Feelin’ my Core

When do you ever really feel your core?  Lately, I’ve been feeling it a lot.  I recently took up kettlebells.  This one little piece of equipment completely kicks my ass.  As you can see, it’s 26 pounds.  There are a variety of things you can do with it.  But the beauty of it is that you don’t have to do much to see/feel a difference.

I started doing kettlebells because I was feeling like I had lost muscle strength over the last few years.  My massage therapist recommended kettlebells and there just happens to be a class every Tuesday and Thursday morning at that location.  I was only able to go to four classes in June.  But I signed up for all of July.  I have another teacher friend that is doing it.  We basically figured that if we signed up for the month we’d actually do it.

The first time I did kettlebells I was so sore that I could hardly move.  I haven’t been that sore since I hiked the Inca trail!  (~30 miles and 6000 steps over the course of 4 days).  I was so sore that I had to put my hands on the toilet seat and lower myself down. Sorry for that visual, but you have no idea how much of a workout you’re going to get.

The main thing that you do are swings.  You are in a squatting position and you hold the bell with both hands and swing it between your legs.  You stand on the upswing and tighten your butt.  On the downswing, you bend your knees and then do it all over again.  You keep doing it until you’re fatigued.  It doesn’t take long.

There’s also a lift where you start with the bell on the ground and do sort of a “clean and jerk” up to your shoulder.  After you get it into that position, you use your other hand for stability and squat down all the way.  Then as you stand you bring the bell up so your arm is extended over your head.  We do this several times.  Last week I accidentally bonked myself in the cheek on the way up.  At least it was with my hand and not the bell!  You can also do curls with it (when you hold it with both hands).

Another thing we’ve done to work our core is to be in a push up position.  Your back is parallel with the ground, so there’s a slight bend at your waist.  (It’s different from plank position in yoga.)  Pick up your right hand and bring it to your waist without shifting your weight.  Then do it with the left.  It’s amazing how much this works your core.

It’s not like we do a gazillion reps of any of this.  Just a little goes a long way.  And the beauty of it, is once you learn the different things to do, you can easily do them on your own.  Have I done that yet?  Not exactly.  I’ve done some swings at home, but that’s about it.  But I do have the knowledge.  And that’s a start.

Getting my Kid Fix

For the past week my sister has been in town. So I’ve been spending lots of time with my three amigos. I have a great time hanging out with my nieces and nephew. It’s amazing how much energy they have. One day, Grandpa and I took the older two to the park. On our way home, they had to run back to the house. Needlesstosay, Grandpa and I weren’t going to run. The question we had as we walked was, “What will they do when they get to the spot where we cross the street?” Here’s the answer:

Sunday Afternoon

The end of the school year is always extremely busy. Today I was able to forget a little about my crazy life and do some planting. I’m mainly planting herbs. I have to have a few flowers for fun.

I’m sorry I haven’t been as regular with the blog entries. Believe me, I’ve been thinking about what to write about. Maybe I’ll get it together soon…

To Plow or Not to Plow

Speaking of “Safety at Work,” we had a new one this week…

On Thursday we got 6 – 7 inches of snow.  It came down in a hurry, starting around 1pm.  By the time I left school only about an hour and a half  later, there seemed to be about 4 inches on my car and on the ground.  All after school activities were canceled and everyone was told to go home.

I don’t know exactly what the contract is for plowing snow in the parking lot and driveways around the school.   But I was surprised to come to school on Friday morning to 7 inches of snow in the lot that was NOT plowed.

It’s one thing for us teachers to drive in this stuff.  But we also have many novice drivers (students) that have yet to really learn how to get around in snow.

On Friday, there was a teacher that got hit in front of school.  I’m not talking about her car getting hit.  SHE got hit.  Apparently a student was trying to get un-stuck and gunned his engine.  He wasn’t paying enough attention to realize that she was there.  I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I think she may have even ended up on the hood of the car.

The teacher is ok.  She felt fine after it had happened and stayed at work.  I mentioned to another teacher at lunch that the teacher really needed to go to the doctor because this was the ultimate worker compensation situation.  (This message did get to the injured teacher by the end of the day.  She was starting to stiffen up and felt it in her lower back.)

Even though it is on the verge of spring and we sometimes have temperatures that will melt the snow rather quickly, the choice of not plowing could have some major consequences.   Even though we all face major budget shortfalls, we still need to be safe at work.

What does it take?

Superintendents all over the region had to make the tough decision this week of whether or not to cancel school due to cold weather. All around the state and even in districts that touch mine, school was canceled. For some, it was canceled both Thursday and Friday.

My district rarely cancels school. We usually have to have a very well timed snowstorm. The only time I remember it being canceled due to cold temperatures was at least a decade ago when the Governor called it for the entire state.

Districts are in the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t position. If they cancel school, they get calls from angry parents about having to take a day off of work because they don’t have daycare for their kids. If you don’t cancel, you put kids in the dangerous position of getting frostbite in a matter of minutes.

So… Does the decision have other non-weather factors? Is poverty a factor? Even if the kids have to wait outside for a bus in the cold, they do get to a school where there is heat and they are fed breakfast and lunch. Are they better off at school than at home? This is the first year that the factor of poverty has even entered my thoughts.

Yesterday (1/15) at 7am: temperature -20 degrees, wind chill -37 degrees.

Today (1/16) at 7am: temperature -22 degrees, wind chill -40 degrees.

Keep in mind that many of our students don’t have a winter coat.

Winter Driving

Being a resident in the land of cold and snow, I feel compelled to offer some winter driving tips.  Many accidents happen that are truly accidents.  Many others could be avoided.  So here goes…

1.  Only drive.  Do not use a cell phone or any other device while you’re driving.

2.  Slow down.  It’s better to be late than dead or injured.

3.  Leave a safe following distance between you and the car ahead.

4.  Pretend that you don’t have any brakes.  This ought to leave you enough space and time to stop.

5.  Take your foot off the gas instead of braking, if possible.  Quick braking is what gets you in trouble.

6.  When going around a corner, a front wheel drive car will PULL you around it.  So you slightly accelerate around a corner – or at least give the car a little gas.

7.  Watch out for the bozos that don’t know what you’re doing.  Defensive driving is key.

8.  Just because you can start, doesn’t mean you can stop.  SUV drivers seem to think they’re invincible.

9.  Given the choice between ice and snow, pick the snow.  You can get some traction on the snow.

10.  Get some practice in the snow and see how your car reacts.  If you’re the only one in the parking lot or on a deserted street,  play around.  See how your car reacts and how YOU react in a slide or tricky situation.

Winter driving isn’t really as horrible as people make it out to be.  If your city rarely ever gets snow and is ill-equipped to deal with it, that’s tough.   But where it’s commonplace, you need to just buck up,  get used to it and practice.  It is pretty amazing when you see the staggered wall of snow plows coming.   Though it does freak me out when I see them in my rear view mirror.

I don’t know if my little list of tips will help anyone.  But they seem to have served me well.  Good luck!

Changing Focus

Several years ago my school got a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.  We developed Smaller Learning Communities (SLC).  Students were able to pick an area of interest and would then be put into homerooms accordingly.  Teachers were put into these academies with respect to their interests too.

I was in the Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Academy (NRES).  We had students that were interested in camping, animals, outdoor activities, etc.  We would take them camping and do experiential education with them.  It was a great program that the kids loved.  (Read about it here, here and here.) But being a city school, we didn’t have enough kids that were interested in our academy or really knew what we did.  We were also the smallest academy.  When the budget shrunk, my academy was the first to go.

Now I have the consolidated homeroom of the NRES kids and we’re now in the Health Sciences Academy.  The last several years the NRES academy has done things to spruce up the school grounds.  We’ve raked leaves, planted trees and flowers, and also picked up trash.  The kids were fine with doing those kinds of service projects for the school.  We did joke around about being the academy that picks up the trash.  But it was all in good fun.

As a part of the Health Sciences academy, we now learn about health careers one day per week.  Lately we’ve been watching a video that follows a man through medical school, internship, and residency.  It’s quite interesting.  As we get further into his career, we see more.  Today it was actually fairly graphic.  There were people that were having procedures done that were yelling out in pain.  They’ve shown cadavers.  And there was some woman with a head injury today that was really hard to watch.  The kids that are interested in Health Sciences were all watching.  My NRES kids were squirming in their chairs and groaning about how gross it was and trying not to look.  Finally, one girl raises her voice in desperation:

I’d rather be picking up trash!

I just burst out laughing.  Every other NRES kid nodded in agreement.  There’s nothing we could do but laugh.  It’s sure going to be an interesting year!

Greece!

I just returned from Greece last night. I’ll be writing about the trip and various observations in the next few weeks. But for now, here’s a preview:

Up North

During the summer there is a mass exodus every weekend as people head up north. The weekend of the 4th of July is no exception. Even though there are over 10,000 lakes, everyone seems to have a particular one in mind. There is a particular lingo that goes with it too.

We all go to the lake not a lake. We talk of the lake as if it is our own. We all have a different experience when we go up north. Some go to what could only be called a second home. Some go camping in tents. Some are in a trailer or RV of some type. Some go to a cabin.

The amenities at each are as variable as the 10,000 X places on those lakes. Some have the bare necessities. Some are luxurious. And there is everything in between. They usually all have a few things in common. There is water nearby and there are plenty of these:

This one is dead. Fortunately, they move fairly slowly so you can slap yourself silly and be quite effective. Of course, there are lots of other bugs besides mosquitoes. They’re a little harder to photograph…

My particular experience involves a cabin. We’ve been going to the lake for almost thirty years. We started out tenting it. Then we graduated to a camper. My dad then built a cabin. Throughout the years various amenities have been added – a wood burning stove, insulation, electricity, running water, and the list goes on. For a long time we didn’t have running water. This discouraged the not so serious camping folk. You can get cell service there. But there is no phone, no television, no wi-fi.

The lack of high tech entertainment allows for good conversation, good food, lots of time outside and the ability to catch up on all of that reading you haven’t had time to do or have been too distracted.

And of course, you can’t help but have a few of these:

You can’t have just one s’more. It’s impossible.

Crush

Do you remember your high school crush? I do. He was a year older than me. Every time I saw him in the hallway there was a chemical reaction in my body that made my heart race and I got that tingly feeling all over. I wonder if that only happens when you’re a teenager and your hormones are doing the 100m dash?  An actual physical reaction to the sight of a guy. Hmm…

Of course, being the shy nerd that I was, I never actually talked to him. There was a bit of excitement because he was on the soccer team and my brother was friends with him. He wasn’t a high-level friend of my brother, but I do remember him coming to the house once. I was presumably freaked out that he was in the basement with my bro.

He comes from a Mormon family, so there were six kids. One in my brother’s grade, the crush, one in my grade, then two girls, (one my sister’s age) and lastly, another boy. Somehow this friendship with my brother helped land the crush a job at a local TV store, delivering TVs. When I was sixteen and had my driver’s license, I would drive by RPTV and see if I could catch a glimpse of the crush. Now that I’m older, and wiser, I think that I was probably a stalker… Yes, I do learn from my mistakes as a wayward teen…

The funny thing is that I have my 20 year reunion coming up in August. My best friend from high school has stayed in touch with the crush’s brother. From what I had heard, the crush had gone to college, had a brief career with a professional soccer team and went to law school. The latest thing that my friend told me is that the crush was modeling for good ‘ol REI.

REI is one of my favorite stores. I’m a member. I have the REI visa. I get their mailings. So as I was looking through the latest ad that came in today’s mail, who should I see? The crush. He’s the one on the right. As all men, 20 years beyond high school, he’s filled out a bit, but it’s him. I’m not all tingly or anything. But it is kind of weird.