Monday, December 31, 2012

2012: A Year in Review

I will start off by saying that as I expected...the Dallas Cowboys lost.  Congratulations to the Washington Redskins.  You were the better team...this year.  Back to the main reason I'm posting.  This is obviously an excellent time for reflection.  I am going to write a brief synopsis of something that happened on each of the 366 days this year.  Just kidding!  I can't remember what I did yesterday, yet along what I did on January 1st of this year.  Only one person I know can remember everything little thing that was said, when it was said, and in what context it was said...crazy!  I do remember that this year on January 1st I suffered through a Cowboys loss.  That was the game I wrote about yesterday that would have brought them to the playoffs.  Maybe next year, as 20 other teams are saying at this point today.

I will say that I had an amazing 2011.  2012 was not as good, but still a great year.  My goal with this post is just to reflect, and not bore you to tears.  That's my goal with all of my writing: never bore the readers or they will stop reading.  I cannot think of any significant events that stand out in my mind the first few months of the year.  However in February, I tried lent for the first time.  I gave up soda successfully for 40 days!  I normally drink a can or glass of soda everyday.  That was a big deal for me to not drink any soda for 40 straight days.  In April, something changed my life dramatically for the better.  It was Easter weekend.  I'm not sure exactly how I got onto this page on Amazon.  I must have been looking for free kindle books.  Anyway, I found an author that had two kindle books for free.  Her name is Rachel Thompson.  I read her books, loved them, then found out she has a book on publishing.  I bought and read some of that.  Somehow, she is the one that motivated me to continue my search for publishers and find a better way to publish my book.  I got on to Twitter and off I went.  At that time, I had no cover, besides the one for my Kindle version.  I was selling a hard copy of book one on lulu.com and it sold I think 2 copies.  My kindle version was priced at $5.99 and would not come off until June 7 because I was under contract with someone else.  Somehow, I found CreateSpace and decided to publish my book through there because it cost me very little.  I used the same cover that was used for the kindle version.  I made a ton of edits from the original version that I "published" in July 2011.  As of the end of April, the hard copy of book one was for sale on Amazon.  I got the kindle formatted by someone as soon as the contract was up and put that on sale for $0.99 in mid July.  At that point, I started seriously writing book 2.  On April 13, I started this blog, but started writing everyday as of May 24.  I have had almost 3,000 views up until this point!  Maybe 10,000 by the end of 2013?  Who knows!?  I had an outline for book 2 for awhile, but never had time to write.  At the end of July, I went to my third Nickelback concert with my friends and loved it.  I went on my cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel in August and of course loved it! (see August blog posts)  I had family come over and we went to the track and did a ton of stuff together.  I then went to a Yankee game against the Toronto Bluejays and Yankees won.  At the end of September, book two was published in hard copy form and then in mid October the kindle version went for sale.  My friends got married in October in a beautiful, yet freezing wedding at Hunter Mountain.  I had the kindle version of both books for sale for free for 5 days each and sold 885 copies.  This month alone, I have sold over 50 paid copies of my book.  I have started working on my grocery store book.  I also started the newspaper club at my school.  Thanks for the idea, mom!  I will take absolutely no credit for the idea, but will take credit for talking to my principal and getting that started.  I cannot tell you how proud of the kids I am.  I love showing them my love of writing and I love seeing their love of writing!  This year, as with every year, there have certainly been ups and downs.  The world has seen its share of tragedy, especially the last month.  We all just do the best that we can to succeed.  With this, I say good bye to 2012 and now, an outline of events to hopefully take place in 2013.

I do not believe in New Years resolutions.  Of course everyone has goals.  Unfortunately, I have had the same goal now for the third year in a row.  That goal is to get a teaching job.  I don't live my life by looking at resolutions or goals.  I live each day and do whatever I have to do in order to be successful that day and in the future.  I try to be productive, keep busy, and stay motivated.  We all know that some days are easier than others to do this.  If you give your all in everything you do, you are bound to be successful.  It takes time and patience.  It takes perseverance.  I tell my students all of the time that school is very hard work.  If they put in the effort and push themselves, they can do whatever they want.  You need to take risks, know your limits, seek help when needed, and never ever give up on your dream(s).  I know who I am inside.  I know what I want and I will never stop pushing to achieve what I want.  That's what I think life is all about.  You can never stop shooting for your dreams.  With that said, below is a list of tentative plans for 2013.

-Atlantic City for 2 nights, 3 days during my February vacation.
-Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio in late June or Early July
-7-day cruise to Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Freeport in August
-LESS trips to Turning Stone
-More trips to the gym and hopefully less food consumed overall...
-More focus on reading, writing, and being productive at nights after work
-My grocery store book will be published sometime this year
-Pushing harder than ever to get a teaching job anywhere
-To live life without thinking about, "What if I did (such and such) differently?"

As I said earlier, I hope that this post didn't bore you, and got you thinking about your dreams for the future.  Never give up and always keep pushing.  The higher the dreams and the more you push, the more successful you will become.  Enjoy 2013, stay safe and healthy and keep pushing because you never know how you will do in something until you try!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Huge Game Tonight for the Dallas Cowboys

Last year in the last week of the season, the Dallas Cowboys played the New York Giants.  The winner won the division and made the playoffs with the loser not making the playoffs.  Tonight, it is exactly the same scenario.  The only difference is that Dallas plays the Washington Redskins.  The winner wins the division and the loser does not make the playoffs.  Last year, the Cowboys were unsuccessful in that bid.  Obviously, I'm hoping for a different outcome tonight.  I'm not too optimistic though.  The Redskins have won 6 in a row.  If they do win, I think they will lose in the playoffs next week.  I'm a realistic fan.  I know that the Cowboys aren't very good.  However, I have been a fan of the team since I was about 5 and I will be for life.  Naturally, I'm rooting for a Super Bowl win, but know it's very unlikely.  It's quite stressful to be a Cowboys fan.  They have won only one playoff game since 1995 when they won the Super Bowl.  The playoff game they won was in 2009 and then they got destroyed the following week.  They didn't make the playoffs the last two years.  Will this year be different?

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Snow During a Vacation or on the Weekend

Last year, we had one big snow storm.  It happened on March 1st.  We had a snow day and the snow melted that day.  I couldn't have asked for anything better!  So far this year, we have had two snow storms during the same week and they have both been this week while we are off from school!  The storm on Wednesday into Thursday definitely would have caused a snow day.  The storm right now is pretty bad and we might have gotten out a little early.  Teachers get more excited about snow days than kids.  We still get paid for that, we don't have to drive in the snow, and we get a break from the kids.  Many teachers still have their own kids at home during snow storms.  I think they can handle two or three kids instead of 20+.  This amount of snow also brings lots of shoveling.  I seriously think I've done more shoveling this week than I did all of last winter combined.  It happens.  Some years there's a lot of snow and other years there isn't much at all.  I am not a fan of snow and would be completely fine if this was it for the year.  Unfortunately, that would mean no snow days.  I guess I can't have everything!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Laughter

Laughing is one of the most important things you can do in life.  It's very healthy to laugh each day.  Kids laugh at almost anything.  Adults don't seem to laugh very often.  I love laughing.  I often laugh at my own stupidity.  I also tend to laugh at serious situations.  I'm not so sure that's a good thing.  If something bad happened to me, I can sometimes laugh it off later that day.  A perfect example of this is on senior prom day.  I drove my car to a picnic and my friend asked how my car was running.  I said it was running perfectly fine.  Ironically, later that day, I went to pick up my vest for my tux.  I went to start my car at the mall and it didn't start.  I had to get it towed because the battery died.  I laughed at that right away.  Two days before winter break, I went into a teachers room to look at her laptop.  All of a sudden, she started laughing hysterically trying to tell me a story and I could not make out a word of what she was saying.  Eventually, she was able to show me a gift a students parent got her.  It was a set of coasters with weird faces on them.  She was scared of these faces.  She started laughing about the gift and asked me how she was supposed to thank the parent.  I told her that she should be happy she didn't open the gift in front of the parent.  This again sent her into hysterics and we both couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes.  She then told me to watch out for strange coasters mysteriously being placed on my desk.  Again we laughed.  Laughing makes everything better at least for a moment.  As the late great college basketball coach Jim Valvano once said, "There are three things we should do in life everyday: 1. laugh 2. think 3. have your emotions moved to tears.  If you laugh, you think, and you cry everyday, that's a heck of a day."  Think about that when you aren't having a good day.  Think about something that made you laugh.  Find something or someone that will make you laugh.  I guarantee you it will make you feel better, even if it's only for a few seconds.  I love comedians for that reason.  I have a great sense of humor, love to joke, and love to laugh.  

Thursday, December 27, 2012

My Ideal Grade

I am certified to teach grades 1-6.  I have substitute taught every grade kindergarten to sixth grade multiple times each.  I have come to a clear decision as to what the perfect grade for me would be.  I'll start with the bottom and work my way up.  Naturally, every grade has its pros and cons.  First grade is a great grade to start molding their minds.  However, they are also a very high energy and maintenance group of youngsters.  I'm not sure I am sensitive enough to work with that age group.  In second grade, they also have a lot of energy and still are trying to work out what's right and what's wrong.  They are still a little too young for me.  Third graders start to understand more about what is expected of them in school.  This year especially, I have noticed that they like to challenge authority.  They aren't quite ready to understand my sarcasm at that age.  I think I could work with third grade, but it's not the best age group for me.  In fourth grade, they struggle with listening and following directions.  They really like to push to see how much they can get away with.  At this age, they start to understand sarcasm.  I could also work with fourth graders.  Fifth graders understand my strange sense of humor and love sarcasm.  It's a great age where most kids still enjoy learning and ask questions.  They are fairly subdued and do what the teacher asks them.  I absolutely love fifth grade and this would be the perfect grade for me to teach.  I also enjoy sixth graders.  However, since these kids are at the top of the school, they do not listen at all.  They are too busy focusing on anything but what the teacher has to say.  They really like to see how much they can get away with before a teacher gets angry.  It's natural at this age to test authority since they are just starting to understand the world around them.  Sixth grade is a very fun, yet challenging age of students to work with because they feel superior to the other grades.  They are looking forward to entering middle school and moving on.  I think I would enjoy any grade 3-6, but my ideal grade would be fifth.  I student taught 5th graders and absolutely love that age group.  Naturally, I am in no position to turn down any teaching job and will accept whatever grade a school gives me!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Dreaded Question

When you were a kid and you saw family for the first time in awhile, they would always say, "I can't believe how big you are getting."  At least people in my family always did.  It was ridiculously annoying!  Now, the annoying phrase is, "How's the job search going?"  Several people I talked to the past couple of days do not understand my job title.  I am a full time computer aide.  That means I don't sub.  A few different people asked if I still sub while doing this job.  Um...I can't.  I am full time, which means I work the same hours as a teacher.  In fact, I have to fill out a time card for 8 hours each day.  Teachers are contracted from 8:05-3:15.  I am contracted 7:30-3:30.  Does that make sense?  Of course not.  Then one of my relatives said it was too bad I couldn't sub while doing this job.  Why?  I would make slightly less as a sub than I do now and it would be sporadic and all over the district.  I might not know where I am working until 6AM that morning or later.  The other annoying thing a few relatives and friends have said to me is, "Since you are already in the school, you are next in line for a teaching job, right?"  Wrong again!  Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.  There is no "next in line".  I have to apply for a teaching job with 1,000 of my "closest friends".  Being in the district does not help at all.  It's all about teaching experience and I have none.  How can I get teaching experience if I can't get a job?  That is the million dollar question.  They don't count my job as teaching experience.  There are many teachers that have been laid off that are in much better position to get a job than me.  Basically, you have to know someone to get a job.  There is soooooo much nepotism is my district, it is ridiculous.  One teacher assistant I know is upset because her daughter (same age as me) can't get a permanent job in the district.  Hmmm, well she has gotten every leave position that has been available, including the one year leave positions for this year.  Cough nepotism cough.  I don't have that in my favor.  I have to and will earn my position as a teacher.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

So...Much...Food

I'm sure everyone else feels the same way as me.  I have done nothing but eat the past week.  If you know me well, you know I do nothing but eat all the time anyway.  This week was different though.  I have eaten nothing but cookies, candy, and other junk food.  I have gone out to eat way too many times.  I haven't been to the gym since last Wednesday.  I'm definitely going tomorrow.  It looks like it's going to snow a lot on Thursday.  I might not be leaving the house that day.  Therefore, I won't be able to workout, unless I do something at home.  I did do 50 push ups this morning before my eating fest.  That was my lame attempt at working out.  Wednesday nights are when my friends and I go to trivia at a local restaurant.  I will not be going tomorrow.  I don't need to go out and eat again.  My mom got me a gift card to that place today, too.  I now have gift cards to six (6) different food places that I have to use up.  I love all of these places too (besides my grocery store).  I will still find food to eat using the money to my grocery store, though.  Good thing none of the cards have expiration dates on them.  Last year at this time, I joined a gym and lost some weight.  I am now at a different gym and have gained almost all of that weight back.  I hope that once this week is over with, I will be able to lose that extra weight and then some.  I am so easy to please when it comes to food.  I have no will power or resistance.  If the food is in front of me, it will go into my stomach.  I just love food!  I can't help it.  I know that as I get older, I need to have that power to control myself or I will turn into a blimp.  The older you get, the easier it is to gain weight and the harder it is to lose it!  I might as well enjoy it now while I am at the young age of a quarter of a century!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Chrsitmas Eve Traditions

We have had lasagna on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember.  We used to have family over every Christmas Eve.  Now it's just the five of us.  We have had just the five of us for many, many years now.  My dad works 60 plus days in a row and we don't need the added stress of having company over the day before Christmas.  On Christmas day, we always go over to my aunt's (my dad's sisters) house for dinner.  We started a new tradition three years ago.  I have no idea how this started.  I think it was my younger brother who said that year, "Let's watch the Lion King."  That is a movie we own on VHS.  I know, you probably don't know what a VHS is.  That's a movie on tape that plays in a VCR.  They had these before DVD's and DVD players.  Now every year on Christmas Eve, we watch a VHS movie.  Two years ago we watched The Big Green.  Last year we watched Aladdin.  Tonight, we watched The Sandlot.  I love The Sandlot!  It was funny when I was a kid.  It was even funnier now.  As you get older, you tend to pick up on the small things in movies.  It was a lot of the simple lines that cracked me up.  "You're killing me smalls!"  I'm not sure what VHS we will watch next year.  Somehow, we always seem to choose them a year in advance instead of procrastinating.  I suggested the Mighty Ducks.  It saddens me that kids these days don't know the amazing sports movies that ruled my life back in the 90's when I was a kid.  Everyone has their own little holiday traditions.  What are some of yours?

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Plesantries

Whenever you go to the store and check out at the register, the cashier always greets you and you (normally) greet them back.  Obviously, some cashiers don't talk at all to their customers and some customers don't talk to the cashiers.  Although I am shy, I always greet someone with a "hi", "hello", or "how's it going".  I always tell the customer the total and end the order with a "have a good one".  I don't know why I always say that instead of "have a great day".  I sometimes say have a great day too.  Now that it's near Christmas, some customers say "Merry Christmas" to me.  I never say "Merry Christmas" to my customers.  I always say "happy holidays".  If they say Merry Christmas to me, I either return with "happy holidays" or "you too".  I think it's wrong to say Merry Christmas because you don't know for certain if they actually celebrate Christmas.  Tomorrow at my dad's liquor store, every customer will be saying Merry Christmas.  Although none of you will see me at the store tomorrow, you won't hear those words out of me once tomorrow throughout my 6 hour shift.  I understand the point of the pleasantries that we all say to one another.  However, we all know that when we say "how are you" or "have a great day", we actually couldn't care less how that person is or if they have a great day or not.  It would be more awkward if we were silent, though.  I have to admit that today, everyone at the grocery store was very pleasant even though it was understandably insanely busy.  No one lost their patience or got upset with anything.  You would think that with the holidays being so near, that people would have no patience left and would be easily ticked off.  It actually wasn't too bad of a day at work for once.  With that, I'll end with, have a great night!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Radio

I listen to the radio in my car and while at work when the kids aren't in the room.  I've noticed lately that I cannot keep it on one radio station for more than 5 seconds.  Either it's on commercial, or the music they are playing is so awful I have to change it.  While driving to and from my dad's store, I changed the station literally 50 times.  It's a 20 minute drive.  I should be able to listen to five or six good songs in that time.  I have a CD player in my car, but know I'd get bored of those songs after hearing them over and over again.  I also have an adapter for the iPod, but only use that for long trips.  There's no point in using it for my one mile drive to the grocery store that I have to go to in 5 hours.  I wish the radio stations would play better music!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Generosity

For the most part, people as a whole lack in this area.  Kids don't have manners anymore.  They want it and they want it now!  Yesterday, we were told that an anonymous person would be providing breakfast for the staff.  I walked into work at 7 and went to the faculty room to put my lunch away.  This anonymous person was just finishing up laying out the food.  He told me that I never saw him.  I knew that this guy was going to be the anonymous person anyway.  Every other staff member knew it too.  This person had a daughter that went to my school last year and is now in the junior high.  This person always comes to us and helps us with everything even though his daughter goes to another school now.  He is always giving up time to be at our school.  He provided breakfast for us around holiday time last year, too.  The breakfast he brought in was bagels, cream cheese, apple cider, orange juice, coffee, yogurt, and oranges.  There was a ton of everything!  He had to have spent well over $100 on all of the food.  In addition to that, he had to go get it all very early in the morning.  He says he does it because of everything we do for the kids.  He does so much for the school, too.  It's amazing how generous some people are.  He absolutely did not have to do this.  Today, many parents brought in cookies and other treats for all the staff members to share.  Those little acts of kindness mean so much to all of us.  I'm so happy to be working with a group of amazing people and work with amazing parents that go above and beyond to make a teachers day better. 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Commenting on My Blog

I am making todays post earlier than usual because I have time to write now, and do not think I will have energy tonight when I get home from working at my dads store.  My new goal is to get people commenting on my blogs.  I put my first comment on someone else's blog today.  Writing the comment was no problem.  However, when I submitted it, I had to decide if I was submitting through my gmail account, Facebook, or they gave me a number of other options.  Then I had to type in the little security code that many websites have.  That code always has letters and numbers that can sometimes be hard to read.  Once I mastered the code, I had to read over my comment before submitting it.  It's quite a process.  I now understand why people don't comment on my blogs.  I'd like to think people aren't commenting because of the process instead of because they don't feel like commenting (even though I know that's the real reason).  The new blog I am reading is written by the mother of the boy who was killed in the car crash a few weeks ago.  She gets lots of great comments.  I would love for people to start commenting and giving their thoughts and suggestions as to what they want me to blog about next.  As you know, I write each day in this blog and sometimes have a very hard time figuring out what to write about next!  Any help and comments would be greatly appreciated!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

4 Jobs

Lately, I've been telling people that I have 4 jobs.  In addition to the full-time job as a computer aide, I work at the grocery store one day a week (as you know), I work at my dad's liquor store when he needs me (a ton during this time of year), and I'm an author.  Yes, being an author is definitely a job.  It's practically a full-time job in addition to the one I have.  I'm nothing like John Grisham who has 30 books or Stephen King who has 50 books.  I could be there some day.  You never know.  The big time authors write and make author appearances as their full time job.  At this time of year, I am working all 4 of my jobs.  I was able to write a little bit in my next book yesterday.  Of course, so far, as an author, I have spent more than I have made.  Therefore, I guess you could call me a volunteer author since I am spending hours and hours writing, editing, and promoting my books, but make nothing doing it.  As I have said many times before, that doesn't bother me.  I love writing and love the fact that I have 2 self-published books.  The fact that I have that on my resume makes me stand out a little bit and it will hopefully play to my benefit eventually.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Pictures from Kids

Over the years as a student teacher, substitute, and now a computer aide, I have gotten several pictures, drawings, and notes from kids.  I got some towards the end of the year last year and swear I didn't throw them out, but cannot find them!  They were drawings of me with a few things they enjoy about me or computer class.  I got a picture today.  A 4th grade class was doing an art project where they had to make a picture and say a few nice words about a teacher they admire.  I got this picture during my lunch break and was almost in tears because I was laughing so hard.  This boys picture of me was spot on!  He even included my glasses and the goatee I used to have!  His note was the best part.  It said (exact words), "You are an awesome teacher.  I remember when you you when you where a substitute gym teacher and I was bowling, and I was holding it over my head and you came over and told me not to do it.  I'm pretty sure I gave you the evil eye.  Thanks for being awesome!"  When the kids do small things like this, they have no idea how much it makes our day.  I saw this student later and asked him to show me the evil eye.  He then make this hilarious face and I started dying laughing again.  It's great to know that kids remember even the smallest things and that they appreciate us!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Free Book Stats

Back in October, I had book 1 promoted for free on two separate days and book 2 promoted for free on two consecutive weekend days.  Book one was promoted on two different Saturdays.  In the U. S., each book sold 112 copies on those days.  Book one sold 33 copies elsewhere around the world for a total of 145 copies in two days.  Book two sold 36 copies around the world for a two day total of 148 copies.  This time around, I decided to promote both books at once three days in a row.  My thinking was that a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday would be good for sales.  After setting the dates, I read that promoting more than one book on the same day isn't smart.  Oh well, it was too late since I already started promoting.  I sent my book information to a lot of different websites and tweeted a lot of different promoters.  I was expecting a lot more sales than the first two free days.  After the first day, both books were in the top 2,000 in overall free kindle book sales and in the top 35 in the children's books fiction literature category.  I sold about 100 copies of each.  It was more than the first day of last promotion, but less than I expected.  I really didn't know what to expect.  I expected a lot more than last free days though because I did so much extra advertising.  After three days, I sold 217 book ones in the U. S., 72 in England, and 1 in Brazil for a total of 290 books.  I sold 263 book two's in the U. S. and 39 in England for a total of 302 books.  On average, the first two days of free promotion for book one sold 72.5 books a day.  These three days, the average was 96.67 per day.  Book two, my first two days average was 74 and my next three was 100.67.  My overall average per day for book one in five days was 87 books per day.  My overall average for book 2 for 5 days was 90 books per day.  Needless to say, the three days in a row free sold more books per day than the 2 days did.  However, I still expected more.  I can't complain too much though because people got these books for free and it was more than the first free promotion.  Once again, I'm hoping that I can get a few reviews from this.  If I don't get reviews, hopefully whoever got my books for free will read them and tell their friends about them.  In my five days of promoting my books for free, I sold 435 book ones and 450 book twos for a total of 885 books!  Between all other sales, I've sold roughly 960 books all together!  That's awesome even though 885 of them were for free.  At least the word is out there.  If only all 885 people now read my book and spread the word, good things could happen!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Westboro Baptist Church

If you have never heard of them, you don't want to.  I didn't know the name of this church until my mom told me today.  I knew of their, um, beliefs, though.  They have a website that's name is so disgusting I can't even post it in this blog.  This group of people go to funerals of soldiers and picket during the event.  They say that the war is good and God meant for that person to be dead.  They picket against gays.  After the horrific event in Connecticut this past Friday, they had people there saying that God sent the shooter and it was the right thing to happen.  These people are sick.  There are not enough expletives in the English language to describe my feeling towards these people.  How people can think and act that way is beyond me.  I know many people are against gay marriage and other touchy subjects.  However, you don't have to go to a gay wedding and try to boycott it.  Keep your feelings inside yourself.  What that person did to those innocent teachers and children was absolutely repulsive.  It scares me because I work in an elementary school.  I know people say, "That would never happen to me."  The truth is, you never know.  People do disturbing things all over the world.  This Westboro Church was started in Kansas and has groups all over the U. S. picketing at events and letting their voices be heard.  They are known as the hate group.  I am surprised people haven't attacked them.  I know that not everyone gets along with one another.  Is that really a reason to kill someone?  If you have emotional problems and want to kill yourself, why kill other innocent people?  You are hurting so many more people by doing that.  I'm not saying suicide is good, because it's absolutely not.  However, if you feel the need to do that, don't hurt other people before you take your life.  I know this post is going from topic to topic...my bad.  My last thought is that these people from Westboro Church need to keep their very odd opinions to themselves and stop hurting other people.  They need to stay away from funerals that are already emotional enough.  Don't make matters worse.  Violence needs to stop!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

And the winner is...

I went to my grocery stores holiday party last night.  I was proud of the fact that I have worked there for over 9 years and have yet to go to their holiday party.  My friends convinced me to go this year though.  I'm glad I went.  The food was amazing and the party was a ton of fun.  In addition to that, I bought some raffle tickets.  They gave away several gift cards and other prizes.  I only won 4 different prizes!  I won 2 gift cards to 2 different restaurants, a gift card to my grocery store and an ice cream cake, and a beach umbrella (which I have no use for).  Good thing I haven't eaten a lot this month already!  Now I have no choice but to go to these restaurants and use the gift cards.  I don't plan on using them until after the holidays...hopefully.  It's always nice to unexpectedly win some sweet prizes!

Friday, December 14, 2012

Have you finished your Christmas Shopping yet?

You all know I have very few things that bother me...(right).  I can't stand when people ask me this.  I always answer yes.  The real answer is that I have 2 people to shop for, my mom and my dad.  I don't have any need to shop for other people.  My friends and I don't exchange gifts because we are pretty much just exchanging money.  It's pointless.  I can't be bothered to tell people that.  Also, they don't care.  That is just their way of starting a conversation.  I don't ask people that because frankly...I couldn't care less if they have done any shopping yet.  They aren't buying me presents, so it doesn't affect me at all.  This is yet another reason why I can't wait for the holidays to be over.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

200th Blog Post!

I can't believe I have written so many entries in this blog.  I have done an excellent job of sticking to my goal of writing in it each day.  The only days I have missed were days that I was in a hotel room or on a boat.  I started writing everyday on May 24 of this year.  I had a few very short and pathetic posts before that as I started this blog.  So far, this blog has over 2,600 views!  That's well over 10 views a day!  Awesome!  I wonder how many views I can get as I continue writing.  I hope with my 3-day free book promotion the next 3 days, more people will start viewing this blog.  Tomorrow is a big day for me.  I'm going to a technology conference.  I am presenting with 5 of my students from newspaper club.  Together, we will show people how we create the school newspaper.  I will also show people a few other things my school does with Google Documents in the classroom.  I have to admit, I'm pretty nervous.  I hope the kids show more interest in presenting tomorrow than they did during a practice run today!  As I already said, both of my books will be free tomorrow through Sunday.  I'll be busy tweeting and promoting that tomorrow in addition to my all day conference.  I then have 2 different holiday parties to go to.  I'll be one thoroughly exhausted dude tomorrow night.  I have no idea how many books will sell tomorrow.  I think it will be a lot more than my first two days of free promotion because I have sent the link to several dozen different websites.  I just hope they list it on their websites!  We will see what happens this weekend!  I hope to hit the top 100 list in my genre again and maybe even sneak into the overall top 100!  That's a huge goal though because my peak last time it was free was about 2,200 in overall free kindle sales.  You never know, though!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

SUNY Potsdam and St. Rose

I went to SUNY Potsdam for my undergraduate degree.  I majored in Childhood Education and my specialization was English.  That means I am certified to teach grades 1-6.  I believe as I entered SUNY Potsdam my freshman year, I planned to stay there an extra two years to finish my master's degree.  Potsdam was the only school I applied to for my undergrad because I knew I wanted to go there.  I applied in October so that if I didn't get in, I had an opportunity to apply somewhere else.  I got in pretty quickly.  My senior year of college, I applied to Potsdam for graduate school.  I didn't think of going anywhere else.  I was accepted and even registered for classes for the start of the fall semester.  When you go to graduate school for something education related, you have four choices as your major.  Naturally within each major, you have more specific choices you can major in.  The four I could choose from were literacy, special education, curriculum studies, and technology.  I chose educational technology because it was something different and I figured I would stick out in a crowd on my resume.  It turns out most schools are looking for people with a literacy background, oh well.  Anyway, I applied to be a graduate RD at Potsdam for the following year.  An RD is a resident director.  They are in charge of the resident assistants and an entire dorm building.  It would mean I would have free tuition.  One Monday in April, one of my freshman residents said something to me that drastically changed my life forever.  I don't remember his exact words.  He said something like, "You know, you don't have to go to Potsdam for graduate school if you don't want to."  At that point, I had gone to Potsdam for four years.  I was mentally drained.  There was a lot of emotional stuff that happened my junior and senior years that left me exhausted.  I knew I needed and desperately wanted a drastic change, but didn't know what the change was.  The moment that resident said that, I knew what I needed to do.  I started looking at what St. Rose offered since it was a college close to my home town.  I knew the school was known for education.  Luckily, the application deadline did not pass.  I did research the following day, figured out that I was going to major as an Educational Technology Specialist.  I only needed a year and a half of graduate school instead of two because I already student taught and didn't have to do it again.  I called my mom that day and she was not happy that I was making such a drastic change so late in the year.  She wanted to know what event happened that made me want to leave Potsdam so badly.  The truth is, there is no specific event that made me want to leave.  I just knew I needed a change and this was the change.  The application was sent out the next day.  I withdrew my application to be a graduate RD.  I didn't get my official letter of acceptance from St. Rose until early July.  I had to find classes that were not full.  I was lucky because I only had to take 10 classes my entire graduate career.  I took 3 classes each semester and one over the summer.  Each semester, I took 2 online classes and one in person.  My summer class was also online.  Online classes are awesome, but require a lot of busy work so that the teacher knows you know the information.  I graduated in December 2010 with my masters and walked the stage in May 2011.  I was able to substitute teach both years that I was in graduate school.  It was very tough at times because I sometimes subbed 5 days a week.  Then I had to go home and do my graduate work.  However, switching colleges was the best decision I ever made in life.  Sometimes you need to take that risk.  The moral of this lengthy post is that you need to do what you feel is best for you.  Your parents might not approve of your choices.  If it's something that will make you happy in the long run, do it.  Don't let anyone or anything hold you back in life.  Take risks and learn from your mistakes.  Don't regret any decisions in life and don't look back and say, "I wonder what would have happened if I had done it this way."  You will never know until you try it!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

LUNCH BOX MISSING!

I had a major crisis at work today (major in my mind).  I am 100% positive that I brought my lunch to work and put it in the refrigerator as soon as I got there.  When I went to get my lunch at 11:30, the lunch box was not there.  I checked both refrigerators, moved lunch boxes, and checked the faculty room.  I did not panic too much though because there was left over stale pizza that I ate.  After eating that, I checked the refrigerator one more time and did not see it.  Another staff member looked in the fridge too, and didn't see it.  I then sent an email to the staff saying that it was missing.  About five minutes later, I got a call from the secretary saying that my lunch was in the fridge.  I go back and checked the fridge, and there it is!  I am 100% sure that it was not there when I first looked at 11:30.  It had to have been hiding.  It must have been stuck behind someone else's lunch box.  It's actually pretty funny when you think about it.  At least I had some food to hold over my always hungry self.  Maybe I'll be more diligent when looking for something that I think is lost!  On the bright side, I don't have to make lunch tomorrow since I purposely left my lunch in the fridge!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Independent vs. Dependent

We all strive to be independent.  The only people they don't want to be independent these days are kids.  They are so used to being coddled that they want to live their lives that way.  They want the teachers to do everything for them, including their school work.  It's tough for very old people to lose their independence.  My grandpa is going to get a limited license soon because he has poor eye sight.  That means he can only drive during the day and not on night.  That means my mom and I will have to drive him and my grandma around more often.  They are lucky we live so close.  My grandpa is not happy about this.  It makes sense.  People don't like to ask for help.  We are so used to being independent that it's hard for us to ask for help when we need it.  We need to learn that at times, we are going to need all of the help we can get.  You should never tell someone, "Let me know what I can do to help." or "Call me if you need anything."  You will be waiting by the phone for a long time.  It's in our nature not to call for help.  You should just say, "I'm going to help you by doing..."  I'm not really sure what gave me the idea to write about being independent.  I thought of it last night and decided to go with it.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Blog Statistics

I had planned on writing about something else tonight.  However, every night before I write my entry, I check the blog stats.  I normally just see how many page views I have total, how many views today, and yesterday.  When I just checked, it gave me something completely different.  According to the screen shots below, apparently I'm quite a hit in Russia.  I know no one in Russia!  People have viewed my blog from Germany, UK, Israel, Sweden, France, Lithuania, Australia, and Canada!  That's crazy!  Because I was dying to know, it also gave me the statistics as to what web browser people viewed my blog on and what operating system.  It's crazy the breakdown that they are able to do.  I guess a lot of people that have Windows computers view my blog.  Although many people that have iPads view my blog too.  It's quite interesting to see these nitpicky details.  I want to say thank you to everyone that has viewed my blog from literally all over the world!  Don't forget to get your free copy of The Teacher That Didn't Teach and The Teacher That Taught Too Much on your kindle any time this Friday-Sunday! 




Saturday, December 8, 2012

Reading

When I was younger, I could not stand reading.  My mom was in charge of a program called parents as reading partners.  Kids that participated in the program had to read 15 minutes a day I think 4 or 5 days a week.  Obviously since my mom started the program, I had to do it.  Every night, it was a struggle to get me to read.  My mom would set the timer for 15 minutes and it would be the longest 15 minutes of my life.  I would always pretend to read.  I'm not really sure why I hated reading so much.  I know part of it was because I struggled with it.  I was a remedial reading, which is a program that takes kids out of the classroom and gets them extra help with reading.  In seventh grade, my mom bought me the first three Harry Potter books.  I started reading them and could not put them down.  From then on, I started to love reading.  I finally found genres that I enjoyed reading.  Now, I read a lot of sports books, mysteries, and John Grisham lawyer books.  The only problem is I never seem to have time to read as much as I'd like to.  I checked two books out of the library on kindle.  I only have three weeks to read them.  I'm forcing myself to take time out of the day to read and I love it.  The only bad thing is that now I'm not writing besides this blog.  I'm hoping that over winter break, I will be able to work on my next book and get a good chunk of that done.  Until then, I'll enjoy some reading!

Friday, December 7, 2012

World Ending

I'm surprised that there hasn't been much hype about the world ending.  According to the Mayans, they stopped making the calendar and it ended on December 21, 2012.  That means that supposedly the world is going to end that day.  My theory is that they got bored with creating the calendar and just happened to stop that day.  Supposedly Mayan predictions are pretty accurate.  I know that there are a lot of believers out there.  If the world does end, we only have two weeks left!  I obviously don't believe that the world is going to end.  I figured there would be more hype about it though.  I'm guessing that as we get really close people will start freaking out.  I'm expecting grocery stores to be mobbed.  That obviously makes no sense because if we are all going to die, why buy tons of food?  I expect people to think that they will need food though because they expect to live through the world ending like in the movie 2012 (like they will be able to live past that!).  There have been a few crazy people that have predicted the world was going to end about a year ago.  We are still here!  That's why I have no worries about the world ending in 2 weeks.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts

It's only fitting.  Whenever I am stressed, I eat more dessert than usual.  That isn't saying much since I eat all the time anyway.  It's not good that I eat more when I'm stressed.  When I eat more, I feel guilty that I'm not working out, which stresses me more.  It's a vicious cycle.  I'm not saying that I'm stressed right now.  I'm sure it will come very soon.  Next Friday is technology awareness day where I'm bringing kids to present how we do the school newspaper.  It's also the first day of three in a row that my books are being promoted for free.  I have lots of tweets and promotions I have to do that day.  I'm fine now, but will be stressed that day, and all of the following week with the amount of hours I'll be working.  When you are stressed, as many college kids are right now because of finals, eat desserts.  You will feel better!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Use one Word to Describe Yourself

Lately I've been thinking of titles and topics for blog posts and immediately putting it into my notes app in my iPhone so I don't forget.  I'm very proud of myself for coming up with topics in advanced.  As you know, I used to struggle to come up with topics while sitting at the computer trying to write a blog post!  I thought of the topic, "Use one word to describe your life" first and then thought of this one.  I have not come up with one word to describe my life so far.  The point of these two posts is to get people thinking.  I don't want responses such as, awesome, cool, fun, unfinished.  Also, I wouldn't want people to just say the one word.  They then have to explain themselves.  The word I came up with to describe myself is driven.  If you asked me this in high school, this word would not have come up.  I have no idea what word I would use, probably lazy.  In high school, I just did enough to skid by.  My GPA was an 83 and it was only that high because of band.  Gym did not count towards the overall GPA.  In college, I received a 3.54 out of 4.0 for my undergrad and 3.90 out of 4.0 in grad school.  Something clicked inside of me that said I needed to put effort in.  That drive started my freshman year of college and has not left me.  I put a ton of hard work and effort into everything I do.  In order to achieve goals in life, you have to put in hard work.  Unfortunately, many kids these days do not understand that.  They want everything spoon fed to them.  It's amazing some of the things the kids want me to do for them in the computer lab.  This goes from any age 5-11.  They want me to spell words for them, click on a website that I just showed them how to get to, and practically do their work for them.  It's scary.  My favorite is when I ask the younger kids how to make a capital letter on the keyboard.  They all tell me that they hit the caps lock key, type the letter, and then turn it off instead of holding shift.  That just shows the laziness many kids unfortunately have.  Hard work pays off in the long run.  Although I am still looking for my hard work to pay off, I know it will soon.  I truly believe that if you put a lot of hard work and effort into something you really want, you will be able to reach your goals.  You just need to realize that it will not come served on a silver plate to you.  You need to go out and fight to get what you want in life.  I have that drive and plan to put in 100% effort into everything I do until I physically cannot do it anymore.

"If you're bored with life-you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things-you don't have enough goals." -Lou Holtz

Live and Die With your Favorite Team

It's amazing how as a society, our moods are greatly affected by how our sports team does on a weekly or daily basis, depending on the sport.  While at the Siena game Saturday, they were losing big time and my friend noticed my sour mood.  She said it was sad that I was so upset.  Whenever I watch the Dallas Cowboys on TV, I am always screaming at the TV and am always depressed when they lose (very often this year).  Everyone wears the team jersey and hat and screams at the TV.  What good is that?  Obviously the players don't hear you.  It's just fun to feel like you are actively participating in the game.  Even when you are at the game screaming, more than likely, the players don't hear you unless you are in the front row.  Let me tell you, I don't have enough money to sit in the front row of any sporting event!  I was so close to getting a Stanley Cup last year with the New Jersey Devils.  I wasn't too close to a world series with the Yankees.  I am nowhere near a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys.  They won't win a Super Bowl until their owner, Jerry Jones, gives the team to someone else (that's not happening ever).  Why do I still root for them, I have no idea!  Ya gotta love sports!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Drunk Driving

As you know, many small things irritate me.  However, two things that make me really lose my cool are bullying and drunk driving.  I've already posted about bullying.  It's now time to vent about drunk driving.  Our community was rocked over the weekend when a drunk driver hit another car from behind, killing two high school students and severely injuring two.  The driver was completely fine, though.  Every single person in my community was affected by this horrible tragedy.  All four students were high school seniors.  Three of them were from one school, one is from the high school in my district.  Historically, our two districts have been huge rivals.  However, they are rivals on the field and now a community and united off the field.  They were on their way home from a Siena game when a drunk driver nailed the back of the car.  The large SUV was an absolute mess.  It scares me because only about an hour earlier, I was on the same road coming home from the Siena game.  No matter how much you have had to drink in one night, it is too much to get behind the wheel!  You are putting so many lives at risk!  It's not worth it!  Your parents or friends will have no problem picking you up if you had too much to drink.  No one wants to deal with the alternative.  Unfortunately, two innocent lives were killed Saturday night because of someone that got behind the wheel after drinking too much alcohol.  I have driven to a party before with plans to not drink much.  However, I drank more than anticipated, and texted my brother to pick me up when he got out of work.  I picked up my car the next day.  It was inconvenient, but much safer.  I will not tell you not to drink, since I drink once in awhile myself.  However, I urge everyone to be smart about it and to stay away from the wheel when you have consumed any alcohol throughout the night.  This could have easily been avoided.  This tragedy is something the parents and community of the two that were killed will have to face for the rest of their lives.  They will never get over it.  The drunk driver will never get over what he did.  These kids were so young and had so much to live for.  DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

One Reason I don't Like Working at Grocery Store

Obviously I have a very long list of reasons that I don't like working at the grocery store.  One of the biggest reasons is because it requires 0 brain power on my part.  I noticed today that I hardly pay attention to what I'm doing while greeting the customers, scanning/bagging the groceries, and cashing out the customers.  I was zoned out during most of the shift.  It didn't help that I was ridiculously tired.  However, although I hardly paid attention to what I was doing, I still got the customers out quickly.  I scan and cash them out very fast.  I have been doing it for well over 9 years.  I can do the simple math in my head most of the time.  Obviously when I put the numbers in the register, it tells me how much change to give.  Some cashiers have to think about how to add the change up and give it to the customers, though.  I enjoy jobs with a challenge.  I like thinking and learning in a job.  This job doesn't do it for me.  That's why I really don't like it, but money is money and that's what I need!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

What Didn't I do Today?

I have been going full speed all day today and it's nowhere near done!  I woke up (always a good thing) went to my friends apartment to check it out and see if I can financially move in, went to the bank, got home and shoveled, then started defrosting my freezer (will explain more after) while doing that, I emptied the dishwasher, punched in rough estimates of my monthly expenses for an apartment to see if I can swing it, did some laundry, made lunch, and lost my mind.  We have a very old freezer in the basement.  It collects ice and it builds up so that everything in the freezer gets freezer burnt.  It also prevents more food from going in.  The last time I defrosted the freezer was 2 years ago.  We should do it every year.  In order to defrost it, I have to take all of the food out of the freezer and boil water to put inside the freezer so that the ice can melt.  You repeat the boiling water process as many times as it takes until all of the ice is melted.  You have to do this in the winter so that the food can stay cold outside.  It took me six (6) hours to finish it!  To say I am tired is a vast understatement.  The freezer sure looks good now, though!  In about an hour, I'm going to the Siena Saints vs. UAlbany college basketball game.  After that, my friends and I are going out.  I'm sure I won't be home until at least 12 and then I have to work tomorrow at 7!  Ugh... at least tonight will be fun!