Monday, April 20, 2015

1,000 and Done

This is officially my 1,000th and final blog post. I have had a very hard time coming up with something to write lately. Therefore, I figured my 1,000th blog post would be a great number to end on. I mean I've written in this blog pretty much every single day for almost 3 years now. I'd say that's pretty impressive. I know I've gotten very repetitive at times. That's another reason I am stopping. I'm having writer's block. It doesn't necessarily mean I'll never write in this blog again. Who knows? Maybe I'll get some inspiration down the road. But for now, this will be my last post for awhile. It's been a good run. I'm not going to say "Good bye" because in the movie John Q, they don't like good bye. They prefer, "See you later." So, I'll see you later.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

How do I write my books?

Whenever I tell people I have written books, I almost always hear, "I've always wanted to write a book." How do I write my books? It's rather simple. Well, it's not. I just write them one word at a time. My biggest advice is to write what you know. Of course you can write fiction. 3 of my 4 books are fiction. However, I wrote about what I knew...school. Come up with a title, outline the book, write it, edit it, edit it, edit it, edit it, edit it, have a friend edit it, have a family member edit it, edit it again, then when you think it's perfect, edit it again, have a friend edit it, then edit it again, and edit it 17 more times, then again edit it, and then edit it, then it might be good to publish. It's that simple! haha. I don't know if I have the courage or emotional stability to write a book to prepare first year teachers for what they are about to experience. If I did and found the right publisher, I bet it would sell really well. I don't care how much college you go to, nothing prepares you for teaching until you actually get into it.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

That Was Awful

My 5K run today did NOT go well. What did I expect? I didn't run all week to prepare for it. I finished 19th out of I think 77. Last year in the same race I finished 6th out of around 180. I'm not sure why there were so few runners this time. My time last year was 22:47. This year it was 25:17. I walked three times today all on the last stretch of he race. It was humid this morning. I had a horrible week at work leading up to the race. I can make excuses until I'm blue in the face. The fact of the matter is simply that I didn't have it today. Hopefully I'll do better in the color run at the end of May.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Not Prepared

I have a 5K race tomorrow and I am NOT prepared AT ALL. Every day when I get home from work, I plan on running. That never seems to happen because I come up with too many excuses: I was at work later than usual, I'm tired, I have papers to grade, I have to cook dinner. I'm so full of excuses it's pathetic. Of course I have high expectations for myself for my run tomorrow and will be disappointed if I don't get a good time. I shouldn't be disappointed though. I didn't really train for this. I ran the race in 22:47 last year, which is my best 5K time. I finished 6th overall and 1st in my age group. This year, it's the same course as last year. I'm not sure what my goal is for this race. I'll be happy with anything under 24 minutes I guess, which is 8 minutes a mile. We will see what happens!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

I need a Bubble

I've decided that after the money I've spent the last 5 days especially, I need my own personal bubble. I need to find a location where I have no computer access, no access to my phone, and no access to purchase anything at all! I need to stop spending money immediately! Obviously that is impossible. I've seen shows where people are able to spend very, very little money in a month by doing this that and the other thing. Some of these people are amazing at saving money. Right now, I don't have that capability. My credit card is crying right now. It's exhausted even though it hasn't been swiped much. It's more like me punching its numbers in online instead of going to the store where they swipe the card. Someone help me find this bubble so I can maybe save a buck or two!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Rolling Stones!

I will be the first person to admit, I have serious issues. Ever since I moved to North Carolina, I have gone to so many basketball games and concerts. I feel like I'm addicted to them. On Saturday, I booked a cruise. On Sunday, I bought tickets to see The Who next Tuesday. I also bought tickets to see Styx at the Bahamas on the cruise. On Monday, tickets to the Rolling Stones went on sale. I wanted to buy two tickets and fly my mom down here so we can see the Rolling Stones together. She has never seen them and has wanted to forever. Unfortunately, I tried to get them at 10:07 when they went on sale at 10 and the lowest price tickets were gone. The price left was out of my range. I checked yesterday, the price was even higher. I checked today and the price was the second lowest ticket price. I asked my dad if I should get those tickets. He said yes and I bought them. A few minutes later, I went on Skype to video chat with my mom and tell her about her early Mother's Day present. I worded it something like this. "So I was thinking about your Mother's Day present and I figured you don't want chocolate, flowers, or edible arrangements." She said, "That's right." I continued, "I figured I'd get you something better. Something that will leave a memory for the rest of your life. Something like flying you down to Raleigh on July 1st and going to the Rolling Stones concert!" As I said the last part, I held up the tickets to the screen. She said, "Oh my god! Are you serious?" I don't think I've ever seen my mom so excited. I have so many things to look forward to over the next couple of months. I have seen some legendary concerts in my year here. I've seen Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, Elton John, and I'm about to see The Who, Styx, and The Rolling Stones. It doesn't get much better than that!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Everything Happens for a Reason

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Of course I have no idea what that reason is. However, every little thing that happens in life happens for a specific reason. I am where I am for a reason. Just like yesterday's post, I haven't figured out the reason yet. I might spend my entire life searching for that reason. I might just burst out into P!nk and say, "Just give me a reason just a little bit's enough" because I am certifiably crazy and I always just randomly burst out into song. I don't know. I just need answers and I need them quickly!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Sign

I'm at the point where I feel like I need a sign telling me the right thing to do. Of course I don't mean a poster board saying, "Hey, do this!" I'm saying something needs to happen to help me make the right decision. I just feel like I haven't made the right decision sometimes, even though I've wanted this all my life. I want there to be something, anything to tell me I have made the right choice (or wrong choice, who knows?). I have no idea what that someone or something or event might be. Maybe it'll happen soon. Maybe it won't happen at all. I just need that sign because right now I'm lost.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Cruise #7

The day after I returned from my spring vacation, I booked a vacation for the day after school is done. I'm going on a cruise out of Charleston on June 13 for a week! I got a really good price so I jumped all over it. Now I have something to look forward to. I cannot get enough of cruises or recommend them enough. There is something about being on the top deck, looking out to the water and seeing nothing but water on all 4 sides of the ship. It's so relaxing to me. A lot of people don't cruise for that reason. They get nervous if they see nothing but water. Not me. I love it! I cannot wait to sit out on deck first thing in the morning until right before dinner on days at sea, then enjoying the shows and gambling at night. Sigh, 62 days until I'm in paradise!

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Lacrosse Game

As you know, I pretty much love all sports. I don't like lacrosse though. I don't hate it, I just never got into it. My friend is a big lacrosse fan and a big Syracuse fan. Today, they came to play UNC. Since tickets were only $5, I decided to go with him. I found the game to be boring. I don't know why. There was a lot of running around and penalties with players checking each other like in hockey. It's funny that I find a slow moving game like golf more exciting than lacrosse. UNC did beat Syracuse, so that was good. I just never really got into the game. I probably wouldn't go to another one if he invited me to it.

Friday, April 10, 2015

OBX

I just got home from the Outer Banks. The 4 hour ride each way was not fun! Other than that, the trip was awesome! Monday and Tuesday were great because we laid on the beach all day. Wednesday and yesterday were very cold. We didn't go to the beach either day. We went shopping Wednesday and then to a lighthouse and shopping yesterday. On Tuesday, we went to a bar and I sang 2 songs for karaoke while my friends laughed hysterically at me. The nice part about the beach was that it was a block from our condo so we could walk there. Today was the best day of all. We laid on the beach from 9:30-4. We left at 4 because we knew we still had a long drive ahead of us. Today's temperature was around 75 degrees. The trip was great. I look forward to going back in the future.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Packing

I just packed for my 5 day trip to the Outer Banks. We are staying in a condo, so we need to pack our own sheets, blankets, pillows,  and food. There are 4 of us going in one car. I have no idea how we are going to fit everyone and everything into someone's car. I looked at the stuff I have sitting on the floor and it is a lot! I'm a guy. We have 2 guys and 2 girls going. Typically girls have more stuff packed than guys. It's going to be interesting to see how and if everything is going to fit. Either way, I look forward to having a great time!

Friday, April 3, 2015

Not Productive Work Day

I love teacher work days because I typically get a lot done. Unfortunately, that was not the case today. Today's work day was scheduled for 8-2. I was fairly productive until about 10. At that point, out of nowhere, the electricity went out. Then a teacher yelled for someone to call 911. A pick up truck had run into a power pole and the traffic light at the intersection of our school. The truck was on its side. Within minutes, firefighters, EMS, and police were there. They had to break the glass, then cut off the roof to get the guy out. Thankfully he was alright. We didn't do work for at least half an hour to watch what was going on. After that, we couldn't make copies or go on the Internet or anything. My friends and I went to lunch and because of power outages on that street, the traffic was intense. It took us over an hour and a half to have our lunch break. By the time we got back, the principal was walking out the door. We just caught him in time. All of our stuff was still in our classrooms. I had so much to do today but unfortunately because of something out of my control, I didn't get to most of it.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Kirby

I don't know why I always get myself into these predicaments. I got home around 3:45, and laid down after a rough day (as usual unfortunately). Only seconds later, my doorbell rings. I answer it and a man and woman are there. The guy says they can clean my carpet for free and give me free paper towels for doing it. Obviously they were trying to sell my a product. I stupidly said sure. And I said yes for free paper towels? Really? what is wrong with me?!?!? The lady comes in and takes over an hour showing me the Kirby vacuum and how powerful it is. It was gross to see how much dust it picks up. Of course she tried really hard to sell me this $3,000 lifetime guarantee vacuum. I said no because of money and she tried to lower it and I still said no. What a waste of my time. I need to be more assertive and say no before these people waste mine and their time!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Loaded Potato Buffalo Chicken Casserole

I'm always looking for new things to make for dinner. I get bored of the same things over and over again. I also get bored of having chicken all of the time. However, it's pretty simple to make and fairly inexpensive. Our Wednesday night dinners have become the one million ways to make chicken dinners. I found a loaded potato buffalo chicken casserole dish on Pinterest. I made it today for our dinner and it was amazing! It was a lot of work with peeling and cutting the potatoes, but it was worth it. I wonder what chicken creation we will have next Wednesday dinner.