Back in the Right Place

So a landmark realization comes about after one week. I never should have stopped teaching music. It's okay. I can admit when I'm wrong, and I was. After hearing in February I was on my way back, it started the whole "I'm not in control of my life" thing rolling. After a month of dealing with it, I became pretty positive about it, and got excited.

As the time to start crept up slowly I started getting a little worried again. I've had to work hard to deal with all the feelings it stirred up within me about being in a position that I didn't apply for, and then suddenly my principal left and I was left in a position I wasn't prepared to do with a supervisor that I didn't know. If you know me, then you know I was seriously freaked out.

As last week ended, I had pretty much written off the principal and was throwing myself totally into the job. As this week ends, I feel bad that I didn't give the principal more of a chance. She seems like she is going to be okay. I have been on both sides of the curtain now, so I understand where she comes from when some decisions are made that make the teachers shake their heads. She is not so bad. For some reason I have this "fear" of unrealistic expectations.

When supervisors have a "music program", they don't seem to realize what is possible and what is not. I guess that will be my next great adventure. Not killing myself to fulfill unrealistic expectations.

First Day of School

No way, I just typed up a new blog for today, and it didn't post it. I don't have time to redo it, and that was pretty much the theme of that entry.

It was the first day of school and I'm running in circles! I have to go to the gym though, so off I go!

Wore Slap Out

So, I skipped a few days, I know. I think it will alright in the grand scheme of things. Amber and Shevell visited for the past few days, and you know having company can wear you out. I was so tired in the evenings that I couldn't type up my thoughts. My thoughts were mostly of an unsharable nature anyways.

I do know that theme parks wear you out! And, I just had some really strong deja vu. My dreams have been very vivid lately. They usually deal with not having enough credits to graduate college (What in the world does that mean?) Or, dirty bathrooms. I think I need to look this stuff up.

I'm going to watch Big Brother now. I don't watch a lot of TV so don't think too badly on me for watching just a great show.

BABY!

Blog time. Neighborhood watch meeting tonight. We're going to take a bite out of crime. I feel pretty safe in my neighborhood though. I just ran to my friends house and back which is about 2 miles. I get the catcalls or whatever, like "Hey, Boy!" I'm not really sure what the guys are doing calling out to me.

I went to the dentist today and had a checkup and cleaning. That is how to spend every day. It was better than most dentist visits I've had in my life, though.

Audrey is so funny with her babies. If you ask her where they are she goes running around the house yelling BABY! I need to get a clip of that.

Yo Joe!

So, tonight I went to the movies. This is a big deal these days. I don't get to go to the movies without a lot of planning. I don't like to leave Jenny at home and go to the movies without her, but I did tonight. Cesar and I went to see G.I. Joe. I was always a big G.I. Joe fan when I was young and I thought that Transformers always stole all the thunder from the Joes. Don't get me wrong I love Transformers, too, but tonight I was happy the Joes got their own movie in the theater and everything.

It was going so great and well until about 30 minutes before it ended where it took a tragic turn. I don't want to go into details or anything, but it didn't leave me upset that I went to see it. I was still glad to have seen the characters that I grew up with realized on the silver screen in live action. They really messed up a lot of things, but it's forgivable.

Before that I did some back to school shopping. I bought some new shoes to be ready for the new year. It's coming up on us fast at this point. I'm not going to panic, but I don't know how in the world that place is going to be ready for the kiddos. They won't even let us go in and see what the situation is like yet.

Audrey was carrying her baby dolls around today and it was so funny. I don't have much more to say. I have been running around trying to get the house more organized before the madness hits. It's like taking a deep breath before you go under the water. Really, it's more like taking a deep breath before the drop on the roller coaster. Once it starts moving, time seems to roll super fast, and before you know it, it's Christmas.

Audrey had a hard time with the kids during church yesterday. I know that Monday is going to be really hard on her now that she is used to being with us all day, every day.

Its official. i am now commited to an institution! and pei wei rocks. that is all.

2009.08.08 Happy in the Sand

2009/08/08
2009.08.08 Happy in the Sand

Today we went to Cocoa Beach with Dawn, Cesar, and Cesar's brother's family. We couldn't figure out why Audrey was trying to eat everything including the sand. When we got home, Jenny discovered that Audrey had been cutting her molars. This explained why every foreign object was back in her mouth again.

After I go to the beach, I am never more sleepy. I can hardly hold up my head. My phone battery stopped working today, so that has put a damper on things. This is the first time I've tried to blog from YouTube. This should be the first time that the HD really pops on the screen. I hope it looks pretty good.

Last night's blog was from my phone. I couldn't really get to the computer, but that's ok. Some things are more important than blogging.

Late Night Talking with Rob

I dont think im going to have a chance to expound on life tonight. im hanging out with rob and remembering a great gal.

Socratic Method

Ok, so today I spent hours pondering philosophy in the Socratic Seminar in the Arts workshop. We spent two hours pondering the Black Eyed Peas Song "Where Is the Love?"

Specifically, what do you think the author means when he says:

If you never know truth, then you never know love. (Now my new facebook status, consequently)

We talked about that a couple of hours. They played Hallelujah from Shrek, and Cat's in the Cradle. The ladies in the room started all crying, and it was like church. Pretty strange for a workshop.

We basically sat around in a circle and pondered the meaning of life through the painting or song we were experiencing.

We went to eat with Rob and Dawn. Recently Rob's wife Alison passed away, only three weeks after they were married. That's one of the saddest things I've ever experienced. She was so much fun, and was an awesome person. She pretty much introduced us to Orlando, or at least the parts that we didn't already know before we moved here. She lived every day to its fullest extent and has helped me recraft my attitude towards life in general to a more healthy one. She was a great friend. I forgot to mention that she was also the flower girl in their wedding! It was a great event in St. Augustine.

Audrey is scared to death of dogs barking. She loves dogs, but she doesn't love their barking. She loved playing with Stitch tonight, but she can't handle it when he barks.

Encouraging Teachers to be on Social Networks

I guess you can see that I'm trying to be committed to doing this every day. Sometimes I wonder if I'll have anything to say. I'm sure that after I'm in the habit, I'll be ok with skipping some days. This holds true with my picture a day of Audrey. I was thinking today about how I've become a little less private on the internet with my life, but I think I'm keeping it totally clean. This should be easy if my life is an open book, right?

This brings to mind the news story from today that United States Marines have been banned totally from Twitter and Facebook. They said it was a risk to national security, and I guess if you have a renegade Marine with a cell phone, he could tweet the military's plans for the whole world to see!?

Then my friend Kelly told me that her principal has told the staff they should probably delete their facebook if they have one. All I can say is that if you are not presenting anything there that would get you in trouble, then you should be okay. I guess they are covering themselves in the likely event that someone with no sense will post bad things and get the school board in trouble. I just don't think there's anything wrong with going out and using the internet like everyone else. If we want to teach the kids to compete in the future world, then we need to be in tune with it. So many teachers avoid technology just because they are scared of it, the last thing we need is the school boards causing the teachers to be frightened of losing their jobs over using it. I mean, just keep it clean folks. Enough said.

My running times tonight! I actually went 2 miles. I know. I couldn't believe it myself. I was in pain when it was over, though. The first mile was 12:36 and combined for two miles was 28:22. Much better than I thought it would be.

Ok, so you know my daughter has just turned one, right? Today I go in to get her after her nap and she has taken off her diaper and thrown it out of the crib. The sheets and matress are soaked.

Well folks, this is probably my third attempt at a standalone blog, and I think I may last this time. I want to be able to look back, or maybe even my daughter be able to look back and see what life was like during this time in the world. It's pretty crazy. Maybe I'll get to tell all my old man stories on here before it's all said and done.

I hope that I'll still be able to be on facebook then. You would think that if only your friends can see your facebook, then you should be safe. I have actually thought about deleting all my co-workers from my facebook, but I thought better of it.

Benjamin Button's Letter to His Daughter

One more thing tonight before I go, I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night. It was not very good in my opinion, but I did find Benjamin's letter to his daughter quite compelling. I thought I'd offer it up here in hopes that maybe one day my daughter will have the opportunity to read it and take its advice as well:

For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

Running and Archiving

I've finally, almost a month later, finished collecting all the pictures and videos from Audrey's first year. That was a task. I took my time and tried to get it right so I didn't leave anything out. Don't get me wrong, I could take another year organizing them into events with descriptions and what not, and I just may do that on Flickr in my spare time, but for now I am DONE. It has taken a solid month to get all this together. Here's a mosaic I made of the one-a-days that I made during the first year. I tried to make one with all 3400 pictures earlier, but the computer decided that was too much to ask of it.

I've made DVDs of the official videos, and now I have data discs of the pictures and .mp4s of the videos. I think it's safe to say that the year has been backed up for posterity. One final drop onto the external hard drive and I think we'll have a brand new slate to work from on the laptop. It's a good thing, too, because I had filled the hard drive up. My goal is to take less this year, and I'm certain that will happen. We're not dedicated to getting a good picture on the 9th of every month this year, but more focused on little events and trips.

When it was all said and done we averaged just under 10 photographs a day during Audrey's 1st year. I don't think there are 10 photos in existence of my first year. LOL. 3438 pictures are on the DVD archive of the first year of pictures.

This brings me to my running. I'm trying to train myself up to the Army's Physical Fitness Test (referred to APFT from here on in this blog, please make a note of it) standards. I am terrible with keeping a written journal, mainly because this entails finding it. So, here it goes. I thought I'd just note my times in here so it may keep me motivated to get to the point where I can pass the APFT.

Today I went one mile and the time was 13:27. Yes, that is pretty pathetic, but it's quite an improvement from middle school and high school because I used to not finish because after 20 minutes they stopped the exercise. HA HA HA. Pretty weak kid. I don't even know where I'm shooting for now. I know you have to run 2 miles on the test. What's worse is the pushups and situps which are in the most pathetic state. I think I can do 5 situps and 0 pushups.

I also have to weigh 238 or 242 (depending on if they measure me 6'6" or 6'7"). I think I have shrunk over the years an inch. That would mean I would need to be 238 and that is 42 pounds lower than what I am now. I will have all the ladies at work worried for my health when I'm that weight. I've already lost about 82 pounds so far, so that would be a total of 124 pounds lost.

Well, they just better get ready to worry. I'm pretty determined to get down there this time. At least it gives me something positive to work towards that doesn't involve work.

Audrey got a car today from NeNe. It was a late birthday present, and Jenn went and picked it up while I was in a neverending workshop from 8 to 4. I heard I was leaving my job. I wished! I'd leave it in a nice red car like Audrey's!

Writing / The Freedom Riders at Forsyth & Sons /Florida Sunsets

Today I had an all day workshop about using the arts in writing. We would look at paintings and/or listen to music and then do a corresponding writing assignment. Man, I wrote like there was no tomorrow. I think that this blogging thing may be related to that. I have the urge to write a lot suddenly. I think I've always been bad at expressing myself and maybe this is a way to get over that hurdle.

There was one story that Deb assigned us, and I wrote and wrote and wrote. I gave it to her at the end because she wanted examples. I felt bad to throw it away since I don't know when I've written so much, especially a narrative.

I was able to work out. I don't realize how out of shape I am until I look at the big goals I have set for myself. I went to BJs and got some supplies that would last a while so I dont have to worry about them during the first hellish months of school. I also reconnected with my cousin Janie Forsyth McKinney, who is somewhat of a civil rights legend in her own right. When these idiot racists attacked a bus of people because they were mixed white and black in the bus, she ran out and attended to the wounded, while the people standing around that had just gotten out of church just stopped and stared or called out insults. If you're interested you can Google Freedom Riders Anniston Janie Forsyth and you'll get a story you just won't believe. How so much hate could come from the "Bible Belt" is beyond my comprehension. I was taught that God is love. Oh, and Janie was only 12 years old at the time. She said she was tormented at school until she graduated because she helped those people. She had to leave Alabama at the first chance she could get. That's pretty much where I ended up, too.

What's even crazier is that it was 1961 which is 15 years before I was born. Hard to believe that it wasn't that long ago that black people were treated like that in the south. I guess that's why I get fired up, because these folks that tout being devout Christians can treat other human beings so poorly. There are still those that treat others poorly, but at least they can't get away with treating them like they did back then.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trashing all Christians or Southerners. It's just taken me a long time to separate the values that were instilled in me that I thought came from the church, when it was really just the culture of the people that attended the church that was being passed on to me. Once I was old enough, and had been presented with enough point of views to see what values had been passed down to me, I was really shocked. I remember being embarassed of my mother when she had finally broken free from the messed up value system, and expressed her belief that everyone was equal, and that is really sad to me now. I know these people were only human and responding to group psychology and inherent ethnocentricity. It's the ones that carry on the sentiment today that should REALLY be ashamed of themselves. Not that it takes too many scruples to see that burning people because they want to ride the bus mixed white and black people is inherently wrong. I put a picture of the bus up there so you can see they really did alot of damage. The whites started attacking the bus at the bus stations and the bus fled, and the people chased it down the highway, got in front of it and slowed down until the bus had to stop, and they threw a molotov cocktail on board the bus while the passengers were too afraid to exit because of the mob outside. One person went up to someone that exited and asked if they were ok, looked concerned, and then hit the guy over the head with a baseball bat.

This all went down in front of my cousin's familly store "Forsyth & Sons" on Highway 202 in Anniston, which is long since gone, but I remember when it was still there. The story gets worse and worse so if you're interested you should google. There is a big write up on NPR. The author of the book calls Janie little "Janie Miller" and that version is reprinted a bunch of places, but that is her. I used to have long talks with her, and I didn't even realize that she was considered a hero of the civil rights movement.

When I was going to the store after the gym, it was about sunset and the sky was amazing. I wish my camera phone would do it justice. The sunsets in Florida are just breathtaking. The picture is at the top up there, but the phone is not good, and the light is not good, so it really doesn't have the same effect at all. Florida sunsets are one of the things that makes living here so special. Don't get me wrong, I miss the mountainside and country of Alabama, but I need the attitude towards life that Orlando brings to the table. I enjoy my church that has people of all colors and backgrounds worshipping together and treating each other like God's children.

All this talk about race brings me to show you a picture of one of the pictures from our workshop today. We had to look at the picture and write what we thought was trying to be conveyed by the work. This one was pretty powerful to me. I think it says alot without any words. What do you think? I think moving ahead in this country is talking about this together and moving on to bigger and better things. This part of our nation's history is so hard to swallow.

Nesting and Tijuana Flats

So yeah, today was pretty laid back. I stayed home today with Audrey while Jenny and Brandi went to see Harry Potter. Jenny has talked of little else since it came out, so I am glad that she was finally to go.

I went into some serious nesting and started going through things and throwing stuff out. There is so much I wish I could throw out, but Jenny won't throw it away until she's sure we won't have another baby.

So, Tijuana Flats.....we went there after they got back from Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince and I think it might be my new favorite place. That always changes from time to time and I think it's time. I hated it the first time we went, but now that I've found something I like, well, it's a different story. They have a HUGE kids meal. I couldn't believe how big it was. Maybe they weren't paying attention to the fact it was a kids meal? I got a picture just in case you want to judge it on your own.

Why am I blogging all the sudden? I'm not sure. I guess I've gotten into sharing.

Loving MP4's (kinda)

I am really loving the fact that I have gotten 30GB (2.5 hours) of cutting room footage from Audrey's First Year down to 2.5 GB by converting to a pretty good MP4.

I've been looking at changing the way I handle all the media that I'm creating. I got a pro flickr account to store photos and short videos. I put all the videos from her first year onto a DVD. They barely all fit on one. It looks like the best idea is to convert all of those videos into an MP4 to backup on an external hard drive. Otherwise, they're taking up so much space.

I bought an HD camcorder and I love it. The only problem I'm having is that iMovie 6 HD is not exporting the videos in HD when it says it is. I have researched that online and I'm still not having much luck. I've walked away from it a while and I'm going to work on it again in a couple of days.

I feel like I need to have all my new procedures down and problems solved before school starts, otherwise I'll be tripping through the year. I've already been posting raw video to get it online in HD, and I hate posting raw video.