Q is for Quintessential Worker

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day. 

It's time for some  A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 2 posts behind.  The next letter is  Q so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

N was for Narnian

O was for Optimist

P was for Poet

Q is for Quintessential Worker

Quintessential: perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing

 Merriam Webster On-line Dictionary

Synonyms for quintessential: 

Classic, Exemplary, Definitive

It's been over 5 years since the co-vid shut down and some of the things that were common place back then are getting  a little fuzzy in our collective memories. Social distancing, the prevalence of  masks, one way lanes in supermarkets, daily co-vid updates, drive by graduation celebrations, zoom game nights lessened and some all but disappeared.  The necessity and celebration of essential workers has changed somewhat as well.  I was an essential worker for a year at the onset of co-vid.  Stocking grocery shelves overnight and glad for the work.

It was nice being an essential worker but I have always strived to be a quintessential worker. Colossians 3:23-24  says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." I have always tried to model that verse in my work life.

Work for me has always been more about meeting needs than having a career.  Some of those needs were the financial needs of me and my family.  Other of those needs were the needs of my customers.  There were also the needs of my employers and co-workers.  Each job I have had , and I've had lots of them has always had a component of ministry.  

I remember when I was making the transition between corporate customer service and education working a part time/ seasonal job at Amazon. A shift could easily  segue from more work than people to do it to more people than work to do. When the latter happened, I would always try to find some way to be useful.  One day I asked my manager for a reference.  He said to me "Dave, you work with a sense of urgency." I only worked that job four months and am in my 7th school year as a substitute teacher since then.  I have also worked several 2nd jobs and summer jobs in that time.  In each of these jobs I have reflected on my managers comment and continue to work with that sense of urgency.

Sometimes  that means  going out of my way at the movie theatre to make sure patrons enjoy their experience or  at school making sure a student doesn't miss his bus while he goes back to his room to get his backpack.  Sometimes it means making jokes to customers ,students or co-workers  just to brighten their day a little.  

I worked in customer and client relations at a mortgage company for about 10 years coinciding with the first 10 years of my marriage.  My checks were automatically deposited to my banking account, but this wasn't as prevalent as it is now.  Many employees received paper checks and all employees received an envelope every 2 weeks with at least the paystub if not a paycheck for the previous pay periods work.  Most every time my boss handed out our envelopes I would  remark, "This is great, I thought I was volunteering."

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that working is more than 401 K's, paid vacations and insurance benefits.  I'm glad I've been able to experience and benefit from those things. but it's also about being a positive influence, having a servant's attitude, and a team spirit.  

That's Q for Quintessential Worker.

click on the various words to get to the various places.

A to Z Challenge Home Page

A to Z Challenge Master List

Coming Up RITA and weep

K is for Kindergarten Clear

  My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day. 

It's time for some  A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 3 posts behind.  The next letter is  K so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreicator

J was for Jester

K is for Kindergarten Clear

Kindergarten clear is a phrase I made up a few weeks ago.  As soon as it left my mouth, I was pretty sure it would find a way to my blog, and here it is all the way to the A to Z challenge.  It's all I can do not to say, "You made it bill, now you're a law."

Before I tell you how the phrase originated, a little background.

For the past 2 years,  I had been a building sub at various schools in my district. This means that everyday I go to the same school each day and take the adventure Aslan gives me.  That is a Narnian way of saying I fill the most needed opening.  

About a month ago things got changed up a little.  I got accepted for a long term sub position that started right after Spring Break ended.  For the 3 weeks before that I hopped back and forth between 4 different schools.  On my third day of this I subbed for a Kindergarten class.  This particular class had 23 students and on this day none of them were absent.  

It was a good day, I enjoyed the students and they enjoyed me.  However if Kindergarten is something you keep score of, the Kindergartners probably won that day.  The real loser of the day was probably the room.  I tried to get it back in the order the teacher had left it, but there were just some things that I couldn't remember where they went.  

I was back in the building 2 days later as a 1 on 1 aide in a special needs classroom.  I actually did that same position 2 more times before Spring Break started.  On my lunch break I tried to pop in to see the kindergarten teacher and mainly apologize for not leaving the room neater.

When I walked in she had all 23 students sitting exactly like they are supposed to doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing.  She asked me what I needed very pleasantly and I told her I had just subbed for her.  You could tell that the students were beginning to notice me and some were starting to greet me.  Before they could, she just looked directly at me and very pleasantly said "this is not a good time."

I turned around and went and ate my lunch.  On the last day I was in the building, I was in the teacher's lounger and a number of teachers were talking.  I got into the conversation and realized that one of them was the kindergarten teacher.  At some point I apologized for leaving the room not exactly as she had left it.  She apologized to me about being rude , explaining she had only just then got all 23 kids in order.  

My reply, "I didn't think you were being rude. You were just being Kindergarten clear." Just like that, a phrase was born.

To me Kindergarten clear is when you are being direct, kind, caring and no nonsense at the same time.  When 15 kindergartners all try to help you use the smartboard at the same time this is a time to be kindergarten clear.  

A point sheet is a tool that they use in schools to help children who are having issues with behaviors.  In each class or section they are in they get points for positive behaviors.  They go over their point sheet with a teacher or other staff member at the end of each day and if they have earned a certain percentage of their points for the day and or the week they get a prize or reward.  

When I was subbing for a music teacher the  last 2 days before spring break I had a kindergartner on a point sheet.  He was trying to earn 1 point for listening to the teacher, another for being kind to other students, and a third for doing the work of the class.  He spent most of the class running on the risers that the teacher had left me a note that no students were to go on, and when he wasn't doing that he was saying awful things to other students.  I gave him only 1 point because the work of the class was singing and dancing along to videos which he was doing each time I redirected him from his other 2 activities.  

I tried to be kindergarten clear with him each time on the riser, and each time he was mean to other students.  At the end of class I explained to him how he had only earned 1 point and with all the kindergarten clear I could muster, I explained that I'd be back tomorrow and I was sure he could do better.  On Friday he came back and he got 2 of his 3 points.

Kindergarten clear is not just useful  for kindergartners.  I used it just today with a 2nd grader whose class I drop into 10 minutes a day and later take that student and a few others for 30 minutes at a time of extra work in math and reading.  When I walked in today the teacher was collecting the spelling test and he had only written 1 word on the paper.  I'm not sure if he was doing something else during the test or not, but the teacher was asking him to pull the page out of his workbook and he was refusing to do so.  

This was just my 8th day on this assignment but since I spend an hour and ten minutes with him a day we are getting to know each other pretty well. After seeing him refuse the teacher 3 times, I came up to him and asked him to take a walk with me.  We walked in the hall way to a bench by the office and I reexplained what his teacher had said, she wasn't mad at him, she just needed to collect the papers.  I asked him to write his name on his paper, which he did and I asked if I could rip out the page and he let me. As I did this I used my kindest voice while making it clear that when teachers ask for us to do something we need to do it right away.  We walked back in the classroom, he put his paper in the turn in bin and it was like the incident never happened.  

I think this might be a good time to quickly segue to this weeks prompts at the Writer's Workshop

Here are this week’s prompts: (I am answering the one in bold)

1.  Write a post based on the word genealogy. 
2.  Write a post in exactly eleven (11) lines (sentences). 
3.  Would you rather understand what everyone is thinking or see everyone’s future? 
4.  Start a post by pasting whatever you have on the clipboard and go on from there. 
5.  If you could have any person become a member of your family, who would you choose? Why? 
6.  If you were required to have a job of some type but you didn’t need the money from it to survive, what job would you choose?

I technically do not need the jobs I have to survive.  Therefore, I would say that I would choose the job I have now as a substitute teacher.  Not only does it give me a chance to be kindergarten clear.  But it is a job that I love and  also one that I do well.  It is a job that challenges me and also a job where I can challenge others.

For more Writers Workshop join John and company at The Sound of One Hand Typing.To see more A to Z challenge posts go to the master list. You can also go to the A to Z Challenge Blog.

Coming Up: A Trip to the Library

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where We Talk About Bruno

Team Saturdazzle time again and the last Team Saturdazzle post that won't be a A to Z Challenge post in disguise until the beginning of May. More about that later ...

I had a great week at work .  I was at 3 schools in advance of Spring Break and then a 6 week Long Term Assignment that will end out the school year fs or me.  Then the weekend began and I started having some 21st century problems that could have put a wrench on the beginning of Spring Break.  

Spent more time trying to resolve these issues  than I would want to and while they are no where near resolved they are in a nice holding pattern that will let me move on with my Spring Break with only a modicum of inconvenience.  

If that seems a  tad vague it is because the aforementioned problems are a tad Brunoesque in the we don't talk about Bruno sense of the word.  But as you can see by today's title we will talk about Bruno, so let's get to it shall we .  

As mentioned in my last post, I subbed the past 2 days in an elementary music classroom.  19 classess in 2 days!  It was amazing!  The students had choices as to what to watch on the smart board.  The most popular selection was Baby Yoda, but videos from Encanto were a close 2nd.  Pressure got played 3 or 4 times,  and we don't talk about Bruno at least twice that.  

     

I kept on meaning to ask the students what the hidden joke in We Don't Talk About Bruno is, but each time the video ended, between my ADHD and their eagerness to pick the next song, I never got to it. I'll have to settle for telling you now.  We don't talk about Bruno is a song dedicated to talking about Bruno!!  That joke may be a little too sophisticated for  the average audience of Encanto, but I love it!

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My 3 Anniversaries Part I

My wife and I were married on April 11th 1998.  In order to go on a honeymoon we scheduled the wedding for the Saturday after her school took off for Spring Break.  This was also the Saturday before Easter that year.  So since 27 years later she still works at a school, and Easter is still a thing, we actually have as many as 3 days a year that we can celebrate our wedding anniversary. Today was the first of those this year.

We went out for breakfast at a place we hadn't gone too before and had a really nice conversation.  We spent some of the day doing the Brunoesque things I didn't talk about earlier and then we went to a matinee of a play that a friend's daughter was directing.  We found out when we got there that a former home school co-op student of mine was also in the play.  This was the 2nd time in less than 4 years that we went to see someone else in a play and this young man was in it as well.

The name of the play is  Radium Girls and is very similar in nature to a play that my daughter acted in as a radio play during her Freshman year in high-school because of Co-vid restrictions and directed part of in her Senior One Act presentation last year.

Both plays tell the true stories of women from Orange , New Jersey and Ottawa Illinois who painted watch dials and died  of the exposure to the radium in the paint.  

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Well there's more I could say but it's 11:45 p.m. and I'm running out of Satur to dazzle you with so I'll call it a night!

Baby Yoda and The Music Sub

 Midweek Music Break

I said that I would try to get in one more midweek music break before the A - Z challenge starts next month.  This is not what I thought I'd be writing about but I'll have to get to those after the challenge.

Today I started my last regular sub-assignment for the school year.  The reason why is that I begin a long term assignment the Monday I get back from Spring Break that goes through the end of the year.  I popped into Amy's first school in the district today for a 2 day music teacher position.  Music classes on our elementary level are part of specials and the student gets 2 30 minute music classes each week.  Today I am teach 10 1/2 hour classes and tomorrow I teach 9.  At leaast 1/2 of each class the students were given a choice board.  which means that on the class smart board are 10-12 choices of short music videos.  Each class so far that has had a choice board has chosen this song as one of their selections:

All the grades K-5 love this song. I absolutely love this song but had forgotten all about it.  Once I heard it I knew what the Mid Week Music Break would  be. I have more students coming in in ten minutes so I should probably go.  

Equal Groups Multiplication Song | Repeated Addition Using Arrays

Not counting the charter school there are 27 schools in the district where I substitute teach. I have subbed in 26 of them. However in the past 11 quarters I have only subbed at 2 of them This is because In the last 9 quarters I have been a building sub, meaning I go to the same school each day and sub at whatever opening is available.

Prior to that I did long term subbing for a semester at one of the schools where I would eventually become a building sub.  This quarter is going to be different.  I am taking a long term position at the first school I ever did long term from when school starts  after Spring Break until the end of the year.

For the next few weeks I'm just going from school to school in the district and working in whatever building needs a sub that day.  My last building  was a middle school and I am going to be in elementary schools for the rest of the year.  In the few days I've been back in elementary I've been getting used to short educational videos that are so prevalent in elementary classrooms especially in the special ed classes that I prefer to work at. 

On Monday we showed this video to our students at the beginning of math.  I decided to share it here. 

 

It's not exactly School House Rock but I liked it.  

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where Captain Abearica goes to work.

Team Saturdazzle is in the house.  I had many ideas this week for our time together.  Some of them I discarded, others I forgot what they were, still others, I discarded , forgot about them, remembered them again, bit forgot that I had previously discarded them, and then discarded them again.  This one  happened organically but took about a week to culminate, so I'll share a little of the genesis. 

Monday or Tuesday of this week I found out that our school was having yet another pajama day.  I thought that I might participate this time.  There also had been some talk about a lot of snow coming into our are Wednesday and  some thoughts that the regular school day might be replaced by an  e-learning day.  The main difference between a weather related closure, or snow day and an e-learning day is that an e-learning day does not be made up and a snow day does.  On E-learning days teachers give assignments to students, the students check in with them over the course of the day and it counts as a day of instruction.  E-learning days had their beginnings during co-vid 19 and can be used for weather related closures and other times when meeting at the school is not possible.  I think for the most part teachers like these e-learning days but as a building sub at least in my district I do not because I don't work on those days and when I don't work, I don't get paid.  In a traditional snow day situation,, I also don't work and don't get paid, but when the school year is extended because of the closure I work and get paid making up for the day I missed.

It turns out that our school was not cancelled.  But there was still a lot of snow in the forecast for the majority of the day.  So, I wore sweat pants, a tye dye t-shirt and then put warm pajama bottoms  over the sweat pants and a thick robe on over the ensemble.  As I was leaving I decided to bring 

Captain Abearica, the Build-A-Bear Captain  America my daughter Lucy brought for me and that I've been using in various ways as a Sub since 2019. I figured what goes better with pajamas than a stuffed animal.

Pajama Day  came and went.  The 6th grade science classes that I subbed for that day that weren't too cool for school enjoyed his appearance.  On Thursday after school I decided to take advantage of the perk I have at the movie theatre where I work and watch the new Captain America movie for free.  My plan was to bring Captain Abearica  in as well, because family members also get in for free.   I remembered to bring him to work on Thursday but forgot to take him into the theatre.  

Thursday was the soft opening of the new film whose full title is Captain America Brave New World.  The hard opening was Friday, I was working and I figured the place was going to be a zoo.  I have a very logical mind, at least to me. I thought if the place is going to be a zoo, why not bring a bear, especially one who's dressed for the occasion? 

I talked to my manager, who thought it was a great idea and provided me a name tag for "Cap".

Captain Abearica AKA Steve Pawgers

The Captain was a big hit and some people even offered to buy him.  My manager is letting me bring him back for my shifts for the rest of the run of the film.  Who knows maybe he'll even let me dress up like this?

I'll probably have to wait until the next pajama day.

April Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2025 SIGN-UP March 24-April 5 a-to-zchallenge.com

The A to Z Challenge blog posted yesterday for the first time since May of last year. Besides introducing the above 2025 badge.  They posted the schedule for this years challenge: 

 

2025 #AtoZchallenge Schedule: 

 The THEME REVEAL (optional bonus hop) : March 9- 15 

 Official Challenge Sign-ups : March 24 to April 5 

 Reflections (optional bonus hop) : May 2-9 

 Road-trip (sign up to keep visiting others all year _ optional bonus) : Opens May 10

I'm not sure exactly what I might be doing for the challenge.  I've had 4 ideas and I like all of them, but unlike some of the past years I'm only going to do one of them this year

Even as a big fan of the challenge,   I still take umbrage with the way they schedule the reflection so early .  This year challenge ends on a Wednesday and you have all of Thursday to reflect on the challenge before Friday when the reflection  sign up begins.  That's not enough time to reflect!!!  Well that's my rant.  Remember if you are missing any umbrage, I took it.  

Now for a new Saturdazzle feature:

 Something I said on Facebook this week

My friend's BIL posted on FB this week that he found the Super Bowl game boring. I so did not! So I said this on FB this week:

I loved everything about this game. The Eagles delivered in every aspect of the game after being overlooked in all the talk about a 3peat. Not a KC hater nor an Eagle lover but this was a quality football game Jeff. I’m sorry you didn’t like it.

That's it for this week.  That's my Saturdazzle and I'm sticking to it.   

The Courage of My Convictions (The Story Behind The Wordless Wednesday)

 I've always liked a good turn of phrase.  I like reading them, I enjoy hearing them, and I like using them.  One such phrase is the courage of one's convictions.  You can replace one's with a multitude of pronouns, that is, after all, what pronouns do best. The phrase means having the fortitude to have your walk match your talk.  

A few years ago, I did a couple of turns of replacing the art teacher at my wife's school until they obtained a permanent replacement.  The first time was only for a few weeks, but when the new teacher moved out of state, I was the long-term art sub from August to the following January.  The first time I just taught the lessons that the elementary art team provided for me.  The second go-round I prepared my own lessons based on the suggested curriculum.  

I had been teaching primarily K through 5 at this course of my subbing and had noticed that most students coming into kindergarten loved art and were very confident in their abilities but by the time they were in upper elementary many students had taken to saying I'm bad at art.  I would tell my students that art was fun and that anybody could be good at art.  

The first two lessons I worked on with my 3rd through 5th graders involved drawing a shirt.  I used the exact same piece of paper for each assignment, a picture of a t-shirt with many compartments that could be filled in.  The first assignment was your typical first week of school, tell us about yourself, assignment.  The only difference was that people were drawing about themselves, putting different pictures that told the story of who they were in each compartment.

For the second assignment, I taught a lesson on different kinds of lines and then handed out the shirt template again.  The classes then spent time doing different samples of line drawings in pencil, and in a subsequent class, they filled in the line drawings with chalk pastels.

The courage of my convictions comes in because I'm not an artist. I believe that I was a good long-term elementary art sub. I'm creative, I have passion, and I love encouraging students. However, I am not talented at art.  If I was telling students that anyone could be good at art, I needed to buckle up and get some skin in the game.  So, once every two or three assignments,  I would do the project myself and show it to the kids.  

This picture is my shirt design from the second assignment.  I posted it here earlier this week on my Wordless Wednesday post.  

The Courage of my Convictions

For More Wordless Wednesday visit Comedy Plus

For the story behind the picture click here.

100th Post of the Year

 This is my 100th post of the year.  This marks the 8th year since this blogs inception in 2009, and the 4th consecutive year that I’ve published 100 or more post in a year. 

That is of course, it will be my 100th post of the year if and when I publish it. A few years ago  I wrote a post about having 100 posts in draft status. At the end of the post in the only comment, I had written that I had deleted all but 15 of the posts in draft status and hoped never to accumulate nearly as many post there again. 

Well it turns out that I have been accumulating posts in draft status again. I currently have 77 posts with that distinction. The majority of these are from 2023, but I do have 14 from this year. As part of my 100th post of the year celebration,I will now list each incompleted post of 2024 by title in Chronological order.

Double Library Day

Team Saturdazzle

(Untitled)

Milwaukee Brewers Catcher William Contreras bringing major league streak to begin season

Crystal Lake Library

(Untitled)

(Untitled)

Anniversary vs. Annual

A to Z 2024 Reflections

(Untitled)

What’s most wrong about the 2024 White Sox

The Newfangled Four - A Spoonful of Sugar (Parody)  [From Mary Poppins]

Former Chicago White Sox MVP , The late Dick Allen, elected to the Hall of Fame.

Not everybody needs a college degree (Writers Workshop)

That’s the 14. Some of these may see the light of day and most will be discarded. One of the drafts from last year  is scheduled to post tomorrow for the next edition of Wordless Wednesday. I also hope to share the story behind that picture in a subsequent post. 

Tomorrow’s post won’t be the last post of the year as I have a Michael Card Christmas Concert video scheduled to drop on 12/25. I’ll probably land somewhere between 103 and 107 2024 posts before the New Year and the whole race to 100 begins again.

The Protestants are here

The Protestants are here. 

 That's what my father-in-law would say when our family would come to visit. My father-in-law and my father, as I mentioned in my last post, were both the oldest of 7 children and were both raised Catholic. I was thinking of my F-I-L today . There is a student in my school with  his exact first and last name, and I was subbing in that student’s first period class today.  Their first name is Donnell so it's not exactly an every day name.

My wife's Dad was not only raised Catholic, but he also was a Benedictine Brother living in a monastery before he gave up his vows and married  my mother-in-law.   So when he called us Protestants,  this was a little more than the average layman's opinion. 

This opinion was true. We were in fact, Protestants.  We never referred to each other as such.  While it was true that both Amy and I had grown own of our Catholic beliefs and were attending a Bible church when we married, we simply referred to our selves as Christians. 

It was on this day in 1517 that a professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg by the name of Martin Luther is credited for changing the course of religious history and making a distinction between Protestants and Catholics.

What's A Catholic?

The first use of Catholic dates back to 110 A.D. It basically means universal.  Saying the Catholic Church in it's original meaning was talking about all Christians.  In AD. 380 Christianity became the state religion of the Roman empire.  In essence the Roman Catholic church just means the Christian church operating in Rome.  

What's a Protestant?

A Protestant is called this because historically  they protested against the teachings of the Catholic church.  These protests led to the Protestant reformation.  The reformation was meant to reform the Catholic church not to necessary split from it,

Martin Luther was one of the original reformers. He nailed 95 theses on the wall of the Wittenberg Door.  These theses were protesting Catholic practices like indulgences.

What's an indulgence?

In the medieval church, a system developed of how to earn your way out of purgatory into heaven.  It began as  a series of "good works" like fighting in the crusades and then devolved into a practice of purchasing indulgences from the church in order to get sins forgiven.  Lost in all these practices were the biblical teachings of Grace, Faith and Redemption.  One of the myriad reasons for this is that the truth of the Bible was not accessible at time to the masses.  The Protestant reformation  that followed changed 

Christianity back to its Biblical roots. 

What Separates Protestantism And Catholicism?

The Reformation highlighted 5 core beliefs that distinguished it from the Catholic church.  These are often referred to as the 5 Solas (Latin for Alone).

Sola Gratia  - Faith Alone 

Salvation is in no way deserved, cannot be earned and is entirely from God.

Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone

The Bible is God's authority on how we are to live.

Sola Christus - Christ Alone

The Bible teaches that salvation  comes from Jesus Christ.

Sola Fide - Faith Alone

Faith (not works) in Jesus Christ is the only way to Salvation

Soli Deo Gloria - Only God receives the glory

There is nothing special in us that allows us to be saved.

My Father In Law would often use the phrase Sola Scriptura but not in a positive sense.  He disagreed that scripture in itself was enough.  This is not only a typically Catholic belief but it is also present in all of us.  It is in our nature  to think more of ourselves and our traditions than actually exist.  The truth is that we as individuals and institution are always in need of Bible based reformation.  I hope today on Reformation Day and every day you endeavor to let God reform you into his image. The image of God who created, lived for, died for , and redeemed you.  It sometimes may seem tricky but it really is a treat. 

  

95 Reasons by First Call

A 12 Sentence Post (which is better than no post at all).

 It is Fall, and I am in my usual  decline of posting here at Leap of Dave. Lately, when I have posted,  I've just been putting out OPV (Other People's Videos) instead of mixing in my own content. It's not that I don't have things to write about, there are plenty of post ideas that I am wanting to get out there; it's not even about lack of time, it's more like I need a jump start to get this blog churning again.  So, for that much needed jump start, I went to my blog roll and saw that John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing  put out this week's Writing Workshop prompts. 

Along with trying to write this post using 12 sentences only, I will also use another of his prompts to tell you why I use Google Chrome.  I am not a Chrome snob by any means it is just something that I am used to, it doesn't try to invade my computer like Microsoft Edge does, and I never really got into Firefox. 

As a long term substitute teacher at a middle school my job is both varied and predictable.  For the past few days I've been subbing for 7th grade teachers.  Our 6th graders last year were a bit of a challenging bunch, and I have been glad to see that many of them have matured since last year.  Many, however, is not most, and the past few days while not difficult, have been eventful.  

Thanks again to John Holton, for helping me to have something to write about today.  I also appreciate John for reminding me that Weird Al Yankovic is turning 65 today, making him exactly 4 years and 11 months older than myself. 

Light Bulb Poem

Today was the last day of school and the only thing sadder than saying goodbye to my students for the Summer is saying the same thing to my computer.  Substitute teachers in my district need to borrow a computer each time they teach and return it at the end of the day,  Classroom teachers are able to keep their computers year round as long as they are employed by the district.  As a building sub, I am able to borrow a computer at the beginning of the year and not return it until the last day of the year. So today I had to say goodbye to my dear friend and I am back to borrowing computers from friends and libraries until the 24/25 school year gets under way. 

Before I returned the computer to the media center, I cleaned out any files I may have had put on there during the course of the year.  I came across a poem, I had written but forgotten all about.  I don't remember what my inspiration was. I think it may have stemmed (no pun intended) from one of the science classes I was subbing in.  Or it may have been am ELA assignment or maybe just a prompt form my poetry group.  In any case it was in a Microsoft document in a borrowed computer and is now a submission to Poetry Friday which is being hosted this week by Michelle Kogan.

 Growth Mindset

or

Standing on Our Failures

In cartoons,  when an unsolvable problem is about to need a new adjective, a light bulb goes on over the thinker’s head.   

 

When Thomas Alva Edison 

Or T. Alva Ed 

Was inventing the light bulb 

What went on over his head?

Idea after idea after idea 

More than 10,00 all told 

Which he did not view as failures 

But as steps to the goal. 

With each setback I think 

I would have felt like a jerk 

But Tom discovered 

ways that his bulb wouldn’t work 

Inspiration is a light 

Perspiration is when we fight 

To perfect our ideas 

Until we GET THEM RIGHT. 

Now when I have a bright idea. 

And the light bulb shines 

I stand on other's failures 

And a whole lot of mine.

To get back to Poetry Friday click here.

A to Z 2024 Holiday Reflection

 This is my 2nd of two reflections for the A to Z 2024 challenge,  This will include some thoughts feelings and concerns in no particular order from my foray into all things Holidays.  If you would like to see my first reflection which focused on the playlist I amassed from my songs of the day during the challenge click here. 

My Theme for the 2023 A to Z challenge was Holidays.  The idea behind it started to germinate  when I worked at Chase in their Business Fraud department.  Each day we my manager would start a chat for all of us working on that day.  Each day she would title the chat with a different holiday that was taking place that day.  She would choose the Holiday from a list she would find on the internet for that day.  I don't remember exactly which one she queued them from, but it was similar to what you would find on National Day Calendar.

Instead of making an alphabetized list of such holidays, I wanted to actually choose holidays occurring on the day the letter was posting. From the start this proved to be problematic.  National Autism Awareness Day is April 2nd and autism starts with an A. but April 2nd we featured the 2nd letter of the Alphabet, which is a B.  Some worked out just fine, like April 4th was the first day of the United Kingdom's Discover National Parks Fortnight.  May need just a little tweaking.  Wednesday, April 3rd which is National Film Score Day matched with the letter C, by being described as Cinematic Compositions. 

When I get a idea for a theme , I often add to it a few wrinkles.  One wrinkle I added was immediately confusing. I decided to not only write about actual made-up holidays, but to also make up 5 of my own.  I chose 5 because there are that many vowels in my native tongue.  I say immediately confusing because A, the first letter of the alphabet is a vowel, so I made up a holiday, Adult Children Appreciation Day, on the first day of the challenge. It wasn't until the next day that I started chronicling actual holidays like Children's Picture Book Day which I introduced as B is for Books for Children.  

Even though I explained the entire concept each day with the same exact disclaimer:

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. 

I still think that doing something different with the vowels was confusing and I don't think I'll attempt that again.  I did, however like making up holidays.  For Adult Children Appreciation Day I wrote each of my 3 children aged 18 to 24, a letter appreciating, encouraging, and advising them. I plan to do the same the next time Adult Children Appreciation Day Rolls around which will be on April 21st , 2025 (As you know, Adult Children Appreciation Day is always the Monday after Easter). Besides Adult Children Appreciation Day, I also created 4 other Holidays

E was for Wedding Planner Black Friday

I was for Indicted Illinois Governors Day

O was for One More Time and You get a Parade Day

U was for Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day

Speaking of Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day,  I tried to mix up my presentations here and there this challenge.  This blog used to be 4 different blogs, 2 general interest blogs, 1 vlog, and 1 sports blog.  During the challenge I tried to bring in features from some of these blogs to my daily posts.  The U post was presented in vlog fashion as a You Tube video of me presenting the day in question.  On my M day I posted about National Micro-volunteering Day, but I did so in Frequently Asked Question Format which  is a format I have used multiple times before in my blogs. I even had two holidays regarding sports for S and T.  

I  completed the challenge this year.  What I try to do is predate my entry so it drops at the time that reflects that day's date.  For example my A post dropped at 4:01 A.M. on April 1st.  Some days I had to manually post later that day.  On one occasion I posted minutes before midnight.  I was never late and I was never early each post dropped on the correct day.  

I didn't drop in on every blog but I did visit quite a few,  I received 90 comments on my blog in April and I feel like I may have left that may comments myself.  Next year I'll try to keep track. I discovered 3 new blogs during the challenge that I have been following, they are Hot Dogs and Marmalade, The Versesmith,  and Backsies is What There is not. I am giving them all a try out on one of my blogrolls along with the The Curry Apple Orchard, which was my favorite blog to follow during the challenge.  Now that the challenge is over I hope to pore through every reflection and discover some more blogs worth following,

Before I put this reflection to bed, and me with it, I have a couple of final thoughts.

• The end of the school year is fast upon us, and the middle school where I am a building sub, is basing their end of the year countdown with theme days from the holiday of that day.  What a fantastic idea, I wish I had done something like that for the challenge.  Oh wait, I did!
• In my Theme Reveal this year, I mentioned how my theme for 2024 was supposed to be Chronicles of Narnia related.  My plan is to reread all the books this year, as I do most every year but did not do in 2023, and have that be my 2025 A to Z theme.  

The next stop for me is to register for the A to Z Road Trip,  I also am going to make an index page at the top of this blog for the 2024 challenge.  Until then I'll try ti go back to my 6 to 10  times monthly blogging pattern.  For more A to Z Reflections click here.  

Wordless Wednesday: Tourist Selfies Taken At My School

 

Okay This won't be totally Wordless.  Monday was a theme day at our school.  Dress Like Your on Vacation,  So I did  You know what you do when your on Vacation?  You Take selfies!!!

For More Wordless Wednesday Stop By at Comedy Plus. 

A to Z 2024: One More Time and You Get a Parade Day

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together. 

The third Wednesday of April is One More Time and you Get a Parade Day.  

As today's letter is a vowel, it is another opportunity for me to make up a new holiday.  Many holidays come with traditions, games, or events that go along with them.  Easter egg hunts, for example are believed to have originated in Germany in the 16th century.  The first Turkey Trot (a race taking place the morning of Thanksgiving) took place in Buffalo New York in the late 19th century.  One More Time and you Get a Parade Day may be the first holiday that was started to celebrate a tradition rather than the other way around .

My wife and I have been playing a game I invented around the time we got engaged called "What A Thing to Say". It started as a game to play when we were in a social setting that required a lot of mingling.  I believe the original occurrence was at my Grandfather's wake.  I gave my fiancé  a thing to say, I believe it may have been The Almighty Dollar.  Over the course of the event she had to work in the phrase into ordinary conversation 3 different times with 3 different groups of people.  

Some of the original "what a things to say" besides the almighty dollar were, The Stevenson Expressway (A Chicago road), People don't floss like they used, to, and one of my favorites, I don't like blank (whatever person , place or thing just mentioned) they supported the war movement.  

It's a totally random game that when played well is oblivious to all but the player, and when played poorly is a staple of group conversation for a very long time.  

"What does this have to do with parades?" you might ask. A few weeks ago I was subbing in one of my favorite classes.  It was the class in fact, that I had been a long term sub in for the 1st semester of the 2022/2023 school year.  I have a great deal of familiarity with these students and they have a great deal of familiarity with me.  The class is comprised of 6th graders and 7th graders  and one of the 6th graders tends to sneeze 5 or 6 times in a row on a frequent basis. On this particular day, after the 3rd or 4th sneeze I responded with the quip, one more time and you get a parade.

I'm not sure how that phrase came to me.  True, I just made it up,  but, I was definitely thinking something along the line of when you do something multiple times you get a prize.  I don't think I was remembering the below  scene from A Few Good men, it is in my collective unconscious . 

 

One way to  celebrate One More Time and You get a parade day is by playing a version of What a Thing to say with your friends, family, classmates or co-workers.  This could be done virtually or in person.  Each person writes one phrase down and then they are distributed.  Then each person has to use that phrase in a conversatToday'ion throughout the day.  Another way is to try to make up your own expression and use it in the course of the day.  

April is a month that starts with foolishness, but One More Time and You get a Parade say insures that foolishness doesn't end on the first.

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Today's Song is Off Again On Again Love By Allen Levi

I generally put a video on of the song, but as far as I know there are no videos of this song, so here is a link to it on Spotify.    

With this song, my playlist is now up to 15 songs.

It is already 9:15 P.M. in Chicago and this is the latest that I've posted in the challenge so far this year.  I now must go, and work on tomorrow's.  When I finish this one, I might not get a parade, but I will be caught up. That is certainly something to turn a phrase about.

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: N is for National Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together. 

April 16th is National Wear Your Pajamas To Work

National Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day was started 10 years ago by PajamaGram.  It is held on April 16th each year to coincide with Tax Day being April 15th.  The idea was to make April 16th a more casual relaxing day for those who may have been up late the night before finishing their taxes.  

Pajama days are very popular at schools.  When there is a spirit week at one of our schools or the alphabet countdown that happens at the end of the year.  There is usually a pajama day.  Before I was a building sub and would go to different schools each day, I would often sub when there was a pajama day, but I wouldn't usually be aware of it until I got to school day.  When I started doing long term subbing, I would get a little more heads up about the coming events.  Maybe for Christmas this year I will ask for Captain America pajamas and then the next pajama day I can bring my Captain America Build-A-Bear AKA Captain Abearica AKA Steve Pawgers to school as well.  

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Song of the Day is Nothing But The Wind by Pierce Pettis

I would like to clarify that when I say that the song is by a certain artist, all I mean is that that artist performs that song on the Spotify playlist.  In the above video, Pettis correctly attrributes the song to the late great Mark Heard.  Speaking of the Spotify mix tape, here it is so far...

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A to Z 2024: M is for Microvolunteering

For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together. 

April 15th is International Micro-volunteering day 

I think the best way to talk about this day is to use FAQ format.  I used to do this quite a bit in the early days of my blog.  The last time I did so was  here back in 2012 when I was blogging about the A t0 Z challenge. .

The FAQS of Life: Micro-volunteering  in Frequently Asked Question Format

Q: Do you know what today is?

A: Yes. 

Q: Are you going to tell me?

A. Perhaps if you asked me, rather than  asked me if I knew.

Q: What is today?

A: It's International Micro-volunteering Day.

Q: Is Micro-volunteering a thing?

A:It must be, if it wasn't, it wouldn't have a holiday.  

Q: When did it become a thing?

A: it's been a thing for almost 20 years.  The term  was first used in the U.K. In 2006 and had migrated to Spain by 2008.

Q: What is Micro-volunteering?

A:This answer is from ot's Days of The Year Page, The idea of micro-volunteering is simple: individuals take convenient, bite-sized actions in support of a good cause and often perform their activities or service from home. 

Q:  How did the day start?

A: Well the day started a minute after 11:59 p.m.   Some people were fast asleep, some were well on their way, others were working 3rd shift jobs, still others, ...

Q: When did International Micro-volunteering Day start.

A:  10 years ago it began when the day was created and promoted by the Help from Home Foundation.

Q: Como se dice International Micro Volunteering Day en Espanol?

A: Día Internacional del Microvoluntariado.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for micro-volunteering?

A: Yes

Q: Are we back to that joke again?

A: Yes

Q: What suggestions do you have for micro-volunteering?

A: I thought you'd never ask. One suggestion is to volunteer doing task that you already know how to do, so there is little to no training involved.  Another is to keep your activities to things that can be done in thirty minute to 2 hour chunks. One examples are to volunteer to read at a school, or day care center, or nursing home.  When my daughter was homeschooled, she would volunteer on a weekly basis for about an hour and a half a week, working at the P.B.I.S (Personal Behavior Incentive System) store at my wife's school.  Children would earn a kind of currency for following the code of the school and then would be able to trade that currency in for prizes.  As a full time substitute teacher, I would imagine there are boundless opportunities for micro-volunteering?

Q: What are some suggestions that could be done from home?

A: My daughters both crochet.  One is in a crochet club.  Some members of her club crochet hats at home  for premature  babies or people having chemo.  People can have baking parties on the holidays and find organizations to donate their creations to.  

 

Q: Do you know why IMVD (International Micro-Volunteering Day) is on April 15th.

A: No, but it is the same day as Tax day here in the U.S. and if I were choosing the day, I would choose April 15th because micro-volunteering is not meant to be taxing.

Q: Did you think of that yourself?

A: Yes, Yes I did. And before you ask yes, that is a Phineas and Ferb referemce.

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I didn't plan this, of course,  but today's song of the day is a frequently asked question of sorts.  The Song is Man or Muppet from The Muppets (2011)

 

M is the 13th letter of the alphabet so my spotify playlist is now half full

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Today was a lot of fun, no question about it.  Micro-volunteering can be fun as well.  In the comments tell me some things that you already know how to do, that might be great as a micro-volunteering opportunity. 

To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

A tp Z: 2024 L is for Last Weekend of Cherry Blossom Festival

For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge.  At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter.  At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify.  Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together. 

Lucy, Amy & Kermit
Smithsonian Museum 2010

April 13th 2024 is the last Saturday of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C.

The past few days at school  there has been growing excitement for the 8th grade field trip to Washington D.C. which is coming up soon.  My Nephew was over yesterday and he is also is super excited about his 8th grade field trip to Washington D.C. So, when trying to decide between all the April 13th holidays and events I chose an event and a birthday related to D.C. 




The Nationals Cherry Blossom Festival  commemorates the gift of Japanese Cherry Trees in 1912 from the Mayor of Tokyo City to the city of Washington D.C.

Washington Monument with Cherry blossoms in the foreground.

Thomas Jefferson was born April 13,1743

The Jefferson Memorial 2010

Charlie and C3P0 at the Smithsonian

L is also for Lincoln

 

These pictures were take on our family trip to Washington D.C. 2010

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Song of the day: Let's Get Married by The Proclaimers 

2 weeks into the challenge and we are up to 12 songs on the playlist

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!

Obligatory Eclipse Post

There was an eclipse earlier this week, maybe you heard of it. My school was able to watch it and we hit 94% totality in Algonquin, Illinois. My Son Charlie went to Sycamore, Ohio which was in 100% totality for a cubing event. They provided glasses for all their participants and took a break from the competition to experience the eclipse. 

He just came home yesterday from the event and we haven't had a lot of time to talk about it yet.  I was able to find some footage on  You Tube, maybe you've heard of it (I know I just made that joke in paragraph one), of the Eclipse as it appeared in Sycamore on Monday. 

 

Time Lapse of Eclipse

Eclipse in real time.