Look out Surgery, Here We Come!

Well, my dad goes in tomorrow for surgery. He is having two stents put into his arteries to help with blood flow.

It is a fairly routine procedure, and we have been down this road before. I am not too worried.

I am hopeful that this procedure will give him a second wind. He had this done about 5 years ago, and when he was done and recovered he had such a gigantic amount of energy all the time. He was like a new teenager all over again. I am hoping to see more of that.

Tomorrow will be a long day.

Take care!

Perhaps...

Perhaps I am weak.
Perhaps I am having withdrawal.
Perhaps this blog is my drug of choice.

I am finding myself not being able to move away from my blog. I feel such a connection to many of you. I appreciate the comments and the emails that had been sent to me in the past few days. I cannot tell you how much they have meant to me. I found myself actually starting to tear up when I was reading everyone's comments.

I want to comment on what happened to me on Thursday night and what caused me to decide to back off my blog. I had read through a slew of posts that night, and I commented on several. On one particular post, the comment I made was responded to by the author of the blog. In the comment, there was a questioning of how much I really knew this person and how I could offer such support when I didn't know said person so well. That hit me harder than I had expected.

While part of my decision to stop blogging was because I wanted to make time for more live interactions with friends. However, I realize that some of you have let me into your lives beyond compare. I feel as though I have gotten to know the real people that have reached out to me, and vice versa. So thank you to those of you who have made me such a part of your life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are some other personal struggles that have been happening as of late that are causing me some amounts of stress. While I am not ready to put some of those struggles out here just yet, I will in good time.

I am going to try and continue this blog, if for no other reason that to just for release.

So, while I may still be blogging, I don't necessarily know how much I will be doing. Life is on a very hectic speed at the moment. For instance, check out my schedule this week:

• Monday I have a union meeting that I must preside over. It will probably be 2+ hours in the evening. Then come home and pack. 
• Tuesday, my dad is having surgery in the morning to have two stints put into his arteries. Then, I am heading off to Nashville for a two-day series of meetings. 
• Thursday I am back at work. I also have a meeting with the entire faculty of one of our elementary schools. There seems to be a number of issues going on at that school, and I need to be there as the representative of the union. I must be the mediator. Lord, help me! 
• Friday, as soon as work is over, I am driving three hours west to attend two-concurrent sets of weekend-long meetings. Luckily, both sets of meetings are taking place at the same place. That will allow me the opportunity to be at both. 
• Sometime during the weekend, I might actually have to drive to Nashville for a few hours for another round of interviews for the job I am wanting. That's right, two sets of meetings and an interview all in the same weekend. YIKES! 

Obviously, it is going to be one insane week. Does anyone, who is considered normal, have a regular schedule like this? Where do I find time to sleep...think...breathe? 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news, I just got off of Skype with my best friend, Jen. She had texted me this afternoon while she was at the airport waiting to catch her plane back home. She told me she needed to talk to me tonight b/c she had so much news to let me know. I had some inkling of what was going to be said, and I was right! 

JEN IS GETTING MARRIED! 

I admit that I had seen this coming for a few months now. She and Chris had their first "date" back in September, and they have fallen hard for each other ever since. I have not seen Jen this happy in years. I cannot remember the last time I saw her this happy. I know that this is right for her. She is certainly not one to jump into marriage carelessly. She had sworn several times that she would not ever get married. For her to even consider getting married is a miracle. I am over the moon with happiness for her and Chris. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, before I go, I just have to say that my heart is aching for two wonderful friends going through a very rough road in life at the moment. While I will not identify them here, I will ask for those of you who pray to keep my friends (and their family) in your thoughts and prayers. 

I have been thinking about you both all weekend, and I cannot imagine the pain, agony, and struggle you two are experiencing right now. Please know I am here for you! Love you both.  

 

My Anyway Friends...etc.

As I sat here this evening, I tuned into one of my favorite guilty pleasures...Private Practice on ABC.

In this episode, Sam was giving a speech at his daughter, Maya's wedding. In this speech, he referred to a memory in which Maya referred to Sam as her "anyway friend." 

As explained by Sam, an Anyway Friend....

Is the one person in your life, whom

No matter what you say or do

No matter what they've been through with you

Will love you anyway. 

Of course, as I sat there watching this part of the episode, my mind went racing. I began to examine my life (as I seem to do more and more lately) and those in it. Do I have people in my life I could call my "anyway friends?" Are there people in my life that have loved me, love me now, and/or will love me in the future no matter what I may say or do...no matter what we go through?

I can sit here and say that, yes, there are those people in my life that I would most certainly call my anyway friends. I am blessed to have people in my life who have been to the end of the Earth and back again with me. Amazingly, they have held on to me even in times when it seemed I was slipping away. 

I think for someone to really be considered my "anyway friend," we have had to had gone through much in our lives. These are the people who know my inside and out. They are the ones who know what I am thinking  without me having to say one single word. (and vice versa) In reality, we could be having a conversation over the phone, and my "anyway friend" can read me just by the sound of my voice. 

Am I making any sense here? 

There aren't many people who I would consider an "anyway friend." I can count them on one hand. 

That is not to say that my other friendships are of any lesser value in my life. In fact, every friendship I have adds to my life. In the same respect, I hope that my friendship adds to the lives of my friends. 

I had a point to make, but I now find that I don't know if I can accurately relay what is running through my head. I am going to try. 

I feel as though I have been neglecting my "anyway friends." Heck, I feel I have been neglecting many of my friendships. 

My life has become insanely hectic in the past few months, and I have not found the time to enjoy my friends' company, love, and support. I have become a recluse. I get up at 4 AM each morning and go into work at 5. I leave work around 4 or 5 most days. There are many days that find me in meetings after school until after sundown. I will pick up dinner on the way to the house. I will then spend the remainder of my evening in my own little world. (Believe me when I tell you that there isn't a lot of time left in the evenings for much.) 

I am feeling the need to focus my life. I need to get back into a relationship with my friends...especially my "anyway friends." Now, these friends would say that there is no need for me to grieve over my perceived neglect of our friendships. They would tell me that I am being too hard on myself. I understand what Sam meant in his definition of the "anyway friend." However, I need to put these people back into my life. I see my life going back down a road I have been on before. This road is a very secluded and lonely one. I don't want to be there ever again. 

Where am I going with this? 

I think that I am going to step back from my blog for a little bit of time. Maybe I have come to want and need this blog too much. Perhaps it is my crutch. While I have enjoyed the blog, and the people I have met, I find that I sometimes allow my emotions to take hold of some of the lives and people I read about. 

Granted, there are those of you who I now consider my friends. There are even some of you who I have had the honor to meet. Some of you hold a special place in my heart and my life. But, as was pointed out to me today, I don't fully know the people I read about. I am putting a lot of my time and emotions into this blog world, and I don't think I am qualified to offer advice or perspective anymore for the simple fact that I may not really know the person/people I am reading about and talking to on here. 

So, it is with great regret that I am deciding to pull back for a bit of time. 

What does that mean for me? Well, it means that I am going to take a lot of the time I use for blogging to refocus life and get it on a track that will be a positive path for me. As much as it will pain me, I am going to be writing substantially less on here. I will limit it to only major happenings in life or something that strikes some convictions in my life. 

I plan to keep up with those of you I call my friends, and I will still be here for you. I am simply choosing to pull back from the blogs that are what some of us teachers refer to as "fluff." Those that are important to me will remain important. But, I am going to cut the fluff...cut out the time filling materials. I simply have to regain control of life. 

Okay, I really just need to find my life! There, I said it. 

I am evaluating where I want my life to go in the future. I need some time to find what I want, where I want to go, and how am I going to get there. I do have an idea of the path I want to take, but I need to spend some time making sure it is what I want. It will mean a somewhat drastic shift in my life, so there has to be some time for great amounts of evaluation.

It feels like I am saying goodbye...I hate goodbyes.

I am hoping this is not goodbye. Perhaps it is simply "see you later."

I do want to send a special thank you to those who mean have come to be some great friends and people I hold in high regard. So, thank you to Mikey, MNJ, MH, Dean, Derrick, David, BK, Lee, Nabil, Dan, Ryan, etc. I know I am forgetting someone, and for that I apologize.

With all that being said...I am signing off for now. I will see you on the other side...in time.

(What I wouldn't give to be snorkeling around Trunk Bay right about now!)

Take care of yourselves and thanks for everything.
- Joey

It's About Love...Check It Out

Alan, over at Scrum Central, has posted a response to one of his readers that recently wrote to him. I felt the need to share it with you.

I had to go back and reread his posting several times for the simple reason that his definition of love is close to perfect. It left me wanting to cry from the sheer longing of love I think we are all searching for at some point in our lives.

Check it out.

Humor of the Clintons

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I am a huge fan and supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton was the first president I ever had the opportunity in which to elect during a presidential election. In fact, President Clinton was the reason I became interested in politics and even registered to vote. To be clear though, my first presidential election was to RE-ELECT Bill Clinton to a second term. (Just making sure no one decides to make me older than I really am. Thanks!)

For the record, I was one of the 18 million voters who chose Hillary during the 2008 primary. And, I think she is going to kick butt and take names as our Secretary of State.

The focus of this post is not to spew out all my political views. (If you want all those, feel free to talk with me. I have got a wide variety of views and am not afraid to share them. It comes with coming from a very political family.) The main focus is the videos below.

While I was in Little Rock, AR, last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit and tour the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. What a magnificent piece of architecture. What an incredible collection of artifacts from the Clinton Presidency. As promised, I will post more pictures from my trip, including the library, soon.

One section of the library I was told not to miss was the section titled Humor of the Clintons. Whether you know it or not, Bill and Hillary have wicked senses of humor. Part of this section in the library showed several video clips that the Clintons made to show at various events. Each video is a spoof of some movie or legislation during the Clinton presidency. They are great at showing the lighter side of the Clintons.

I searched YouTube trying to find some of these videos that I saw. Below are three of them.

Hillary Gump

Clinton's Final Days

Harry and Louise

And, for more fun, below are two other videos about the Clintons. 

Clinton's Farewell at the Correspondents' Dinner

Clinton Laughs with Yeltsin

Granted, if you don't like the Clintons, you may not like these videos. Also, my sense of humor may just be warped enough to enjoy these. If they don't float your boat, so sorry!

Valentine's Day

I swore to myself that I would not post something on here about Valentine's Day, but I could not resist it. The temptation was just to great.

Valentine's Day has become a day to celebrate those we love and those who love us. Our culture has turned it into a time to celebrate mainly our significant other in our lives.

I, like many others on this day, are without a "significant other" in my life at this point. In the past that would probably make me sad, depressed, etc. However, this year I have chosen to take a different path...

Thanks to a wonderful piece of advice and encouragement from a most incredible friend (you know who you are!), I have chosen to look at all the love coming at me from my friends and family! They are the people who love me unconditionally, have my back in times of need, and are at my side (physically or emotionally) whenever I need them most.

As I examine my life, I have been blessed with more friends than I think I could have ever wished for in this life. I have friends from just about every walk of life, and I have learned unbelievable amount from each of them. Each of them hold a special place in my life and heart.

My friends have taught me so much over the years. Going into college, I was a shy and quiet individual who never wanted to be in a crowd of people. My friends have helped me to become more confident in myself, to step into a crowd and get to know people, and to step up and take some leadership in my life.

I used to worry about EVERY SINGLE PERSON's perception of me. I worked very hard to live the life of the "golden child" in my family. I never wanted anyone to see the negative in me. My friends helped to overcome all of that. I no longer run my life based on others' perceptions of me. I live my life for who I am. I am now working on my happiness in this life. That is something I have never done in many years past. I could not thank my friends enough for that gift alone.

Being from a very small (5000 people or less) town that is staunchly right-winged and conservative, I held a very narrow view of the world and its people. My friends helped me to see different races, religions, cultures, etc. My eyes were opened to so many new experiences. I look to my friends from India, Germany, Austria, Nigeria, Laos, Australia, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Japan, China, France, Italy, Russia, South Africa, and beyond. They have been my teachers of the world. What we learn in books and research could never compare to learning from those who live it everyday. Each of you have helped me to expand my understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of all people in this world. I look forward to learning so much more about the people and cultures of the world.

Now to my newest friendships over the past year...my blogosphere friends. I have gotten to know so many of you over the past year. It has been one of the greatest surprises of the blogging experience. I have chatted with many of you online, talked with some of you over the phone, and have even had the best experiences meeting some of you in person. Some of these friendships have gone above and beyond anything I would have expected. You have welcomed me into your lives, and you have taken an interest in mine. I could never have imagined the blessings I feel from some of these friendships. Thank you to each of you for becoming a part of my life and letting me be part of yours.

So, where am I going with this?

Simply put...on this celebrated day of love, I simply wanted to make the point of the love I feel in my life from my friends and family. I may never be able to completely and sufficiently say Thank You to each of you for the many contributions you have made to my life. That will never stop me from trying.

Happy Valentine's Day!

By Request...Little Rock (part 1)

Most of you may know that last weekend I traveled to Little Rock, AR, for a work-related conference. It was a very busy, but great experience. What little free time I did get, I shot a ton of pictures. By request, I am posting a few of them. Enjoy.

William J. Clinton Presidential Library

Arkansas Old State House (museum)

Entrance to the coolest garden area...next to our hotel.

Panoramic shot of the garden area next to our hotel.

Sculpture I found in Peabody Park with part of the Little Rock skyline behind.

Found in Peabody Park (About 10-12 feet tall)

Little Rock skyline from Peabody Park

Eagle sculpture near Clinton Library

Dessert on Friday night. The menu just said "chocolate cake."

We got this beautiful piece of artwork.

Delicious too!

It sucks being sick! (an update)

Hello friends!

Well, it turns out that I might have strep throat. All the signs are pointing that way. I am the worst sick person anyone could come into contact with at any time. I hate being down for so long.

I woke up this morning feeling somewhat better. I decided to go to the grocery store since I had not been in about 3 weeks. (I am seriously never home to eat anyway.) It was awful. I got into the car and just sat there catching my breath. I drove like a grandpa to get to the store...squinting the entire way there. When I got to the store, I sat in my car for another five minutes just to get the strength to go it. I finally got into the store. I have to say I knew it was bad when the old ladies in the store were passing me down the isles. I was moving very slowly while I was getting dizzy at the same time.

I got home this afternoon and I have been hold up on the couch for most of the day. I was feeling better when the meds kicked in. However, as they wore off I began to get another headache, more shivering, and more dizziness. The worst part of this that is concerning me is that both my legs are in great pain. I am hoping that it is just because I have been hold up on the couch for two days.

My teaching colleagues have pretty much chewed me out because I am seriously going to work in the morning. However, if I have a temperature, I will not go. I don't want to be the contagious one that makes everyone sick.

A couple friends have gotten me to commit to going to the doctor if I am still sick tomorrow. I hate going to the doctor, but I will suck it up and go.

Thanks to those of you who have sent me messages and emails of concern. I appreciate it more than I could say.

I am off of here so I can get back on my couch and snuggle under my comforter.

Later!
- JC

Check This Out

Feeling somewhat better this afternoon. Still a bit of a sore throat, but most of the headache has subsided.

I was watching some television this afternoon, and that is when I saw them...

This group is called The Canadian Tenors. What an incredible group. I actually went and downloaded their CD from iTunes.

Thought I would share.

We Got Snow...I Got Sick!

Greetings friend!

Well, I will to keep this short and sweet today.

This morning I woke up to blustering winds rattling the house. I looked outside and only saw a dusting of snow on the ground. I checked the weather report and the school closings...we were on schedule for today. I get in my car and head to work. About 5 minutes into my drive, I get a text message from my principal stating we were on a 2-hour delay. This meant they were concerned, and it gives the administration time to make a decision to close or not to close. I get to work about 45 minutes later (ran a few errands since I had extra time today). As I am walking in the office, I get another text from the principal stating schools have officially closed for the day. I was most certainly not happy. We are out of snow days to use. Any additional days taken off will be added to the end of the calendar school year. I do not want to end up going to school during the first week of June. No thanks!

Well, I set around my classroom for about an hour trying to get some work done. (papers graded, lesson plans for next week, copy requests made, email, etc) As I sat there I could feel a headache coming on, and it was coming on fast and strong. I took some meds to try and head it off. It was then I decided to head home.

I got home and hit the couch to catch up on some much needed sleep. The headache was getting worse too, so I needed to try and sleep it off. I woke up about an hour ago and the headache is now pounding. It is pounding so bad that I can sometimes see my vision pulse with my head. BIZARRE! To top it off, I find I also have a sore throat.

If I have contracted the flu (for which I had a virus shot for a couple months ago) or strep, I will be really ticked off. I don't have time to be sick and out of school. My students need to be learning. State tests are coming up in 7 - 8 weeks. We need to teach more and review from the entire year. I hate state testing.

I would love to know which of my little "darlings" gave me this bug?

Let's just say that I will be spending the rest of my day resting and medicating myself.

It sucks that I am on an extra day off, and I cannot really enjoy it due to this darned illness.

I will stop ranting now. Thanks for listening. Talk to you all soon.

Take care,
- JC

Sometime You Just Got to Dance

I think I have mentioned this before, but about 10 - 12 years ago I was on a country dance show. It was called Club Dance, and it was on the Nashville Network (now it is Spike TV). The entire premise of the show was a bunch of people country line dancing and couples dancing. It sounds hilarious now, but it was the thing to do at the time. We had a blast.

Well, I find myself missing the line dancing days. I rarely get to go out and dance (especially line dancing) anymore. There just aren't any places to do that around my town. I have to go to some bigger city to find a place where we can dance. It is one of the reasons I love Nashville so much...plenty of country music and places to dance to it!

Below are some of the dances that are just fun to do. I find it hilarious that many of the line dances have moved on to pop and hip-hop music. So here you go...

Just something fun for the day. This is what started it all...

Stark Reality

Greetings from the Atlanta International Airport. It is now after 10 pm and I am stuck here until my flight leaves at 11 pm. Ugh! This means that I will not get home until well after midnight tonight. It hasbeen a long and tiring weekend.

Today, as i wandered the streets of downtown Little Rock I came to a stark realization...I am very much alone. It became very evident when I was sitting in the hotel lobby going through my phone's contact list and I did not have anyone I truly felt I could call. It was a horrible feeling and I truly almost cried in the lobby.

I am certainly not asking anyone to feel sorry for me. It was just something that hit me! I don't really know what to do about it. It was just a realization that I don't have that missing piece in my life... A significant other to call home to when I needed them.

What does that mean for me?

What am I going to do to rectify this situation?

In truth, probably nothing right now.

Okay, I am going to run. We will hopefully begin boarding our plane soon.

Take care of yourselves and those significant others in your lives! I hope you know how truly lucky you are.

- JC

At a Crossroads...Which Way Do I Go?

Where to begin?

How about just a simple "Hey" to all my friends out there who have been keeping a check on me. I appreciate each message, text, chat, email, etc.

Some of you really need to get a Skype account so I can talk to you face to face. Yes, I recently discovered my love of Skype. I have had the account for about a year, but never really used it. I had originally gotten it so I could talk to my cousin who was deployed in Iraq. The only problem was the awful time difference. Ugh. Then about a month ago my best friend, Jen, got an account and we began to Skype. It was awesome to see my friend. I miss having her around here, but being able to talk to her "face to face" was tons better than talking on the phone. Now if I could only get my family onto Skype. I guarantee that will not be happening. Oh well.

As the title of this post says, I find myself at a crossroads in my life. I am going to lay this out here, and forgive me for the rambling that is about to ensue. Those of you that know me or have been reading this blog know that I am hardly ever at a shortage for words. So here we go.  

First, I am at a crossroads in my future career decision. As many of you may recall, I have applied for a supervisor's position with the state teachers' union. I got word a week ago that they will be making a decision at the beginning of March. From what I was told, there is an excellent chance I will be chosen for one of the two positions that remain. Now, the decision must be made soon on what I need to do.

On the one hand, I have been looking for a way out of my current job teaching in my school. I have been quite unhappy this year with the administration and how things have been handled and how people are being treated. It has caused quite a bit of stress in my life, even some bits of depression. But, I am a fighter and have been working to make the best of a bad situation.

Most will say that what I have just said is reason enough to get out now. However, there is one underlying fact that I want to stay...the kids! I know that as a teacher I have been able to make a difference in the lives of my kids. We always talk about making the connections with our children. I will stand here and tell you that I make connections with our kids everyday. I have kids that walk into my classroom each morning just to make sure I am in the classroom and to give me a hug. I have students that consistently come back to visit me to let me know how they are doing in school and in life. Believe me when I tell you there is nothing better than the unconditional love of children. They simply are glad to see you and to know that you love and care for them. The idea of leaving my students and their families is burning a hole in my heart. I get torn up just thinking about it.

However, looking at this new job prospect excites me at the same time. I will have the unique opportunity to work with a number of local teacher unions in our state. I would be the liaison between the local unions and the state/national unions. I would be the go-to guy for these locals. I also have the opportunity to lobby our state & national legislators on all things education. I love education and I love politics, so it seems a perfect fit. I would be the voice for the teachers who so often feel that they don't have one.

Okay, another perk to contend with...if I do get one specific position with the union, I would need to move. Although it was not the move I originally wanted (sorry MNJ & MH), there are some good perks. First, I would be living in the same city as my mother. For those of you that do not know, I had absolutely no relationship or contact with my mother from age 5 to 18. Our relationship has been building ever since, and the idea of living near her is exciting. Also, she has a lake house in the town that she does not use very often. The reason for that is that my mother and step-father built a house in town in which they could retire. So they uprooted their life and moved 60 miles to this town where their lake house already was. I have the possibility of living there for a bit. Plus, I would be close to one of my favorite cities in the state. I would be in a place where there is actually life to live.

So where do I go...I simply don't know. I am continuing to weigh all the options. I also continue to pray for guidance and some sort of sign to help me make this decision. I will keep you posted as I find out.

There is more to this post, but I find myself literally shaking as I type this. That is a signal that I need to stop right now, but I have much more to write about and to tell you. I will post the rest later. Thanks to all of you for listening.

- JC

All is Quiet (& Crazy)

It has been a few days since I have really had a chance to get on my blog. Just thought I would give you a rundown of my week thus far.

Monday began a very insane week. My students were wild. Was there a full moon? I ended up tutoring one of my former students after school on Monday. His mother sends me emails from time to time to keep me updated and to ask for help when her son is not doing so well in math. Have I mentioned that I teach math? This mother is also one of the best gift-givers I have ever met. (For Christmas last year she had spent about $300 on my Christmas gift...and I am just a teacher. This year, when her son is not even in my class, she has sent gifts for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.) When this mom came to pick up her son, she handed me a thank you card. Inside was a VISA gift card. That's right, I am going shopping soon. I told her I didn't want anything for tutoring her son. I am just glad to help. Honestly though, I will not turn down the gift card. LOL!

Anyway, after tutoring, I attended the monthly school board meeting. It lasted well over 3 hours...almost 4. There was a lot of political grandstanding, and that ticked me off beyond belief. Yes, I had to be there for the meeting. Remember, I am the president of our teachers' union for our school district. I work very closely with the  school board and director. After that meeting, I am convinced that come election time, I am working to endorse a new candidate just to help oust the board member who was grandstanding that night. He obviously is looking to be in a bigger political office soon, and I don't like him using the school board as his platform.

Monday ended up being a very long day. I left my house at 4:45 AM and did not return home until almost 10:00 PM. I hit the couch and passed out until the next morn.

The rest of this week has seen my students being absolutely crazy. I have never had a group that were this rambunctious. It has been a challenge all year. I was talking with another teacher who gets my kids during specials classes, and he was telling me how rough my kids are. I just laughed. Thus is my life.

Trying to get these kids focused is like pulling teeth, but I will forge ahead. This week has also been a big review week for the unit exam on Friday. I told my students that I will not be at school on Friday to help them with questions during the test, so they better ask now and study hard. I don't like giving tests while I am away. The kids never do as well when I am there. (No, it is not because I am giving answers. I don't answer questions during a test except to clarify a question...that's it.) I am nervous to see the results of the unit exam when I return on Monday.

In addition to my teaching duties, my union duties as president have kicked into high gear this week. I am dealing with a handful of teachers in one of our schools requesting to cancel their membership. It is not normal to have this many cancelling their membership. Something is going on at that school, and I have to play detective and peacemaker at the school. This is new territory for us, so it will be an interesting experience.

I am also now watching over three different situations happening in our school district that affect three different teachers. If anything is done against the contract or illegally, I will be on the phone to have our 4 state education attorneys make their way to our district. Everything will be done justly and in a polite and respectful manner. That is what I teach my students, and I expect nothing less from our administration.

I am being pulled in ten different directions on a daily basis...I LOVE IT!

I am heading out of town on Friday morning. I am attending a teacher leadership conference out of state over the weekend. They are paying for travel and the swanky hotel. I would be crazy not to go. Our first stop on Friday afternoon will be visiting the presidential library in the city where the conference is being held. More on that when I return.

Turns out that my weekend calendar is quickly filling up. I will be traveling out of town every weekend in February and most of March. Plus, I will be taking 5 school days off over the next two months for other obligations. It is a very busy time of year.

Will I ever find time to rest? Perhaps at the end of my life, but I don't see a slowing pace anytime soon. I am perfectly okay with that.

Hope everyone is doing well. I feel like I have just rambled on and on, so forgive me for that!

Have a great night.
- JC