Photo Evidence of My Geekitude.

As requested, here are a couple pictures of my bullet journal. Seriously guys, I'm obsessed.

An attempt at my "habit tracker" from last month. Apparently, 3rd trimester pregnancy hasn't agreed with Clyde's walking/outing schedule. Hopefully we'll make up for it with plenty of walks with baby in the Fall...

The start to next week -- haven't finished filling in tasks/appointments yet but you get the idea...

Biting the Bullet.

Have you guys heard of the whole "bullet journal" craze? I have totally become obsessed with my bullet journal in the last few weeks...knowing full-well that now is not the time to pick up new hobbies.

Y'all know that I love being organized. Last month, as the whole impending motherhood thing became more real, I began to worry about how I would stay organized while trying to keep a tiny human alive. You know, when my personal tasks and priorities would all of the sudden become more important than the work tasks and priorities. I also wanted to be able to have a space to capture the earliest memories/joys/frustrations somewhere like a journal.

Plus, it's giving me the opportunity to improve my handwriting and center myself around (i.e. be grateful for) the things in my life that really matter.

Not sure why I'm sharing this now...maybe I'm just trying not to think about a certain event that is supposed to happen soon BUT SEEMS TO BE TAKING ITS SWEET TIME. Incidentally, Man Boo and I made a bet (winner gets the glory) on the ETA for the tiny human and today was my guess. Not looking too good for me and the glory.

Send baby vibes.

Creepy.

Hello neighbor,

Maybe it's just me, but I think there is something a little creepy about mowing your lawn when it's completely dark outside. I appreciate your dedication to lawncare though.

XOXO,
  Your Neighbor

In other news, I went in for my weekly check-up with the doctor and Tiny Long is doing well. He assured me again that it could be any day now...get excited! I'm definitely feeling rotund.

(almost 38 weeks!)

Jamie's Latest Cinematic Masterpiece

So I probably shouldn't have promised that I wouldn't post about New Zealand again before Jamie finished up his latest video of our travels.  Hope you forgive me, because I want to share it now!  Please excuse the geekiness.

Back to non-New Zealand news soon...

Day Thirteen and Fourteen: Taupo to Auckland

Man Boo and I were quickly coming to grips with the fact that our vacation was rapidly coming to a close.  There was a lot to see on the North Island, but we opted to call some audibles on our itinerary and re-routed ourselves a bit so that we could go to Waitomo Caves (glowworms!) and then do an ultra-touristy trip to Hobbiton.

I couldn't take pictures while we were in Waitomo Caves for obvious reasons (it needs to be super-dark in there to appreciate the glowworms) but here's a professional picture so that you can get the idea. It was like that, but less blue.

This ended up being another one of my trip favorites.  It was a very touristy thing to do, but it's popular for a reason.  It's pretty spectacular.  At one point we were floating down an underground river in pitch darkness, we turn a corner and suddenly GLOWWORMS. 

 In the same vein, Hobbiton was also surprisingly fun. For most of the trip we hadn't planned on going, but as we started getting closer to it, Jamie started to mention that we could try it. It wasn't until we missed out on a chance to go on Day 12 (they were sold-out) and Jamie was genuinely disappointed, that we realized that we needed to get there before we flew back,  Just think about all of the campy pictures we would have missed out on!

For those who don't know (I'm looking at you mom and dad), Hobbiton is a movie set used in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. It was built as a temporary set for the LOTR and when they went back to rebuild it for the Hobbit, the farmer upon whose land it was located stipulated that they must build it to be more permanent and maintain it.  A savvy farmer.  So now it's a fully-functioning farm (mostly for sheep/wool) and a cash cow (no pun intended) of a tourist attraction. 

(It's Bag End!)

(Sam's house...and also the final shot of the entire LOTR trilogy)

As a little bonus, the ticket included a free pint at The Green Dragon so we enjoyed a nice drink and a scone to finish out our mini-adventure.

Then, we had to pack up our things (including several boxes of Tim Tams) and headed to Auckland to catch an evening flight back home. Three things I learned from this trip:

1) New Zealand has such fascinating geological history. It was originally part of Gondwana Land so parts of the South Island looked just like the rainforests of South America. But, at the same time, the huge tectonic shifts created these big mountains and it's far enough south that it can get quite cold.  So you'll have rainforest-like jungle juxtaposed with snow-covered mountains in the same view.  

2) New Zealand only has one truly native mammal which is a type of bat. Most of the other quintessential New Zealand fauna are birds because they somehow made the journey to New Zealand thousands and thousands of years ago from elsewhere. Many of those birds (like the now extinct Moa and the Kiwi) became flightless after a time on New Zealand since there were no mammalian predators.  The only reason the bat survived as a native mammal was because at some point, New Zealand was largely underwater which wiped out most of the land-based mammals that originally lived on the New Zealand chunk of Gondwana.

3) It was way harder to get my head on straight coming back from New Zealand than it was flying to New Zealand. We left Auckland on Saturday evening, but got back to San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.  For the next two weeks, I kept on thinking we were a day ahead.

And of course, the best way to end a trip across the world is to have a layover in San Francisco to see the family...

(Riley showing Tio the new hammock)

While the nieces didn't seem fazed by the beard Tio had sprouted after almost two weeks, I kind of liked it...

Not in Kansas Anymore.

I started my new job on Monday.  It is very different from my old job.  But, here is the wonderful thing: it's still working towards the same goal and vision of opportunities for great education for all children.  As I meet the team, learn more about my responsibilities, and attend meetings I am finding myself so energized and confident that I made the right choice.  It feels good.

I won't go into all of the differences, but I will share two of my first discoveries that made me realize that "I'm not in Kansas anymore...":

This.

The bathroom has MOUTHWASH and hand lotion.  And the toilets are not teeny-tiny and made for 3 year-olds...of course, I never used those ones, but I wanted to drive the point home.  

I was fixated on the mouthwash discovery -- I don't remember, but I may have even called Jamie to report on this -- that I wasn't prepared for my next discovery.  The common space has a free soda fountain with Coke Zero.  FREE!  In order to limit my intake of Coke Zero I am only allowing myself to visit it a few times a week and will have to take the 8 flights of stairs up to it.  But FREE Coke Zero!  Glorious day!

Small pleasures, friends.

Oh!  And Happy Fourth everyone!!!

So Long DC Prep.

I have been meaning to post on this for a long, long while...but life happened -- as it usually does.  Sorry, friends.

Anyway, the big news is that I left DC Prep.  I had actually been planning on leaving Prep for a bit now...realizing that I need to try out new things in order to best prepare for future endeavors...wherever they may lead.  Plus, it is exhausting work.  Totally worth it.  But exhausting nonetheless.

I finished up the year taking over a classroom for one of our teachers who resigned mid-year.  While I was nervous about going back into the classroom after so many years out of one, it turned out to be a great way to reconnect with students and the whole reason I got into teaching to begin with.  I have a few backlogged stories (with photo evidence) in my pocket to share with the blog later.  But I'm going to try and stay on topic for now.

It has been incredible to be a part of the DC Prep family for the past five years.  Building the school from scratch and being a part of its growth into the successful establishment it is today.  It has been a true learning experience and I know I have made life-long friends.

Turning towards the future, I have joined another organization that is making waves called The Achievement Network.  I have been fortunate enough to work with them through Prep for the past few years and attribute a lot of our success in the upper grades with their work.  It's a really great opportunity for me to do some of the things I love: (puts on nerd glasses) like data analysis, consulting with school leadership, and really pushing teachers to think critically about how to improve their instruction.  I'm especially excited to be able to work with many schools throughout the District.  It will definitely be another learning experience.

So, last week, I wrote up my exit memo, finished up some projects, and took on the task of cleaning out my office.  I gave away so many years worth of books, materials, etc. since I'm pretty certain now that I will not be re-entering the classroom.  By the end, my office looked like this:

Trust me.  It hadn't looked like that in a long, long while.  It was sad leaving my office last Friday.  And I will not lie...Sarah McLachlan was playing in my head (I Will Remember You...natch!) when I turned off the lights on my office.  Specifically, the last scene from the first season of Felicity (you know what I'm talking about, D) -- granted, I didn't have Scott Speedman or Scott Foley waiting for me -- but I was thinking about it anyway.  (I should note, I was going to find a clip, but I could only find one that included the 7 minutes leading up to the scene...and also it was in Italian.  What did I say about staying on topic??)

Anyway, on that last day of DC Prep, I had a visitor that was very fitting.  He (she?) always came out around this time in the summer.  In fact, I spent a good amount of time looking for a post about him (her?) until I realized it was much more likely a Facebook post.  (Yep.  It was June 24th, 2011.)  But my little friend came out to say one last goodbye.

This guy was missing a couple of his one MILLION legs which made me feel a little camaraderie with him (her!) as that's how I feel after 5 years of some of the most difficult (but rewarding) work.  In the end, I let this little guy climb up the wall and out of sight -- free to terrorize the next occupant of that office.  

And then I left.  We'll see what's in store for me now!

And So It Goes.

This is old news, but I hadn't gotten a chance to put together a video until now.  The Potonacs (the a capella group that Man Boo started some years back with friends from Law School) performed a couple of weeks ago to benefit SMYAL.  In the end, they ended up raising around $2000 for them in their short concert.  It was good times.

Man Boo always sings this one for me...

Fun with Pets.

Yeah yeah yeah, I haven't posted in a long time, whatevercakes.  SO busy I'm going out of my mind, but tonight I will post a super-short one.

So, I recently downloaded an app to my iPad that I heard about on NPR.  It's an app for cats.  Yes.  CATS.  Little fish swim around the screen and your cat bats at them and gets points each time it "gets" one.  I downloaded it think there was no way it would actually entice my cats into playing.  But, it was the most incredibly entertaining 4 minutes of my morning.  They went bananas!  Cody was clearly the better fishercat and beat out Junior who didn't grasp the concept and just kept jumping around the iPad and gnawing on the edges.

Unfortunately, when I got up to get my phone, they immediately thought I was going to feed them and they lost all interest.  I have yet to recreate those magical 4 minutes.

Since I have no video of them to show you, I give you this one...which is not all that unlike Cat Fishing.  Watch until the end for awesomeness.

Snow Day Chores.

So the snow dance had a delayed effect and our snow day was today!  I have an unhealthy obsession with snow, and I had been tracking this particular storm for the past week or so.  At the beginning, there was a pretty small chance that it would actually come together enough to drop snow over DC...something about the two fronts having to "thread a needle" to create a perfect situation.

Then, as time passed, all the various weather models started going crazy and weather people just started throwing up their hands and fluctuating between a bunch of snow, and no snow.

In the end, we had THUNDERSNOW which is something of a "chupacabra" (as in legendary) in the weather world.  I heard a couple rumbles, although I didn't see the lightning.  For a while there, snow was coming down so fast.  Our school let out at regular time since the storm hadn't hit by the time we had to make the call -- my weather nerdiness knew that it was supposed to hit right a dismissal so I was panicked about the thought of driving home in it all day.  As admin, I should have been staying until the last student left, but I had a shining beacon of hope.  Our school consultant was at our school that day, and I usually drive her to the hotel after her visits...fortunately, she needed the ride and my kind, sweet, understanding boss let me take her.

While I felt so guilty leaving with the students when I knew that some staff was going to have to hang tight for 15 more minutes, as soon as I hit the road I was thankful. I was slipping all over the place and the storm had just started.  Half an hour later and the roads looked like this: (sorry for the foul language in the commentary...it was the only video I could find on YouTube that had a street near my home in it.)

It took me over an hour to drive what usually takes about 12 minutes.  I was one of the lucky ones...We had some teachers who left at 4:15pm and didn't get home until past midnight.  DC is just not equipped for snow.

So, in risking life and limb for this Snow Day, I figured I should make the most of it.  Slept in.  Big workout.  Caught up on some work.  Made this long overdue video:

Happy Halloween.

For the record, I got the green light from Jamie to post this Halloween picture.  I find it to be adorably hilarious.

I think it may also be the closest I've ever seen Jamie to being unhappy.  He's just a pretty happy guy.  Also, for some Halloween fun, you may wish to check out this site.  I definitely had some costumes that belonged on that site.  Couldn't dig any of those up...but here is me as a bumblebee.

Rally Call.

A pretty great day for a rally.  It was gorgeous outside -- very crisp and fresh -- and the sun was shining.  It wasn't below freezing like the last time we stood outside on The Mall for a long time.  So, we strolled over to the Capitol and tried to find a place to stand and see the nearest Jumbotron.

Note: the sea of people on the other side of the stage.  Yowzers.

Even better, Marty McFly and Doc Brown came down from NYC to attend with me.  

There were lots and lots (and lots) of people there.  And, I found that -- just like at inauguration -- people were in such good spirits.  It was an important message, and in the end, I'm glad that so many people felt the clarion call to attend.

P.S. How awesome are Jess and Chad's costumes???

Another Year, Another Go.

In an effort not to stay up way too late and wake up the next morning in a complete funk, I am posting from work!  No worries, kids have been safely dismissed and I'm just taking a mini-break before my next meeting.

I know it's been less than a year, but the OK Go! guys put out a new video today.  I figured, since I had made a little tradition out of posting them on here, I wouldn't stop now.

What would have been really impressive was if they did this with cats.  Or porcupines.  (No.  I'm still impressed.  Apparently, this was Take 74 or 75...)

Back to work.

Pacey-Con.

Stumbled upon this today.  As you know, in my youth (er...and my adult life) I was a big fan of Pacey...So I enjoyed this.

Pacey-Con with Joshua Jackson from Joshua Jackson

I would totally go to Pacey-Con.  Drew...you game?

A Secret.

The results of the DC high stakes test were released to schools earlier this month.  Remember that test we took back in April?  Today, 241 D.C. teachers were fired.  As part of DC's overhaul of the school system, a rigorous teacher evaluation process was developed and implemented.  According to their test data, those teachers that were let go today were not moving students forward.  

Normally when data is first released to schools there is an embargo until the appeals process is complete.  Since today is the last day for appeals, I figure it is okay to share the news here...right? 

We made AYP!  Not just that -- our third graders' Reading and Math scores improved by 15% and 13% on average since last year.  Basically, it means that in our 3rd year of existence our 3rd graders are outperforming most of the schools in DC.  I am very proud of our students and our teachers.  They worked hard and they got results.  We still have lots of work to do, but it is wonderful to know that we are moving in the right direction fast.

Incidentally, our 8th graders -- those students who have been in our school for the longest -- did exceptionally well.  Are you ready?  94% proficient and advanced in Reading, and 100% proficient and advanced in Math.  Every single student in our graduating class is on grade level or above in Math, and all but one or two is on grade level in Reading. 

We're closing the achievement gap one step at a time...Congratulations to our students and staff.

A Scene from Dinner.

[After dinner...before busing plates]


Me: [staring lovingly at husband]

Man Boo: ...

Me: [giggling] You look like Lee Adama right now.

MB: Thanks!  You look like Quasimodo.

[end scene]


For the record, Lee Adama (a.k.a. Jamie Bamber) looks like this:

While, Quasimodo looks like this:

(MB did specify that I looked like the Disney Quasimodo)

Thanks, hon.  That's sweet.

To clarify, I had been resting my weary head on my hand at the time and it was only when I squished my face on one side (and squinted that eye) that Man Boo actually looked liked Lee Adama -- so MB probably meant that I looked like Quasimodo because one side of my face was squished.  At least that's what he says...

Maybe I should further clarify that he looked more like Lee Adama when he was President (rather than getting out of the shower) you know...because of the suit and the hair...

But really, I just wanted an excuse to put that shower picture up.  I love myself some Lee Adama.  And I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a huge nerd who watched Battlestar Galactica (the newer version).  That was a seriously good show, you guys.  Like...as good as The Wire good. 

And now, for something completely different (although further demonstrating my nerdiness...)

Do a Good Turn Daily.

Life's been busy lately!  While I don't have the mental capacity to think about what has been keeping me so busy (it's mostly boring anyway), I do have enough to do some trivia!

What was Jamie’s Boy Scout nickname?

a)       Lamie

b)      J Lo

c)       Golden Boy

d)      Slick 

This was one of the ones that I thought no one would get.  Seeing how we only had a couple high school friends present -- none of which were boys -- I figured this was the one that people would have to just pick randomly.

The correct answer is "a".  It is also as creative as the average 11 year-old boy can get.  Lamie went on to be an Eagle Scout -- of which I am extremely proud.  When we first started dating, I listened to tales of his Boy Scout adventures.  I attended the aforementioned tree plantings (which were part of his Eagle Scout Leadership Project).  I proudly sat through his Eagle ceremony.  Fun fact!  Lamie asked Jon Tesh to be his "Voice of the Eagle"...which is just hilarious.  He made a pretty good Voice of the Eagle.  If anything, he is just a very nice guy.

I did not realize how proud I was that Lamie was an Eagle Scout until I got much older and realized that every Eagle Scout I met also happened to be an amazingly-accomplished and awesome guy.  If I'm paying attention, I can spot an Eagle Scout within 10 minutes of conversation.

I'm still bitter that girls don't have a camping/hiking/survival/tree-planting equivalent.  Selling girl scout cookies does not an Eagle Scout make.

Prius Love.

It is cold outside. Sure, I'm probably spoiled by the Bahamian "winter", but it's still cold!

Sadly, I'm having to spend my last days of break at work. Granted, it's quiet and I can actually get things done with no kids around (well, aside from taking a blogging break), but it's still sad to think that our winter break is almost over.

Jamie and I had a little adventure with my car this morning. We hadn't moved it since the Blizzard of 2009 and I knew that it probably wouldn't start. Aside from it being one of those hybrid-y cars, it has also been nearing the time when we will probably need to replace it's battery. Now, don't get me wrong, this car has been wonderful. Almost no mechanical problems with it -- in fact, aside from a flat tire or the time when I crashed it (it still drove fine, mind you), I can't think of any problems we have had with it. But, I had heard from other Prius owners, that around 5 years, the battery starts deteriorating rapidly. Sure enough, right after we hit the 5-year mark weird things began to happen. Actually, just the audio console ceased functioning.

I meant to take it to the dealer then, but life prevented me from getting out there and weeks passed. Then the snow storm and then the vacation...and needless to say, when we went to start it up after weeks of no use there was a really dead battery. Fortunately, it's not as hard to jumpstart a Prius as I thought it would be and we made to the dealer. Also fortunately, it is actually not all that expensive to get a new battery installed and recycle the old one -- even less than the cost of a nice dinner!

So at the end of the day, I still love my Prius. I especially love my Prius because it gives me an excuse to leave work today at a decent hour in order to pick it up! I was worried I would be here 'til obscenely late...

Day 30; Post 30: Reflection.

So I actually met my goal of 30 posts in 30 days. Surprisingly, I can also say that I really enjoyed doing it. Sure there were times when I had to stay up a little later to post, or when I was really strapped for something to post about (my life is not that interesting), but in the end it was an enriching experience.

I had been thinking about how to end this series of posts...I figured I would need some grand finale not unlike the rush of fireworks that always end the 4th of July shows. Well...life hasn't really served up many fireworks lately. More like a laser pen light show that is interesting to me, but not so much to the people who read my blog. Sorry guys, this post will be more of a fizzle.

I think this practice has once again made the value of this blog evident to me. I started it to allow me to keep in touch with friends (this was before Facebook). But since then, it has definitely evolved into a way to allow me to reflect on the past six years. I am really appreciative of that.

All this to say that while I may not really have to say "30 posts in 30 days", I do want to post more frequently. Stay tuned?

Day 28; Post 27: Filler.

Still not having any luck with uploading the video to the blog. I think the file is too big...Boo. Not to worry, though, anticipation only makes it that much sweeter. All I know is, I had that thing uploading on my computer all night and it still wasn't done this morning. Stay tuned, and hopefully it'll be up soon.

In the meantime, enjoy emo superheroes:

This will probably be funny to two of my readers. So this one is for you guys. (If you can zoom in on your computer, you can check it out in all of its legible glory here.)