Sunday, April 28, 2013

The One With the Waggly Tail

Remember last year when we adopted Pronto the Craziest Dog in the World? Remember how he was super pushy and destructive and bit the children? Remember how after hundreds of dollars of personal training, we had to return him to the rescue?

Yeah. Still, I wanted to adopt another dog, and I wanted this one to be perfecto.

Luckily, Skip appeared on the rescue website. He's perfect. Like, he's pretty much a stuffed animal. He follows me around the house. He snuggles me on the couch. He is fluffy, white, and only 11 pounds.

Can you imagine how Dan feels about this pooch? This really manly, tough, adorable canine?

Even so, I'm sure he'll win him over eventually.

Monday, April 22, 2013

I Can Read Swag

Returned to Minnesota after a fab weekend down south with my girl Lee. Got off the airplane, found my car, tuned in my radio station, and the dj says in a cheerful voice, "There's a winter storm warning for this evening. Expect six to nine inches for your morning commute."

6 to 9 inches. OF SNOW. As Ros would say, "Hella WHAT?!"

Sure enough it's coming down now. Just sitting here watching it through the window of the Tae Kwon Do studio. Doing some work and feeling down about the weather. Blah Biggity Blah Blah Blah.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Sit Right There

Headed to San Antonio tomorrow with Lee to give a talk on podcasting, critical reading and writing, and creating participatory cultures. I'm excited to go to Texas because it sucks here in Minneapolis.

We're having a blizzard today. On April 19th. I basically stared in dismay out the window for hours. I did that intermittently, actually, because otherwise I was working on our International Reading Association presentation. Also teaching kids about some stuff.

Later, I went out to the parking lot and found a big mound of snow behind my car. It was plowed there. "Do you think you can get out?" Jon the Wood Studio teacher asked. "Oh, probably," I said, waving noncommittally and feeling reasonable faith in the miniature van. "I'll wait just in case," Jon said.

So, I rammed the snowbank hard and on the second try, I got out.

Texas, here I come.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Light Up the Dark

It's basically Narnia here. The calendar days keep ticking by, but it keeps being winter. For example, at this moment, big juicy flakes are streaming through the sky. It's basically a flipping blizzard. Apparently, it's called Winter Storm Xerxes.

I've been trying not to let this insanity get me down. I've been putting effort in every flipping day.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Status Report

Mounds of snow in the middle of April: Check.

Mac's Yellow Belt Test: Successfully Passed.

Terrible diet: Raging for five days now. I feel disgusting.

Work: Breakneck. Same old.

Weekend: Packed. Mom-and-Dad taxi running nonstop.

So, in summary, I think it's time for a little natural Vitamin D around here. Woke up despondent yesterday, but pledged to be a Bright Light. In fairness, I was truly a Bright Light. But it took a lot of effort.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Makes You a Fighter


I'm not sure Mac's tae kwon do teacher really understands the developmental reality of being four years-old; however, Mac is pretty proud of his application for yellow belt testing.

In case you're having trouble reading it, he pledges to uphold the principles of Song Moo Kwon and discipline his mind and body. Test is Thursday, after which point we might have two yellow belts in this house.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Blooming

Had a little problem with my springtime 8th graders today that I didn't anticipate. We were reading a poem called "the drum" by Nikki Giovanni. Here it is:

daddy says the world is
a drum tight and hard
and i told him
i’m gonna beat
out my own rhythm

That's the whole thing. And last year we read this poem in class with no problem.

This year, there was a problem. The problem stemmed from the words, "tight," "hard," and "beat."

You can likely see where this is going.

After several moments of tittering, I just put it out there. "So, you think Giovanni is comparing the world to masturbation?"

YES! the twelve boys proclaimed. YES WE DO.