Monday, March 31, 2014

April Fool's Day

Tomorrow is April 1st, which means it's April Fool's Day. I have no idea where this "holiday" originated from. I can easily look it up but I'm too lazy to do that. I don't play tricks on anyone during this day. It takes way too much effort to do that. I wonder if anyone will play tricks on me. I can sometimes be very gullible. It depends on how realistic the trick is. I wouldn't mind celebrating the day tomorrow by having people prank me only because it will add fun to what I'm sure is going to be a stressful and exhausting day at work.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Weather

This week is the reason I moved to North Carolina. I didn't move because I was offered a teaching job. I moved because it's going to be high 70's to low 80's all week when it's the beginning of April! That doesn't happen in New York. However, with the way this winter and spring have been going, it will probably be 30 degrees next week and we will have another snow day. The last thing we need is another snow day. If that happened, we would either be teaching until 8 at night to make up for it or we would just have school all year round. The weather since I've been down here has been absolutely wild! I look forward to the warm weather coming our way all week!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Late Night Eating

We all know that eating food late at night is bad for you. I was just hanging out with my friends for most of the day. I got home about 30 minutes ago. On the ride home, I badly wanted to stop and get fast food. I was somehow able to fight that urge. I am still starving right now and might eat a snack. Eating a snack late at night isn't as bad as eating fast food that will just sit in your stomach while you sleep. Be careful what you eat and when you eat it!

Friday, March 28, 2014

NC Teacher License

I filled out the form for my North Carolina teacher license the day I had my interview. They say it takes months for it to approve. I was also told that I'd get Bachelor's Degree pay until my NC teacher license went through. Then they would back pay me and start paying me Master's Degree pay. That makes absolutely no sense to me. My Master's Degree has nothing to do with my teacher license. Luckily for me, my NC teacher's license went through today which means I'll get my back pay! We get paid on Monday. I doubt I'll get the pay then, but I should definitely get it in April! Yay for extra money!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

My Weight

I joined the gym shortly after moving here. I had an assessment done by a trainer. I weighed myself and weighed about what I thought. I have been weighing myself pretty much every week on the same scale since then. I keep eating a lot and not working out quite as much as I want to. However, I have somehow dropped 8 pounds! I find it hard to believe, but every time I get on that scale, it says the same thing. I'm guessing it's the stress of my job that keeps me losing a little bit of weight. If I could lose about 7 more pounds and stay that weight, I'd be thrilled! I'm pretty content with where I'm at though.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Health

I know I'm going to jinx myself by blogging about this, but oh well. I am shocked that I have not gotten sick while being in North Carolina yet. I am always very busy and working all day and going to the gym three days a week. That alone can be enough to run a person down and get them sick. I'm around 20 1st graders who have more snot than you can imagine. They cough all of the time without covering their mouths. I've been around more vomit than I ever want to see in my life. It's a miracle I haven't gotten sick. I take an Ester C pill each morning to attempt to stay healthy. I also wash my hands and use sanitizer all of the time. I got my flu shot very early in the season this year so that I would be prepared that way. When you work with kids, you have to take ever precaution to stay as healthy as possible.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Smoking

I will never understand why people smoke. Everyone knows it's bad for you, so why do it? If you smoke, you are paying for your own death. I noticed that cigarette prices are a lot cheaper here than they are in New York. You will only pay about $5 for a pack here and $11 in New York. That's a huge difference. Someone who smokes told me today that all of the choices you make in life will affect how long you live. This is very true. The food we eat might end up killing us. However, everyone knows that smoking will kill people faster than most other things. I can't stand the smell and I can't stand the fact that people smoke. Waste your money on something else.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Round 3 Games

Typically on the Sunday of round 3 of March Madness I am sitting on the couch and watching the 8 games all day. Yesterday, I only saw most of the first game on TV and the end of the UNC game on TV. I watched 2 other games live! The first two games in St. Louis in the afternoon were very close games and both came down to the last shot. Many games this tournament have come down to the last possession. Both games that I went to were blowouts. Of course I attend the boring games. They weren't really boring. I had a ton of fun and it was a great atmosphere. The crowd was extremely loud during the Virginia game. I only spent one more dollar on these 2 tournament games than I did when I went to the UNC game. I got a great deal and it was totally worth it. I spent way too much money on food and a very nice polo shirt, but it's all good. You have to live life to the fullest! I hope I get the opportunity to go to some NCAA tournament games again!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Movies on TV

Watching a movie on TV is not the same as watching the real movie. I just finished watching Superbad on TV and it was awful. They leave out all of the good lines. I have seen this movie so many times that I memorized many lines. It had been a long time since I had seen the movie, but I still remembered parts that they didn't include in the TV version. They also have way too many commercials. I think I have 6 more movies that I taped on DVR that I have to watch. I'm sure none of them will be as good as the original.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

PNC Arena

I've only lived in North Carolina for exactly 2 months and tomorrow will be my 3rd time going to PNC Arena. PNC Arena is the home for the North Carolina State basketball team and the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team. The first time I went there, I saw Billy Joel. The second time I went there, I saw the New York Rangers vs. the Carolina Hurricanes. Tomorrow when I go, I'll be watching 2 NCAA round 3 games. I will see Tennessee vs. Mercer and Virginia vs. Memphis. I guess PNC Arena is my new home. I can't wait to see the NCAA tournament live tomorrow for the first time ever!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Focus on the Positive

I really need to start focusing on the positive with my kids. I'm too busy saying, "Stop doing that." I really should be saying, "I really like how (name) is sitting quietly waiting for directions." Kids really respond to that. They love being praised just as much as adults like it. Will it solve all of my behavioral problems? Of course not. Will it help? Hopefully!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

March Madness

Today is the first official day of the NCAA tournament. I know that it started Tuesday with the first four. Today is a bigger day though because there are 16 games from 12PM-1AM or so. I try to stay up as late as I can. I just fell asleep on my couch at 8 o'clock for about half an hour because I am that tired. I don't sleep well at night. I have yet to sleep until my alarm at 6:15AM. I typically wake up around 5:45 every day. It's very frustrating. I don't know how much longer I will last tonight. If I can stay up late tomorrow, at least I won't have work to worry about work on Saturday.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Fast

The kids come in at 7:30 and now that our days have been extended, they don't leave until 3:16. We eat lunch from 11-11:30. That leaves almost four hours straight without any breaks. Believe it or not, the last three afternoons have flown by. It seems to be going faster than when we dismissed at 3:10. It could be because I'm busy dealing with kids hitting each other, arguing, stealing, splashing water at each other in the bathroom, talking while I'm attempting to teach, writing them up, writing notes home, making trips to the principals office, and being a glorified babysitter instead of a teacher. But my days have been flying by lately.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Tire

This morning, a warning light came on when I turned on my car. It said that I needed to check my tire pressure. I ignored it until my ride home from work so that I could see what I was doing because it's pitch black on my ride to work. My two right tires felt a little soft. I also noticed that the cap to take off to put in air was missing from both tires. I have no idea how that happened. That's why it was losing air, or so I thought. I went to Nissan to see if they could put some caps on the spot to put air in. The guy noticed a screw or something stuck in one of the tires. That's why it was losing air. I had to get my tire replaced. It was $153 :(. On the bright side, they had that specific tire available right away. Another good thing was that if I had let this go, the tire could have popped off and I could have gotten seriously injured or injured someone else. Although spontaneously paying $153 and waiting at the shop for over an hour is not fun, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Fun

Since moving to North Carolina, I have made it my mission to do as much as possible over the weekends and when I'm not working. I want to have fun and explore new things. I have been to PNC Arena 2 times already seeing Billy Joel and a NY Rangers game. I also went to a UNC game. I did a 5K run. I visiting my friend in Greenville. I hope to go to Myrtle Beach sometime. I might be going back to PNC Arena again this Sunday for the NCAA tournament. I know all of this is costing me a lot of money. I don't care. My job is incredibly stressful and exhausting. Therefore, I need these fun activities and trips to get me excited about something. If I don't have these events to look forward to, my job would be so much more difficult than it already is.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Computer

My laptop is over 4 and a half years old. I have had so many issues with the Internet today. It's been incredibly slow and many times it doesn't even load. I'm not sure if it's the awful wires in my apartment for the Internet or if it's my laptop being old. I don't like either option. I hope it's just my Internet being a pain because I cannot afford a new Mac laptop. I know that Windows computers are half of the price of Macs. However, once you go Mac, you will never go back. I will never buy a Windows computer.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Another 5K

A few weeks ago, I did a Google search for 5K runs in North Carolina. I found one about 10 miles from me today. The price was $20.50, which is very reasonable. However, if I wanted a tee shirt and an opportunity to get a medal, I'd have to pay $17 more. No thank you. Typically a shirt and medal option are included in the price. I drove there very early this morning since the run started at 7:30. I got to the place and it was blocked off. They made me park about half a mile away and walk there, really? The map of where we had to run was online. They put the 5K and 10K map together. It was unbelievably confusing. They spewed directions at us right before the run too. Because of course we all memorized them. They had volunteers who talked to each other instead of telling us which way to go. I stuck with one guy so that I wouldn't get lost. The volunteers told us to make a u-turn at the roundabout. Then they told us to do it again. When we finished, the guy came to me and said we did 3.7 miles instead of 3.1. He had one of those navigators on his watch. The course ended with us going up a hill. That wasn't fun either. I ended up getting 7th out of about 90. Normally I finish strong, I couldn't today. One kid passed me at the last second to get 6th. I got 1st in my age group with a time of 29:11. My last 5K was 23:55, but that was a full 5K and this was a lot more. When it was time to receive medals, they didn't give me one because I didn't pay. They made something else as a fake medal and gave it to me. Sorry, it wasn't worth $17 to get a medal. I should stop doing 5Ks because I can never do the course correctly.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Make Up Days

I am going to pay the price for all of the snow days in a big way. We already extended the school day 10 minutes. Now the district extended the days another 6 minutes. In addition to that, Friday March 28 and Good Friday were supposed to be work days for teachers only. Not anymore. Now the kids will be coming in. I also heard that we have to work the Saturday two days before Memorial Day. I'm not sure if kids will be coming in that day or not. I am not happy about this. My school days will now go from 7:30-3:16 with one 45 minute break from 8:30-9:15 only if the students will be taken during that resource time. There have been many times that their resource time is cancelled for various reasons. I don't care what anyone says, that's rough! Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about it...

Thursday, March 13, 2014

The Teacher That Changed My Life

I am thrilled to announce that my newest book, "The Teacher That Changed My Life" is now available at Amazon.com. I could not be more excited for the release of this book. I have worked incredibly hard to make sure it is as polished as possible. I can't wait to hear what people think of it. The kindle version can be found below.  Enjoy!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Teacher-That-Changed-Life-ebook/dp/B00IZC7BL6/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_d_2

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Teacher Aide

I have been lucky enough to been given a teacher aide to work in my room with me. Unfortunately, she is pulled out of my room for hours at a time to cover this room and that room. It happens more often than it should, but I adapt. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing my aide is. If I didn't have her, I'd be drowning. She makes photocopies, laminates, grades the tests I give, models how stuff I am going to assign needs to look, grades the homework, and so much more. That's all stuff that I assumed I would be doing. When I first started, I felt so bad that she was doing all of this. I started doing all of it myself until she stopped me and said that she is the one that should be doing that. I couldn't believe it. I'm so happy that my aide and I work so well together!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Lice

Lice is a real concern in schools all over the nation. Since I live in a rural area, it seems to be an even bigger concern. There are times when I catch myself scratching my head a lot. My thoughts immediately turn to whether or not I have lice. If I ever catch lice, it won't be that big of a deal to shave my head since I've done it before. However, I would have to sanitize or do something to all of my furniture in my apartment and probably my clothes too. That's something I don't want to deal with. Hopefully I won't ever catch lice!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Done Editing!

I just finished editing the 3rd book in "The Teacher That..." series! I started to work on the formatting for the kindle version. I will not upload the hard copy version until the kindle version is ready to go. I just stopped working on the kindle version because there is still a lot to do. I want to go to bed and come back tomorrow after work to finish it up. Of course I will be tired when I get home from work. But I'd rather work on the kindle version when it's about 7PM and not 10:37PM. If I upload both the hard copy and the kindle copy to Amazon tomorrow night, they should be ready for sale by Thursday or Friday! I'm so exciting that I'm finally getting this new book out to the world!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

My 1st NHL Game

The first NHL game I went to was many years ago. It was an exhibition game. I don't count that. I went to the NY Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes game this past Friday. I think this was the first sporting event I have ever been to that I didn't have a rooting interest in. I don't like either team, but went anyway to have fun. The first two periods were boring. The score was 1-0 Hurricanes. Period 3 was exciting. Rangers tied it up at 1. Then Hurricanes scored to make it 2-1 on a penalty shot. Penalty shots are a ton of fun to watch. Shortly after, Rangers tied it up at 2. Then they took the lead 3-2 with about 3 minutes left to play. They scored one more time on an empty net to win 4-2. My friend was happy since he is a Rangers fan. I look forward to going to another NHL game in the future.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Pajama Day

Is there anything better than pajama day at work? The answer is obviously no. We had one yesterday in relation to a Dr. Seuss book. It worked out really well because it was cold and rainy all day and no one wants to get up and go to work on those types of days. Unfortunately, that's what I had to do. At least I didn't have to change. Ok, fine, I did change. But it was awesome to wear very comfortable clothes all day long while at work. I'm sure people at the grocery store looked at me funny when I was shopping in flannel pants. Oh well!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Lent

I typically don't give up anything for lent. Two years ago, I decided to give up soda. I only drink a can of diet soda everyday. However, giving it up was not easy. Each night at dinner, I drank water or something else besides soda. Last year, I didn't give up anything for lent. This year, I'm not giving up anything. I already gave up caring a long time and I don't see that coming back any time soon. What else could I possibly give up after that?

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Laughing

I find myself laughing a lot lately. Sometimes, I'll just start laughing when the kids are misbehaving. I do that because I know if I don't laugh, I'll cry. I'm not going to lie. I've been on the verge of tears a few times in front of my class. It's very frustrating when I give my all every single day and get nothing in return from the kids. I go over the rules and expectations everyday. I stand up on chairs and am very animated when I teach. They just sit there and talk to one another and ignore me. There are times when I am sitting in my apartment and something has me almost crying. I then start bursting out laughing for no reason. I think I laugh because I'm laughing at myself for almost crying. I have been watching a lot of comedy on TV and on YouTube so that I can laugh. This job has not been easy. I am trying to do whatever I can to keep me as sane as possible.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Oscars

I actually watched some of the Oscars last night. I don't typically watch any award shows besides the ESPY's. Sports awards are the only ones that matter in my opinion. I watched the Oscars last night until 10 and then went to bed. I'm not sure why I watched. I hadn't seen any movie nominated besides Gravity. There wasn't much on TV and I didn't feel like editing my book. I'm sure that's why I watched. Ellen DeGeneres is hilarious. She did an awesome job from what I saw. Maybe once some of these movies come out on Red Box I will rent them.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Side Effects

Have you ever watched a commercial about any prescription drug? It's amazing the side effects that those drugs have. It might cure the one issue you are having. However, it could cause nausea, heart burn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea, sudden blindness, loss of hearing, constipation, loss of bladder control, itchy skin, rashes, loss of balance, low sex drive, possible stroke, cancer, and in rare instances, death may occur. Are you kidding me? Why would anyone take a pill to try to cure something when the side effects to that drug are so much worse than the original problem? It's scary to see those commercials just because of the side effects listed. I hope I don't get sick because I do not want to take any pills to "cure" my sickness.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

One Brick

A potential NFL player was asked by a team to tell them everything he could do with one brick. He was given 60 seconds to answer the question. My question is what does this prove? I always hear about employers asking ridiculous, pointless questions like this to see what the candidate comes up with. If I were ever asked a hypothetical question like that I have no idea how I'd respond. I don't even think I could fluff an answer to that. People say that if the person gives creative answers that means he can be creative on the field and a good player. That question doesn't have anything to do with his ability to play football. I hope I never get a question like that.