Decisions done...for now

Well, the big decision is done. Next year it will be Mr. V- 8th grade Science teacher at Timothy Christian. Wow, sounds a little scary to finally say that. It was pretty much the hardest decision I've ever made. Declining anything is hard for me to do, especially with all the great schools that offered me jobs. But...I'm looking forward to teaching there, getting my classroom, and everything else that comes with the job. First things first though...I'm ready to come home. I've accepted the fact that I won't see mountains everyday again, that I won't have kids begging me for prizes and rewards for just about anything, and that I'll have to leave my track guys 2/3 of the way through the season.

On the other hand, I do have to somehow get across Nebraska (do they have Starbucks there) On the other hand, who needs Starbucks when you have good old gas station coffee, right Verlan? It's my goal to leave Gwyn's house around 7:00 on Thursday morning, if I can't get myself to get up and leave earlier. That way, hopefully I'll make it back on time to spend some time with Linds. (I won't mention The Office is on at 8:00)

Well, this might be the last post for awhile. I think I managed to average over 1 post/week, which isn't great, but yeah...hope I kept some of you up to date on things.

So long everybody...

Rockies pictures

Here are some pictures from the Rockies home opener that I went to with Gwyn and a couple of her friends. The first picture is us in our seats, which were in the 3rd deck along the 3rd baseline, about even with the left fielder...oh, and they were obstructed view, kinda. (That's what the tickets said, it just meant that we were in the 2nd row, so the fence in front of us was in the way...we didn't care) Anyways, the 2nd picture is of my and a 2-LO sign I picked up from some fan who left it. I was like a scavenger picking up Magnet schedules and this sign. 2-LO stands for the Rockies shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, one of the more popular players on the team.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering...yes I did wear that SWEET yellow bucket hat all game. Gywn gave them to me and my brothers a number of years ago when you could go to Rockies games where the first 10,000 fans got hats and Gwyn got 4 of them because no one came to games until the end of the season last year.

Options, Choices, and BIG Decisions

Just got back from the Chicago area, little update...

Visited both DeMotte and Timothy Christian schools and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. They have very similar missions, but are also very different in their makeup. Urban vs. Rural, Variety of subjects vs. the same subject, large school vs. small school, and I could go on... My honest opinion on both of them...excellent schools, both have their definite pros as well as cons to living/teaching there.

Those are the options...and as of now, I also have choices as both schools offered me a job.

Now comes the big decision, which won't be an easy one, but I almost feel as if I can't go wrong in which one I decide. I have felt all along that God has provided us with opportunities to enter a school/community that knows what its mission is and is very welcoming. Which I believe is a good dilemma to have, I just wish it wasn't driving me crazy. I know I have leaned one way and then the other already and it hasn't even been a day since interviewing.

I know that God has a plan for us (especially since we made it through Chicago with a sellar GPS... A.K.A-Girl in Passenger Seat) Sorry Linds...I had to:) It was a bit of an adventure driving through somewhere Chicago after we weren't sure which exit we needed to get out of there Monday night after flying in, but we made it eventually. I think the bullets only skimmed the tires and scared the rest of the drug dealers away, which was a good thing. (Again kidding, it wasn't that bad)

Pray for us as we attempt to make a decision as to where God will be able to use us best in the lives of my future experiments (students) and Linds' future (wherever that may be, as long as it doesn't start with "Hi, welcome to McDonald's, how can I help you?")

It's 10:00 at night and I'm running on all cylinders...I could keep going, but I better get to lessons, and sleep, and watching the weather in hopes that the 10 inches of snow forecasted goes away...fast.

So long everybody...

Devastating news...

I might have, quite possibly, most likely, definitely burnt my face and neck from being in the sun during the Rockies game and at the track meet all day Saturday. (I figured a title like that might get people somewhat interested in the rest of the post)

Well, the end seems to be in sight now. I did an ice cream lab with the freshmen science class. We were talking about chemical reactions and rates, so we talked about freezing point depression and how salt reacts with ice to lower the freezing point below 0 degrees Celsius. So we were able to combine milk, sugar, and vanilla and shake it in our ice cream mixture for 15 min in order to spend the last 10 min of class enjoying a bowl of ice cream. It was great...I just hope the remember why it all worked. I'll find out the answer to that when we review our conclusions in class Monday.

I'm almost done with the P.E. classes. I gave a rough golf test to the seniors on Thursday. The Team Sports class gets a softball test on Wednesday, so then I'll be done with them. They all groaned when I told them they got Coach back next week. I figure it means one of two things. 1) I was just that good that they were learning so much and I was such a great motivator for them, or 2) I was way too easy on them and he's harder, so they'd rather have me. I'm going with the latter on that one.

Well, the Rockies game was...well, the atmosphere of the home opener for the defending league champs was sweet. The game was awful. They only got 2 hits all game and lost 7-1. It was the least number of hits they had in a home game in over 2 1/2 years (looked it up). Then it was the fun fact for the game the next night. Maybe when I'm done teaching I can work for baseball coming up with weird stats. (For example, for all of you Michael Cuddyer fans...he's a career .213 hitter when its a tie game, but hits .288 when the margin is 4+ runs)

Oh, and my Mark Redman prediction was correct...he stunk.

I spent the morning over at Highlands Ranch for the bagel party...it was awesome. I was mobbed by the 8th graders when I walked downstairs and they all had to show me pictures of stuff I had missed in the past 6 weeks. Then the girls complained I didn't even stop to say hi to them and went straight to talk to the guys. (I tried to beat them off with a stick, but 8th grade girls are very persistent) As I was leaving they invited me to the dance that night (I won't say whether it was the guys or girls that invited me...we'll just stick to 'I was invited')

So begins the week of decision-making for the future. I'm about 90% sure that by this weekend, I'll know what the future holds as far as next years plans. What a tough decision it'll be, I know that already. (Much harder than the whole getting engaged deal...I knew what the answer would be there:) What I've learned so far...it's a trust God moment, and I'm trying my hardest.

Well, since I've been writing this, I've managed to set off the smoke detector twice with the burning experiment I'm conducting, so I better get back to that before the neighbors start window peeping.

And as far as that devastating news with the sunburn...I was just trying to get a tan to cancel out the worst haircut I've ever had, hopefully it works for the interviews this week! Oh, and I'm officially firing my barber, which means the female in the house will be cutting my hair come mid-June. This guy is staying away from his own head with the scissors/mirror combo.

So long everybody...

Update

It could be a busy few days coming up, so I figured I would give you an update as far as what's been going on lately. I'm not at school today for two reasons: 1) This morning I'm going back to Highlands Ranch to have a Bagel Breakfast with the kids there. We had a pedometer challenge when I was there right before I switched to the high school. All the teachers had to wear a pedometer during the day at school and the one who walked the most in 3 days won a Bagel Breakfast for their homeroom. Well...turns out Mr. V won (quite handily I might add) with something like 33,000 steps in three days at school. 2) Gwyn and I are going to the Rockies home opener this afternoon, which I've talked about before. I could've gone to school for most of the day today, but I still would've had to make up the time later that I missed, so I figured if I could put the two together it would be great, and it worked.

So, I better run off to the bagels!!

So long everybody...