The Year In Review

As the year 2019 comes to a close let me review of how it went for me...

January- The year started off as any other year in the last few, nothing notable comes to mind.

February- It started with my mother falling, cracking a rib which turned into a punctured lung, emergency trauma surgery, a 10 day stay in ICU, and eventually a move to a rehab facility.

March- Mom home for a short stint before another fall and a repeat of February. This time after the second surgery she refused to eat and drink for several days and we thought we were going to lose her. My daughter visited at the end of the month and things started to look better.

April- Mom moved to a rehab facility again, was weak from the two surgeries and did not respond to rehab, needed 24 hour care in the home along with being oxygen dependent.

May- Rehab stopped and her insurance would not cover in-home care, but would cover long-term care in a nursing facility. I started to explore moving to Colorado.

June- Finished 8 years at Coventry Public Schools, started to clean out my mother's house and made the decision to move west.

July- Bought a new used car, finished up at The Tobacco Shop, and took a 4 day drive to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Everything I owned was backed into the car.

August- Unemployed and living in a strange city, but near my daughter once again, but away from my son.  Relationship with daughter was rough and second guessing my move.

September- Finally found employment, and relationship with daughter improving.

October- Maeve had to put her horse down and then 10 days later her dog, was heartbroken for and with her.

November- Maeve finds handsome young gelding and starts to heal, relationship with her getting much better.

December- Two weeks before the holidays was informed that my job was being eliminated at the end of the month. Panic starts to creep in...found new position and with a raise three days after Christmas.

Here is to a less turbulent 2020...

Old School versus New School

Many of my generation, and the generations on either side of me, speak poorly of the kids today. How they have it easy, they don't know what it is like to work hard, everyone gets a trophy, back in the day...blah, blah, blah.

Working with today's youth and having kids myself, I can honestly say we are wrong and wrong on many levels.

I sit and listen to the discussions going on today amongst kids, I do not remember having conversations with my classmates about our ADD, ADHD, OCD, or ODD. Yea, sure they were not diagnosing students a lot back in the day with any of this, but doesn't mean it did exist, just look around at your friends now (I will wait, but not for long, hey look a cat, anyone want to go for coffee?).

Next we bombard our students with multimedia presentations, iPad research, and other electronic gizmos during the day, then preach that they need to cut back on screen time as they are sent home with a couple hours of homework that needs to be submitted electronically via Powerschool, Study Island, or Google Classroom. Is anyone else noticing this or is it just me?

Then we have the cojones to say that students get participation awards and every kids get a prize, etc.... But who is handing out these senseless awards? We are...is anyone else noticing this or is it just me?

Now add in the massive extra-curricular activities we place our kids in, playing chauffeur, from school soccer to rec league to premier league to travel team....don't forget they need to fit in a music or art class and the weekend horse riding lesson, because we want them well balanced. All the while, sitting on the sidelines and telling what needs to be done instead of letting them listen to their coaches and instructors...is anyone else noticing this or is it just me?

Yep they have it easy...is anyone else not noticing this or is it just me?

Addendum: Lets not allow them a choice when they can go to the bathroom or get a drink, but wait until they are 17 and demand they make a decision on where they want to go to school and what they want for a career (and be smart about it, damn it).

Random Thoughts Vol 17 2016 Edition

It has been a while since I just spit out the dribble that has been bouncing around in my noggin, so without further ado here it is...

• It is that time of year when students start to take practice tests for the upcoming Common Core standardized testing. I sat in classroom the other day and watched the kids conjure up their own anxiety (I am sure this is more parent driven) over the practice test, then later in the day overheard a conversation from the same group of kids about staying up late and trying time and time again to unlock the next achievement in their latest video game, after they got home from their travel sport practice...if they can compete at highly competitive levels of sports and video games, they can handle the stress of a standardized test. IMHO
• No Shave November is still going well from last year...love living bearded and of course still doing the HBM.
• Yesterday (11/16/16) I got a picture from my daughter of her sitting by the pool (hot springs) in Colorado eating dinner in her bathing suit, today (11/17/16) they getting snow.
• Finishing up a project, I am happy with the outcome, and everyone involved is excited to see this phase come to close. They are also satisfied with the end result. Good job me.

Well that is it for now....