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Cheers Pat.
It's a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 with 52,000 miles. It only took me 49 years to buy one; it's been one of my dreams since i was 12.
Some photos of Michael and I
With his friend Rachel
Ready to take on Don Draper!
We were down in VA for Beth's sister's 25th anniversary party. Drove down Friday evening, came back Monday. It was a good time, and the weather was very nice, but no Porsche came home with me.
I did, however, get to try out the AirLift 1000 spring bags I installed on the Sienna the prior weekend. They really helped tighten up the rear and kept the tail off the ground on the rough dirt roads around the Spotsylvania Courthouse battlefield.
Bob
The 'woes' at work go on and on ....
School #1 - the new para has settled in nicely even though I'm only at the school 2 hours a week for instruction with the 5 students on my caseload there. It's going "ok" although I never have enough time there to "take care of things".
School #2 - the full-time special ed teacher is still on maternity leave. The sub who had a full month with us before she left is ... well .... uh .... that's all I'm going to say about that .... so I have my 8 students there and "help" with others. Still never enough time to "take care of things".
School #3 - the full-time special ed teacher was new this year and then went on medical leave about a week after the other teacher left on maternity leave. We went through several subs over a 2 week period and then they hired a more "permanent sub" who has been there for 3 weeks. She just finished her degree last May and got dropped into the middle of chaos. We have 33 students on the caseload there (14 of which are officially mine). About 2 weeks ago we had to totally restructure the schedule for special education services - the full time teacher, me as 1/2 time, and the full-time instructional para schedule. This is just before the end of the first quarter and teachers are getting ready for report cards/parent conferences, so ... uh ... let's just say ... it didn't go over really well .. even though it was necessary and at least THAT is finally about "settled". The "permanent sub" is doing OK and managing but I'm really doing the paperwork, meetings, etc for the 33 students there. In the past week, I have completed progress reports on the IEPs of almost 50 students. I'm working at least one day every weekend, and most evenings I come home and try to rest for about a hour or so, eat something and then have things that have to be done before the next day. I start early, and finish late, and then some ... There is no hope of "catching up" -merely taking care of the most pressing crises from day to day - and that's exhausting ...
We have a schedule that "slid" today for parent conferences. I'll be going in by noon (actually 11) and staying until about 8 tonight - but at least we have a 3 day weekend .... (HALLELUJAH!)
See ya sometime down the road
Sounds sweet. What did those set you back? Did you DIY on the install?
Spotsylvania
VA? Dad used to own a house on Lake of the Woods. I used to water ski there a lot. Fun times.
I know how you feel with regard to being able to only take care of the most pressing crises. It truly is exhausting (and probably much more so when students are involved).
Best wishes; you'll make it through!
The actual party was at my niece's house, a few miles down the road from Lake Anna (made famous as the epicenter of this summer's earthquake).
What I can't believe is that Fredericksburg has officially become a DC suburb. People take the train and/or carpool. My assistant/backup lives out there, takes an hour plus every day, each way. Crazy!
When I was a kid it was a different world. Spotsylvania Mall, and that's about it. It felt so rural back then. Now, no way...
On previous visits I joined the morning commuters on VRE from Fredricksburg to Union Station. It's always full!
Now it can be congested like any other big suburb.
First of all, Mikey is doing well after his last surgery in August. His health is very good and prognosis is excellent. The latest ultrasound on his kidney shows that everything went the way it should, it is draining and shrinking, so we don't have to go back to Boston for another followup until next April! Woo-hoo!
Second, my beloved 1983 Mustang GT finally came home. After being wrapped up in plastic for 4 months and at the body shop for 15 months after the "tree incident", we picked it up 3 weeks ago. Simply stated, it is absolutely beautiful! Basically, the entire exterior and most of the interior was stripped down, rebuilt using all the correct parts and repainted with the utmost attention to detail. What was a very clean, almost mint-condition daily driver is now a show-quality car. But that hasn't stopped me from driving it around to run errands, although it does get a lot of attention! I will try to host some pictures soon.
And, for today's fun ... I was planning on washing and waxing the car and maybe raking leaves, and getting ready for Trick-or-Treat. We are now under a winter weather advisory with chance of significant snow tonight - like 6 to 12 inches!
(Yeah, even the snow - it'll encourage you to prep the ski bottoms. :shades: )
I am not popular. Last night was my daughter's Secondary School Graduation Dinner; a major event at a nearby racecourse. She is a musician and had decided to write a song which she performed. All of her songs seem to have the melancholy angst of the average eighteen year old; nothing about duckies or rainbows!
In some sort of preparation for attending the performance, I decided to have the car detailed, particularly having the leather seats cleaned. The Kluger is approaching seven years old and I have not lavishe attention on the interior. Pat would be appalled, but I figure that it is a work tool and has honesty through wear! The cleaning left a dreadful stench so I left the doors open all afternoon to air the odour out.
Came time to go and I realised that I had flattened the battery; Fortunately a neighbour was around so could jump start the car.
I felt a total idiot. Of course, my daughter had posted the details of her father's idiocy on Facebook within seconds so every kid at the function knew that I was responsible.
At least the performance went well.
Cheers
Graham
cheers Pat.
Just a question for some cocktail party fodder. Here in North America, schools generally run August/September to May/June with summers off. How does is work there?
I picked up leaves and mowed the lawn. Then I prepped the snow blower and put the snow tires on the cars. My widdle head is so confused!!
"The National Weather Service had reports of "graupel" as well as hail in the brief storms that slid through the area Saturday. Here's graupel defined: Ice crystals fall through a cloud of super-cooled droplets-minute cloud droplets that have fallen below freezing tempature but have not frozen. The ice crystal plows into the super-cooled droplets and they immediately freeze to it. This process forms graupel, or snow pellets, as the droplet continues to accumulate on the crystal. The pellets bounce when they hit the ground. Graupel is softer than hail and doesn't do damage." - from wsbt.com weather page
In the Northern Hemisphere, the school year runs summer to summer, from about August to June. The same applies in the Southern Hemisphere, so our year runs February to December with a 5-6 week break from the week before Christmas to end of January. IN most Australian states, the year is broken into two semesters each of two terms, giving the kids a six week break over summer and then three breaks of two weeks each through the year. It gives 40 teaching weeks.
The issues that the teachers in this group have written about are common throughout the world; it is not particularly financially rewarding although professionally rewarding. You are unlikely to get rich teaching and you have to deal with the weirdness of bureaucracy. However, we have noting like the disclosure of personal details that is suffered in the USA. Recently, I was searching the net for some details of a distant relative. I was very surprised to find the details of his pay from a local school district in Washington State, carefully set out for the last five years. The Australian public would just not come at that!
Cheers
Graham
Snow? What snow? (taking a break from shoveling and attempting to same most of my flattened bushes, cutting down trashed trees, etc.)
Then comes the storm! Yesterday's final practice and parents show gets cancelled, and it's a mad panic this morning to get the drive cleared of snow (a little over a foot of heavy wet stuff), clear a few down trees (leaves and snow make for a bad combo). Power is out throughout the county. But there on the road. Late, and without some that could not get thru, but they're going to dome!
Just find yourself a reputable P-Car mechanic who hopefully won't charge you an arm and a leg (and another arm!).
Here's to more dreams come true!
tom
Glad Mikey is ok- kids bounce back from this stuff much better than adults!
Glad the GT is ok too! Where are you going to park it so it's safe?
Wow, snow! I miss New England. . .
tom
Hmm, maybe we need a facebook for parents of teens. . .
From Halloween
If not here's a link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tCQbx4IvNgXbJCUGYrFD2g?feat=directlink
Today though is the first "snow day" I can recall in October. We had about 6" but about 50% of town is still without power. The high school though is still able to assign work. Our town assigned iPads to all students at the high school. Most teachers have blogs and can ensure the kids get their work. The hope is that within 2 years a so, students and teachers will be able to Skype or Netmeet on school days.
As for posting teachers salaries, yes that is a common thing here in the states. All public employees have their salaries noted as public record. Typically, police officers earn the most but here in Massachusetts that is from working details. Road works, utility projects, et al that are done on the streets/highways require the use of an off-duty police officer to direct traffic. It pays about $38 and hour and is a minimum of 4 hours. It is paid by the entity doing the project.
Parents of members of great bands drive Subarus!
Congrats on your son's success nonetheless!
My wife and I met at a Halloween party 31 years ago. We just remembered that.
(My sister has the family saxophone, but that's okay. She has a Forester. :shades: )
I love Halloween. I guess that's because I moved away from the US for a while (ages 11-16) and sort of missed my prime Trick-or-Treating years.
Any advice from the peanut gallery? I'm thinking take the kids to the townhouses since they're closer together. More candy in less time. :shades:
I just looked at my earlier post, and it looks like 21st (2!). They placed #2 in the state, up from #4 last year. That #1 spot is so damn elusive.... If it hadn't been a week of rain and snow, well, who knows.... Maybe next year.
Hey, I like the Subaru connection.
There's a street near where I used to live that is wonderfully themed, every house decorated, and kid-safe. We may go there later tonight.
Amazing the amount of support that is needed to make the marching band machine work. Worth every minute!
We were quite lucky in that power held reasonably firm during the storm itself, but damaged trees continue to fall, foiling the work of crews working around the clock. Estimated uptime is now tomorrow night (maybe...) if they can get ahead of the curve. I just called for an LP refill as we burn our way thru it. Finally, that monster standby unit is pulling it's weight!
As the parent of a freshman who is doing marching band for the first time, I agree. The booster group does an amazing job coordinating it all.
The band particpated in an exhibition recently in New Hampshire. Our band numbers about 105 members. The Londonderry, NH High School band arrived in 10 buses and a 26' moving truck. They are 375 members strong. I was flabergasted.
The one thing I've noticed about marching band is the comraderie amongst the bands. They cheer for each other and really watch the performances.
When we went it was empty, and the stores were offering us to take entire boxes of candy home, LOL.