2020 Day 1 of Spring Break

For Rockridge, we are on Spring Break.  For other schools, they are suppose to be returning from Spring Break, but many are now closed because of the closing of schools due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  In fact, just last night Iowa recommended closing schools for four weeks, and New York City is closing some school until the end of April.  One thing the additional time does is give me time to write in this Blog more often.  So I told Alexa to play some Christmas music at volume five and here I am.  So far, Amber and Karrigan have headed off to Missouri to spend time with Amber's friend up in Rochester, as her friend is receiving medical treatments (not related to Coronavirus).

Accomplishments today include

1. accompanied Amber to Dollar General for some grocery...she needed to pick up diapers for Kourtney, and we also picked up some little thing for us.  I also picked up the ingredients for an awesome bowl of macaroni and cheese wonderfulness tonight.  I'm going to include tuna fish and peas and mushrooms, and it's going to be great!  My mom use to make that all the time, but Amber doesn't like "chunks", so this will be just for me.  I contemplated Chicago style pizza, but I decided I don't want to drive into Moline.  Amber's friend picked me up a pint of vanilla ice cream, so I can make myself a strawberry shake with supper too, since we recently got some strawberries.
2. took out the trash and recycle
3. agreed to dog sit Kya and Thor tomorrow for Kourtney.  So beginning around 1:30 tomorrow, this house will be a zoo....literally.
4. watched the news and received an update on corona virus information - one bit of news was to limit watching the coverage, so I'm currently following those guidelines by shutting off the television and listening to Christmas music while I type away here
5. I weighed myself (not good, but not too bad either) and updated my online spreadsheet of my checking account - also not good, but not too bad either)

Things I could do today...

• stretch and get a work out in...make sure to close green ring, but I need to incorporate a couple of exercise sessions in
• 10:51 - green ring closed...30 min. treadmill walk!
• take Sophie and Lily for a walk
• watch basketball - not live basketball, but the DVD's I have of my old high school games
• watch a movie - I think I might watch that foreign film that won all those academy awards - Parasite?
• try to reach out to Chase, Carmen, and Cole and see how they are doing
• visit my parents to check in on them and take some strawberries to them
• I visited with them, and they had a couple friends there.  Of course, one of them had just returned from Europe a few days ago.  Geez.
• figure out a quick way to digitally score the research papers I need to work on, and then score the research papers - about 80 of them
• run the shark around the house to vacuum
• While the main hallway doesn't look like it now, I did accomplish this - upstairs and downstairs.
• read a book (I finished my previous book, last night, and it was really good.)
• listen to a podcast or two or three - Google Tribe, Sober Guy, nutrition guys
• take a shower, shave, and get dressed...another advice tip this morning was to try to avoid just staying in pajamas and laying around all day
• I haven't done this yet - 7:51 p.m....I think I will shower before I go to ged.
• take a nap - I think it's going to be okay to do this but just keep it moderate.  I did wake up at 4:30 a.m. today, and I couldn't get back to sleep.  
• OKAY...maybe I didn't accomplish everything, but I did accomplish some things not on the list!
• I weeded my paperwork file tote, which was an all-day job, including three garbage sacks full of shredded documents.  That job has been on the "someday list" for a long, long time.
• I found the title to the HHR; more importantly, I found the title to the Dodge truck!  I wasn't sure where either was at, but it's amazing what can be found sticking misplaced in a different file folder.
• I found what just may be a long lost insurance certificate that is still active.  I need to check on that tomorrow.
• I organized my file folder that includes the Northwestern Mutual stuff - two life insurance policies and an annuity.
• I organized my file folder for my Modern Woodman stuff, including me, Carmen, and Chase.
• I added to the "divorce folder", but that's a good thing.  If I keep that awful memory in one file folder, it's just easier on my brain.
• I found the plastic replacement ear plug covers to my ear buds.  I thought those were someplace, but I didn't realize they were in my cabinet next to my bed.  You may think this is some trivial thing, but comfort for the ears when listening to music or a podcast is very nice.

Later today, I will update this to see what I might have accomplished.

It's A Different World At Least For A Couple of Weeks

No sports, no umpiring, no schools, no casinos...and that's just what I know of now.  I'm not sure if Turning Pointe is going to stay open, and it seems like other closures occur on an hourly basis.  The coronavirus is gaining ground on shutting down "normal life".  Here are some things I do know.

I'm gaining weight.  After basketball season, I knew I would gain weight.  My plan was to give my knees and legs a break, so I was not going to have as much cardio work.  I also planned to increase strength training, which would hopefully help me gain some muscle weight, which I planned later would help me work on another weight loss period when softball umpiring arrived.  Because softball umpiring is canceled for at least the next two weeks, I'm not going to get that cardio vascular from that activity.  So I'm going to need to find an alternate activity...I'm thinking about adding some 21-day fix videos that I can do in the basement at home.  Plus, I think today, I'm going to go purchase a new pair of running shoes.  I tried to jog around town a couple of days ago on worn out shoes, and my knees paid the price.  So I think between trying to get more jogging in and adding at least a daily cardio video work out and trying to lift a little with the limited free weights I have, I can try to complete and alternative workout schedule.  That will help, but I'm also going to count my calories.  I haven't been doing this, but I need to do this now to better monitor my food intake.  I don't enjoy this step, but it's necessary.

No sports viewing.  THIS IS A BIG ONE.  This week the NCAA and all professional sports suspended or cancelled their seasons.  UGH.  I am really going to miss March Madness.  I think I'm going to consciously watch a movie now and then just to help that frustration.  Last night I watched A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood, and it was amazing.  I cried.  I've always had a belief that angels exist among us, but it occurred to me that even angels have to consistently work at being who they are.  I hope someone considers me an angel for them.

No casinos.  This one might not necessarily be a bad thing.  Amber and I played slots at Rudy's last night, and I only lost $20.  Apparently, Illinois casinos will be closing after this weekend, and that might be a blessing in disguise.  Last year with all the snow days, Amber and I were frequent guests at Jumer's.  Losing money at the casino and not officiating because of canceled basketball games was not a good combination.  I can see the same thing unfolding now.  On the other hand, Iowa hasn't said anything about closing casinos yet, and Illinois hasn't said anything about closing down bars yet.  For the time being then, slot machines are still accessible.

Speaking of money...good news and bad news.  The bad news is that I just spent almost $600 on new uniforms for the upcoming softball and eventual volleyball and basketball seasons.  I also spent over $2,000 on repairs to my HHR to be ready for the miles...oops.  It's not like I won't eventually still need those things, but having the cash to get through this coronavirus shut down might become necessary.  I'm guessing all the stimulus dollars President Trump is throwing at us isn't necessarily going to reach my bank account.  The good news is that I didn't follow through with a plan to pay off my credit card.  I know that may actually sound like bad news, but holding off on that allows me to have some available cash flow dollars to get through this period.

I've got a couple of books to read, and I have some research papers to read and score.  At least, for now, I won't be bored, or at least I don't have to be.  I'm not suggesting that scoring research papers is going to be at the top of my list to spring out of bed and start my day with, but having some extra time to complete that task is welcomed.  Plus, if I can get the papers scored, and can then release those scores and students could "ideally" have an opportunity to revise their work.

I would also like to maybe visit with Carmen and Cole.  They had their original spring break last week, and I didn't get a chance to see them.  I also will visit with Mom and Dad and check on them.  I'm thinking maybe a poker party with the boys might be a good idea too.

Day one of Spring Break and Coronavirus Break is off and running.

The Struggle Is Real

     As I age, students "perspective" on education seems to be wearing me down.  It seems as though many students (and perhaps their parents) view their high school education as an inconvenience.  Their education is something that is an obstacle to doing all the other more important parts of their lives - extra-curricular activities, their part-time jobs, their social lives, their favorite TicToc celebrities, their video games, etc...  There just isn't time or interest to fit their education into their lives.
     We have been working on a research paper for about a week.  Students legitimately should be completed with a rough draft by tonight.  And since yesterday, I'm including a private comment in their Google Classroom account to record what has been accomplished so far.  A couple of students already have their rough drafts completed, so now I can review their work and offer suggestions to help them improve their work.  More importantly, I can review their work and warn them of potential plagiarism violations.
     Today, my first period students were required to complete the Illinois Science Assessment, so they weren't in class.  Keep in mind, I've been telling the students that this requirement was going to be occurring today for over a week.  They were going to miss first period English III today, but that wasn't going to change the due date of the research paper - it's still due on Friday.
     While the students were completing the science assessment, I checked over the first period research paper, and since first period yesterday, many students had not even revisited their research papers at all.  So in their private comments, I supplied a message - something like, "draft only partially completed".  I had one student reply to my comment with the following statement. 

how do you expect me to have a draft done when i’m not in class?

     And therein is the struggle.  Apparently this student thinks that the only time to complete any work on this research paper is when she's in class.  And if class isn't held, then there isn't any other opportunity to work on the paper.  So in her world, English III only exists from 8:10 a.m. - 9:05 a.m. on days when she is present on scheduled days at school.  There isn't even an iota of a thought of, "Hey, I don't have first period tomorrow, so in order to keep pace with what I need to complete for the research paper to be done by Friday, I need to spend some time OUTSIDE OF CLASS on the research paper to be up-to-speed.
     And this "perspective" exists in a world where it's NEVER BEEN SIMPLER to complete a research paper in the history of mankind, even for the most reluctant student.  There are works cited generators, sample MLA papers, YouTube videos, Google Docs, real-time comments from teachers, access to frequently asked questions, a Google Classroom designed specifically for students to help each other with sources, and on and on and on.  The only thing that is really needed is for students to be willing to spend time with the assignment.
     And there's the struggle...time is a rare commodity because education seems to get to be a lower and lower priority.  Education is just too inconvenient anymore. The only time students can fit in an opportunity to work on an assignment is the designated class period that they are forced to attend.  Anything more expected than that is just unreasonable and ridiculous.  When I retire, I won't miss this struggle.  I won't miss the real struggle of how a high school education is so inconvenient these days.