board, and sit on the floor even so they can see better. Yeah, so I tripped over a student and fell. I think if I'd just fallen, and not tried to stop myself, I would've been better off. I was also trying not to land on the student... I pretty much landed on my knee (the "good" one) and then rolled hard on to my side. I know this because of what hurts. I am proud of myself that I stood up, after checking on the student of course, and continued teaching. I really just wanted to cry. I'm icing my knee right now. I did at lunch too. I think it's just a bad welt/bruise. Nothing feels torn or otherwise permanently damaged.
Oh yeah, before or after the fall, I can't remember, we had a great deal of trouble getting the classroom door open. I finally forced hard enough that it worked. And then I put in a request to fix it, as its been getting worse by the day. The nice men who came to fix it seemed to have been blaming me for pushing on it too far (don't ask). Whatever.
I've spent much of the day wondering what's next. I would like to just start the year over. Or something. But it's all adding up to me being ready to lose my mind, or quit my job, or at least take the rest of the week off. But I've already taken off two days for the sickness. This is only week 6 of 37!!!!!!
Also, I am so excited that it's almost not hot so Slugger and I can walk more. And now it hurts to walk again. Are you feeling my levels of frustration?!?!
I'm really writing this all down cuz I have found that writing can be kinda therapeutic. And now I'm just going to cry it out. And then take some Ibuprofen PM and see where the bruises are in the morning. Maybe I'll post pictures!!!
UPDATE 10/1: September is over and so far October is MUCH better :)
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
40 4 40 #5 Tweeted
To celebrate turning 40, I've decided to do 40 new things before I get there. My birthday is in March which means I need to do about 5 things per month... good thing I've already started! You can check out all of the posts related to this endeavor through the label 40 4 40.
I feel quite silly that I am very excited about today's accomplishment. Well, really, yesterday's. But no, really, today's.
I thought it'd be interesting to see if I could try to get a reply from a "celeb" on Twitter. I was retweeted a few years ago by Phil Keoghan of Amazing Race so "just" a retweet wouldn't count. I had to get someone to reply to something I tweeted... first, I had to start tweeting more, and I had to make it public for these "celebs" to see it.
Everyone has a different definition of celebrity. For me, I decided someone with a blue checkmark meaning that they were important enough for Twitter to check for the identity to be real. Or a celebrity in my book meaning someone I admire or enjoy their reading tweets - I was thinking lesser known athletes.
I embarked on this by trying to ask meaningful or simple questions of a couple actors who tend to reply to tweets more than others. Some people are much better about interacting with their fans, and that's way cool. This is an example of my attempt...
Then last night someone I follow, Zachary Levi (Chuck) retweeted his buddy Joel David Moore (Bones, and apparently the new show Forever) who was offering to reply to people, in a specific way. I don't even follow this guy, but sure, why not?!!? And, HE REPLIED!!! Here is the "conversation" (mavsman is a co-worker/friend who knew what was up).
Okay, I admit, he wasn't exactly the "star" I was hoping for. But I did it!! And now I can go back to private and stop harassing my followers with these silly tweets. Oh but wait, there's more...
This afternoon while checking my Twitter in the middle of class (ssshhhh...), I came across what I thought was a very funny tweet from Justin Kanew. Justin is not blue check mark verified. But to me he's a "celebrity" - I'll never meet him, he knows important people, and he's way cool. Pretty sure Leslie will agree ;) Justin and his best friend Zev were contestants on The Amazing Race. Twice cuz they were all-stars. I get most of my news through Justin's tweets. His mind and mine are often of the same thinking on current affairs. Justin works in Hollywood and even has producer credits in a movie, Welcome to the Jungle, with Jean-Claude VanDamme.
Anyway, I thought his tweet was funny and immediately had a reply so I sent it. This is what happened (Cynthia is a friend from church - a celeb to many of us!!):
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| His original, my response and love from Cynthia :) |
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| Love from Justin :) |
This makes me quite giddy!!! He also favorited Cynthia's tweet :)
35 to go...
Thursday, September 11, 2014
40 4 40 #4 Moonshine
To celebrate turning 40, I've decided to do 40 new things before I get there. My birthday is in March which means I need to do about 5 things per month... good thing I've already started! You can check out all of the posts related to this endeavor through the label 40 4 40.
Sometimes, you just have to say "Why not?!"!! Tonight was one of those. Several co-workers and I went out to dinner to celebrate the 50th birthday of co-worker Deneen. We went to Logan's Roadhouse, a steakhouse type place. It was her choice, not mine! Several folks ordered the "Flight Deck" which was a sample of four flavors of moonshine. I had water.
As we were discussing their drinks and the various flavors, I realized that I'VE NEVER HAD MOONSHINE. I said this quite enthusiastically so they all offered up their glasses to let me have my first ever moonshine!! I had to ask what makes it moonshine. In my mind, moonshine is the stuff they make behind closed doors in stills in West Virginia (don't mean to stereotype but that's what I think of!). Apparently it's a grain alcohol that is 100% alcohol. Or something like that.
I tried the raspberry one, the tie die one, and the apple one. One tiny sip of each, spread out over 15-20 minutes. That was PLENTY!!! The apple one actually only tasted like apple - think watered down sour apple jolly rancher. The other two were flavorful but I could taste the alcohol. And man, that one sip? Enough to tell me not to drink more, or one of my new things would be getting drunk!!
Now I can say I've tried moonshine. And don't need to try it again!!!
Sometimes, you just have to say "Why not?!"!! Tonight was one of those. Several co-workers and I went out to dinner to celebrate the 50th birthday of co-worker Deneen. We went to Logan's Roadhouse, a steakhouse type place. It was her choice, not mine! Several folks ordered the "Flight Deck" which was a sample of four flavors of moonshine. I had water.
As we were discussing their drinks and the various flavors, I realized that I'VE NEVER HAD MOONSHINE. I said this quite enthusiastically so they all offered up their glasses to let me have my first ever moonshine!! I had to ask what makes it moonshine. In my mind, moonshine is the stuff they make behind closed doors in stills in West Virginia (don't mean to stereotype but that's what I think of!). Apparently it's a grain alcohol that is 100% alcohol. Or something like that.
I tried the raspberry one, the tie die one, and the apple one. One tiny sip of each, spread out over 15-20 minutes. That was PLENTY!!! The apple one actually only tasted like apple - think watered down sour apple jolly rancher. The other two were flavorful but I could taste the alcohol. And man, that one sip? Enough to tell me not to drink more, or one of my new things would be getting drunk!!
Now I can say I've tried moonshine. And don't need to try it again!!!
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