Bowl-rack O-bowl-ma.

For the record, Jamie made me write that title.

In my continued effort to catch everyone up with the happenings of the past couple months, I want to share a few pictures from our most recent adventure to The White House.  Earlier this summer - late June, I think - a friend of ours invited us to go bowling at the White House bowling alley.  Jamie made sure to use the opportunity to ham it up for the cameras.

He's supposedly holding back W's ball.

Guhlers Goodness.

Work is really, really busy right now.  I haven't gotten to post about some of the happenings over here lately.  Since tonight was a pretty late night at work, I left my computer there and gave myself the rest of the night off.  So tonight, I will share some pictures of the fun we had in Olean, NY a couple weekends back celebrating the first year of marriage of our friends Ari and Heather.  (They had gotten married very quickly last year and did not have a wedding to celebrate it with friends then.)

It was fun times!

 It was a gorgeous day -- sunny in the afternoon during the ceremony, and after the sun went down, we got a big thunderstorm that put on a great electrical show over the mountains in the evening.  We played Cornhole (which I guess is just a beanbag toss) and caught up with friends...saw plenty of hilarious dancing...it was a pretty great night.

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.

Vignette.

Scott just stopped by to shower at our place after an Ultimate Frisbee game.  We keep clean towels in our guest bathroom in a basket next to the sink.  So, when he called out from the bathroom if he could use the towel on the floor I didn't think much of it and told him "of course".  Later, I noticed he was drying off his head with the bath mat.

You just gotta love the guy.

Bahamian Adventure.

We got back from our latest Bahamian adventure last weekend.  Tanned and rested, we are now faced with some pretty hectic workdays.  Still...it was totally worth it.  Just look:

Hooray for Abby, Jonas and Scott making it to the island with us!  We survived the crazy hot and humid weather by spending a lot of time on the boat or in the ocean.  Fortunately for us, DC was hit with  a heat wave around the same time we were in the Bahamas, so it was pretty nice to know that we wouldn't have been much better off temperature-wise.

The water was unusually calm for most of our stay.  It was like glass when we arrived, and allowed for some pretty smooth boating for the whole trip.  We went snorkeling a couple times, and our last day there, we had probably the best snorkeling I've ever encountered.  Absolutely no waves with perfect visibility.  I even got to see the elusive sea turtle!

The island was super-busy (at least in terms of Man-o-War).  Lots of people around, and we got a few fireworks displays for Independence Day.  We ventured out to Tilloo Bank and played frisbee off the boat.  It's still one of my favorite places on earth...

We visited Hope Town and Great Guana...everywhere we went we saw Wanted Posters for the Barefoot Bandit (who had arrived at the same time we had.)  Whole islands were buzzing about it -- everyone was on the look out -- so it actually makes sense that he got caught there.  When you have islands we so few people on it and everyone is looking for your face...there are not many places to hide.  Sadly, he broke into Curly Tails which is a restaurant we have frequented in the past (when Wally's is closed, of course).  But, the Royal Bahamas Police triumphed in the end.  

And with BB's capture, Jamie and I came back to the States.  On a plane FULL of babies!  Babies everywhere!  All of the babies on the plane were incredibly well-behaved.......except for two (from the same family) who screamed bloody murder the entire. way. home.  I actually thought it was pretty comical because it wasn't just that they cried the whole way...it was that they were full-out screaming the whole way.  

By the end, Jamie and I were rooting for them to persevere.  (They did.)  It actually worked out pretty well for us since all of the rows immediately surrounding the boys cleared out and left Jamie and I (Jamie with his noise-canceling ear buds, and me with my workplace-induced immunity to screaming children) with a whole row to ourselves.  It probably wouldn't have been so entertaining had the trip been any longer...but, hooray for the quick, 2-hour trip between West Palm Beach and D.C.!

I'm already daydreaming of our next trip down...but for now...back to work.

Not the Bahamas But...

We're back from the Bahamas and have plenty of pictures and stories to share. Unfortunately, our internet has been very spotty. Since I probably only have two minutes of internet time before Comcast starts ripping me off again and dies, I will instead share some Old Spice Man Love. This guy:

Cracks me up. And while I'm sure everyone has seen his ads, I just discovered his You Tube page where he posts responses to tweets about him. I couldn't stop laughing. Teacher friends will probably appreciate Mustafa's awesome "fireworks" celebration in his response to Apolo Ohno. My personal favorite might be his response to sjuman28 (or maybe his response to Alyssa Milano).

I promise I'm not obsessed with men in towels.

Bahamas soon.

Cold Feet, Warm Heart.

As much as I enjoy clicking on the bookmark to my blog and seeing Jamie Bamber looking back at me, it is also a little creepy.  Especially since, the screen cuts off before his towel comes into the picture and it makes it look like he may be nude.  And this is not that type of website.

That means, it must be time for the second to last Longzaki trivia question!

6. What is the worst part about sharing a bed with Jamie?

a)       gas

b)      cold feet

c)       flailing arms

d)      all of the above 

This one was actually a gift to our friend/officiant/blog contributor/all-around-awesome guy, Drew.  You see, aside from me, the only other person who had to suffer through Jamie's cold feet in bed was Drew (and maybe one or both of his brothers).  I'm quite certain that Drew's team was the only group to get this one right.  I don't know why they shared a bed -- maybe something to do with their singing group -- but I do know that I earned Drew's utmost respect for being able to share a bed with Jamie's frigid feet.

Maybe Jamie is a vampire (and one reader of my blog will get that.  You know who you are.)

Fortunately for me, the answer was not "D".  In fact, I am the one who does gymnastics in my sleep.  To the point where the cats know not to sleep by me unless they enjoy the thrill of hurtling through the air when I kick them in my sleep.  Jamie on the other hand, sleeps like he's in a coffin with his arms straight at his sides or folded neatly on his chest.  Maybe he IS a vampire!

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...)

The Lottery.

Apparently our appalling education system is going to be the trendy issue this year.  Move over global warming.  I got an invite to go see a premiere of this movie and attend a Q&A with it's director on Saturday.

Check it out!  Sadly, I can't go because Man Boo and I also got an invite to bowl at the White House.  I'm more excited about bowling than I am about doing it in the White House.  I'm a nerd.

Like A Prayer.

This trivia sure is being stretched out over many, many weeks!  But, we are getting to last few questions...

6. What was Melissa and Jamie’s first dance?

a)      Tubthumping – Chumbawamba

b)     I’ll Make Love to You – Boys II Men

c)     Thriller – Michael Jackson

d)     Like A Prayer – Madonna 

Our first dance was at Man Boo's 17th  birthday party to which I was invited the previous weekend when we had flirted shamelessly at a different friend's party.  It should be noted that I am a terrible dancer, and back in those days, I absolutely never danced.  It was the first time I had been to MB's house, and they had decked it out for his birthday -- complete with a whole DJ setup.

It should be testament to how big my crush was, that I said "yes" when Jamie Man Boo asked me to dance.  We danced to Like A Prayer...which is a REALLY LONG song to dance to when you don't dance.

In the end my 5 minutes and 39 seconds of teenage awkward dancing landed me a husband so I guess it worked out.  Of course, this dance had to be the last song that played at our wedding.  It has also been the last song to play at several other weddings...because it is that awesome.

As another side note, a Carleton tradition is for all of the girls to take off their shirts when this song plays.  I have witnessed it...just...wow.  I am forever grateful to all of the Carleton alum who were at our wedding and did not take off their clothing.  That may have changed the tone of the evening.

13 Seconds.

It's true. Man Boo has arrived. He was on The Daily Show for 13 whole seconds...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Day 59 - Judgment Day - The Strife Aquatic
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

You'll have to skip (Man Boo says "watch") to 6:57...

STB! STB!

If you have been a reader of this blog for a while, you may remember those posts about Traffic Light Boy. If not, you need to click those links and catch up. Sadly, I don’t have any updates on TLB or his quest to become an electrical engineer in order to solve the Great Traffic Light Crisis in America. But, today, one our teachers shared with me an obsession of one of her students that surpasses TLB.

Prepare yourselves.

Marcus is obsessed with sharp teeth. SHARP TEETH! Apparently, he will list things with sharp teeth (i.e. sharks, cats, Ms. Miller – his teacher) and automatically love anything with sharp teeth. For the record, Ms. Miller’s teeth are not any sharper than the normal set of adult teeth…I think it’s his way of justifying his love for her.

I wish that I could post a picture of how adorable this kid is…he may be one of our cutest (and we have tons of cute), but I must restrain myself. Just know that there is a teeny little preschooler out there, with a big smile, who is obsessed with anything to do with sharp teeth.

Animal House.

Slowly but surely…here’s another trivia question.

6. Which of the following is not a pet that Melissa has owned?

a)     monkey

b)     parrot

c)     turtle

d)     frog

This was one that my family would have been able to get pretty easily.  I have never owned a turtle.  In writing this post, I began to list all of the pets that I have owned in my lifetime and realized a couple things:

·      I have had a surprising variety of pets in my lifetime

·      I have had many pets in my lifetime – so many that it would be boring and sad to list them all

·      I am not very creative when it comes to naming pets.  Especially when I was really young.  To give you an idea, my first pets were a parakeet named Pinky, a rabbit named Brownie, and a parrot named Feathers.

When I was in 2^nd or 3^rd grade (I don’t actually know because my elementary school did not have “grades”), Los Angeles was hit by some incredible storms.  Schools were shut down for days because massive rivers of water were running down streets and mudslides were burying roads.  My house had this giant backyard, and during the floods a big stream came running through our yard and I would spend hours sending twigs down the flow to watch it go through the different channels.

Anyway, our “river” started by a lagoon of sorts, which became the breeding ground for hundreds of frogs.  Since our 2^nd/3^rd class was studying the life cycle, I brought in some tadpoles so we could watch them turn into frogs.  I was the coolest kid that year, because everyone wanted me to bring them frogs. 

The monkey came years later during a trip to the Amazon.  No.  I did not try to sneak the monkey into the U.S.  It lived in Peru and I would play with it on my visits.  And no.  I hadn’t seen Outbreak yet -- such a great movie, with such a horrible last line.  Don't remember?  Skip to 7:40. (I should also warn you that this clip picks up at a pretty climactic part of the movie, so don't watch it if you have never seen the movie and intend to...)

I should mention that this movie is great. I love this movie (it has MORGAN FREEMAN in it!) The fact that it is so great, is what makes that last line so horrible.

Chippy Goodness.

Not that I talk about my blog often, but 9 times out of 10 when I do, the person I am speaking to will say something along the lines of: "I blog-stalk your brother too!" or "I love your brother's blog!" and definitely "Tell your brother to blog more!"

In an effort to lure more people back to my blog, I present to you a video of my adorable nieces on their recent vacation to Monterey.  

As far as I know, my brother has not yet claimed exclusive rights to his videos...

Chills.

Finally saw the trailer for Waiting for Superman and it gives me chills.

If we can inspire one more great educator to join the fight in our public schools, inspire one more middle schooler to stay in high school, or inspire one more high school graduate to go to college than it will be worth it.  Of course -- much like An Inconvenient Truth -- the people who will go and actually see this movie are the ones who don't need this message because they already know.

Light a fire under someone you know to go see this movie with an open heart and mind.

Williams Weekend.

What a weekend!  After having a great time with Man Boo's family in D.C., we had to motor over to Williamstown (well, Pittsfield) for a wedding.  It had been a very long time since I had been back to Williams, and I was really excited to see it again.  Not to mention spend time with the old Williams crew.

Man Boo and I tried to avoid going through New York...and somehow ended up at Princeton University.  On Reunion Day.  We were not happy.  But we did make it to Williamstown eventually.  Fortunately for us, we had some pretty fantastic weather.

Of course, the main event for the weekend was the wedding of our friends Lindsay and Noah.  

The ceremony took place in front of a lake and the sun was shining down on us -- with a great breeze!  Dinner and dancing followed and good times were had by all.

 This was our sad, sad attempt at spelling out Williams.  I enjoy Abby's backward "S".

As we posed, I could not get out of my head that You Tube video where the wedding party broke the dock.  So glad that dock remained intact.  

Yet another reason to celebrate was that it was also Abby and Samir's first anniversary...

This is them double-fisting drinks when they each oh-so-cutely got the other drinks at different bars.

All in all, a pretty great weekend!  Man Boo and I drove back today...this time, avoiding Princeton.  Being too cheap to invest in Books on Tape and not having time to go the library, we decided to pull a fun book from our shelves and just read aloud to each other.  We returned with a couple chapters of Murder on the Orient Express (courtesy of Man Boo's mother) to spare, but managed to finish on our trip up to Dulles airport when I dropped Man Boo off for this week's trip to Denver.

If you are fortunate enough to have a driving partner who has a pretty good collection of accents under his sleeve, I highly recommend the frugal book on tape option.  Poor Man Boo had to suffer through my inability to do any other accent that American and bad British.  I think the book probably had a different feel when Hercule Poirot was a British guy.

Fun in the Sun.

It's been a hectic week -- the good part of that is that it flew by!  After a few days without internet (made less devastating by the good ol' Palm Pre), we were visited by family!  Everyone was in town to see Scott graduate from SAIS.  For some strange reason, the Powers That Be at SAIS decided that during work hours on a Thursday would be the perfect time for a graduation ceremony.  While I may have considered taking time off to see the little brother-in-law ("Lamer" according to the last post comment), I could not because that day was also our schools Field Day.

And while, I generally don't put pictures of my students up on this blog...some of these are just too adorable to pass up.  Don't worry, they all have media releases...because my blog is read by so many people.

Yes.  Little man is giving himself bunny ears.

How can you look at these pictures and not want to be a teacher?  Of course, they look much more manageable when they are frozen in time...

Sunburnt and sweaty, I rushed home and showered to get ready for a delicious meal at Vidalia to celebrate Scott's graduation.  Incidentally, it was also Jamie's and my anniversary.  All in all, a pretty fun day.

Tomorrow, we leave bright and early to get to Williamstown!  For Lindsay and Noah's wedding!  Can't wait to see everyone and catch up.  (So much fun!)  I'll post from there...

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.

Smoky.

My clothes absolutely reek of smoke right now because of this room.  I'm in New Jersey right now visiting excellent schools in the area -- it has been great so far.  The only catch has been the fact that now my clothes, my hair, my books all smell like cigarette smoke.  In order to save some dollars, we decided to book the cheapest rooms available...which turns out to be the smoking rooms.  Discrimination?

Anyway...I want to talk about the other time I was in New York last weekend!  See?

Incidentally, I got a new fish eye lens before the weekend.  Also, New York is photogenic.

So Man Boo and I went to New York to visit Jess and Chad, see Bridget and Anthony, spend some time with Anne Louise, and see an opera to boot!  Even though we weren't there for very long, we had a great time with friends.  Jess even Asian-posed for us.

Okay.  I've got work to do, but I wanted to make sure my friends and loved ones knew I was alive and well in New Jersey...

Thrilled.

As mentioned yesterday, Jamie and I went to see an opera last night -- The Marriage of Figaro to be exact. I know this last series of posts may make it seem that Jamie and I are these uber-cultured people who throw money at the arts, but the truth is that Jamie does all of the purchasing and I just get to go along with the ride. And we usually get those cheaper tickets for the "younger generation" folks who actually buy tickets to go to the opera.

This weekend we are going to see another opera: Tosca. This one, however, is actually a wedding gift -- fitting that we are going to go so close to our third anniversary. AND, it's in NYC! I'm really looking forward to visiting Jess and the NY crew. We'll be hopping on a bus on Friday after work, and catching one back on Sunday.

Then, I get to catch a train BACK to New York for work on Monday (staying until Wednesday evening). While it would have been nice to just stay in New York and not worry about going back and forth, we found out today that we are having a compliance review on Monday and Tuesday for which I must be present. Lame!

I am excited about taking a train, though.

I am also excited to share this video from our last dance party -- it was a celebration for our Prepped Up Preppies. It is so fun to see what happens to a room full of our students when you start playing Michael Jackson...

...and for the record, our students don't normally wear jeans to school. That was part of a fundraiser that we had that day.