I work as a substitute teacher in a local school district. I have been doing this for the last 4 school years and have found that I really enjoy it and seem to be good at it. Since January of this year, I have been doing mostly long term subbing which usually means filling in for a teacher or paraeducator on maternity leave.
A few days before the beginning of this school year I was contacted by my wife/s principal (My wife is a school pyschologist) who wanted to know if I would teach her schools art classes while they searched for a permanent art teacher. I had previously done two shorter stints subbing for the art teacher at that school and found that while it was a little out of my comfort zone it also landed firm in my sweet spot. Buoyed my my previous experience I quickly agreed.
My students range from kindergartners to 5th graders. II like tend to teach between 2 or 3different lessons to encompass all the age groups. The activities, and types of content will vary. With the younger students I like to supplement the activities with stories and songs. Jack Hartmann. a forever young 71 year old children's singer with unbridled makes some of my favorite videos for the pre-school to 2nd grade set. I'm currently starting my k-2 classes on warm and cool colors with this great Jack Hartmann video.
It's been quite a while since I've posted here. So I have set my timer for 15 minutes have put on Larry Norman radio from pandora on Alexa which is playing Rich Mullin's oddly enough. I am going to just type for 15 minutes and see if I can produce a short message.
As the school. year started this year, for about 3 weeks I was working 3 jobs. I have had a long term sub assignment as an art teacher at my favorite elementary school. I also had been working along with my wife and daughter at a minor league baseball park selling concessions. There was a section in the employee handbook that said I had to disclose to my supervisor if I wrote in a blog, but I think that was written 20 years ago when blogging was more common place. The problem was that my supervisors would change with almost every shift and the supervisors I did tell didn't know what a blog was. I also continue to work 2 nights a week at the movie theatre. I was very glad when the baseball season ended in early September and I could get back to the relative ease of working only 2 jobs.
The problem with getting back into blogging was 2 fold. The first our family has 3 birthdays in a 3 week period in September which kept us all on our toes. The 2nd is that once you get too busy to do something like blogging or reading which both came to an abrubt halt it's hard to get them back going again.
I lost 30 pounds this Summer. The trick will be not to find it again this winter. I am counting calories consistently for the first time in my life and it seems to be working okay for me. My wife and I are doing it together which is better than going it alone.
My timer just went off so I will continue this again hopefully soon with the opening sentence. I always told myself that when I got under 250 pounds I would start running again.
Right before the MLB playoffs began I wrote down my predictions for the playoffs and posted them here.
I picked the White Sox to win it all, which might seem the ultimate heart instead of head choice, but I 80% believed that the Sox could be the 2021 World Series Champs.
Of course, this was not meant to be. The Astros beat the White Sox in 4. It was a series of blowouts with Houston winning 3 of the blowouts and the Sox winning only game 3. The White Sox had their chances leading 3 0f the 4 games but the Astros led all 4 games and their hitting was relentless.
In my other ALDS prediction I correctly picked the Red Sox to beat the Tampa Bay Rays in their AL East rivalry. I also correctly picked the NL Wild Card (and 2020 reigning World Series champ) LA Dodgers over their NL west rival over the San Francisco Giants.
In the pick I felt less certain about I did pick the Brewers to beat the Braves in the other NLDS and I was quite wrong about that. (Fun fact: Both the Brewers and the Braves once called Milwaukee County Stadium their home. ) It's just as well as the Dodgers Braves NLCS match-up is a rematch of my the first baseball my game my Dad ever attended. This was back when the Dodgers played in Brooklyn and Jackie Robinson played for them and the Braves were playing in Milwaukee.
The Red Sox lost game 1 in the ALCS and the Dodgers Braves NLCS gets underway today, Now that the White Sox are out of the mix, I am not as invested in the results but I would not be surprised if any of these teams were to win the World Series this year.
I used to love to make mix tapes from my album c.d. and cassette collections. Often I would record an album spotlight where I would feature 4 or 5 songs from the same album and mix it in with other songs on a 45 minute cassette. I found I can basically do the same thing in a much shorter time on Spotify. I am also less limited by space so instead of choosing 45 minutes of songs I chose 20 songs.
The first album I decided to do this with is Peter Paul and Mary's award winning Children's album Peter Paul and Mommy. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this gem of an album in 1969 when it first came out. This is too bad, as I was 5 in 1969 and at the perfect age for many of the wonderful songs on this album I did eventually discover it when my own children were at the perfect age to listen to it.
The entire album has a singing around the campfire feeling. I guess it's not surprising that many of the songs I chose to accompany songs from the album were songs that I sang around the campfire over the years. Grandma's Feather Bed is a song that I learned over the campfire years before I ever heard Denver's rendition
On my album spotlight playlists, I like to feature songs by the artist or solo songs from the group that are not on the album. Noel Paul Stookey is the Paul of Peter, Paul and Mary and The Wedding Song was performed by my sisters at my and my wife's wedding, so it was a slam-dunk choice for the playlist.
I also like to include songs from the album's same genre on my playlist. Snuggle Puppy is a song from the book c.d. combo Philadelphia Chickens featuring the lyrics and artwork of Children's author Sandra Boynton. Like Peter Paul and Mommy this song (and the entire album) was a favorite of my kid's growing up. I could totally see doing an album spotlight in the future on this amazing project.
As both the NL Wild Card and AL Wild Card games are in the books time for my hopes and dreams for the rest of the playoffs. Predictions are too string of a word, but I will take credit for any of these picks that turn out right as I have the courage of my convictions to post them here.
National League
Dodgers vs Giants
I pick the Dodgers,
Brewers vs, Braves.
Ever since I lived 2 hours from Atlanta back when the Braves won their World Series in the last century I have been a pretty big Braves supporter from afar. That's not true exactly. I have loved the Braves ever since the days of hammering Hank Aaron who remains my favorite ball player who never wore a Chicago uniform. That being said I think the Brewers will beat the Braves in a close series.
Dodgers vs. Brewers
I am a little torn here and will explain my reasoning more when I get to my World Series pick but suffice it to say I'll pick the Dodgers.
American League
Rays vs. Red Sox.
The Rays were very impressive in a very impressive division. I think the Red Sox will find a way to skate past Tampa.
White Sox vs. Astros.
In a rematch of the 2005 World Series the former NL Astros play my beloved White Sox. I hope with all the hope I can muster that Houston will have a problem and the pale hose will prevail.
White Sox vs. Red Sox.
Let me boldly assert that the Sox will definitely win this match-up. The question is what color will these victorious Sox be adorned with, Again my hope is that the White Sox will prevail.
2021 World Series Pick
White Sox vs. Dodgers
If the White Sox do make it to the World Series my preference would be they play the Brewers. I live less than 2 hours from each ball park and would try to get tickets without breaking my bank account. However I love the symmetry of the White Sox beating the Astro's and the Red Sox as they did in 2005 and then avenging their last World Series defeat in 1959 by beating the reigning champion Dodgers.
It could happen and in October anything can happen, so why not that?!!!? Go Go White Sox!
Note: I Just remembered that Hank Aaron started and finished his playing days in Milwaukee. He started with the Braves, moved to Atlanta with them, and then finished his career with the Brew Crew.
