We've been discovering new adventures

Last weekend, we went to Lake Tobesofkee to check out the beach there. When we came in, we decided to go to the beach that was right next to the pavilion where our pre-wedding dinner was held last year. It was a nice, quiet time with a little bit of sun and shade under the trees. Jennifer wasn't too crazy about the muddy bottom in the water, but it sure was close to home.

This weekend, we decided to investigate the pool at High Falls State Park, which is about 30 miles north of Macon. The pool was big, and we didn't feel too crowded even with lots of people there. It was mostly cloudy, but there was a brief period of bright sun coming through. Keith wished we had some shade around the pool so we weren't always out in the sun, but he did enjoy seeing the waterfalls at the park after we were done in the pool.

While we were in Jackson, GA, we saw a water park on the way to High Falls. On our way home, we drove up to check it out. There's a pool and a couple of water slides, and the price is not bad at all.

Today, we got to see the Braves with free Home Depot tickets. The Marlins scored three runs before the first out. The Braves scored a run in the bottom of the first inning. With a losing score of 6-1 at the end of seven innings, we were convinced that the game was a loss. Then, the Braves found a way to score three runs in the eighth. Matt Diaz hit a 2-run homer in the ninth to tie it up. Then, Brian McCann got a long hit that the umpires had to review to decide if it was a homerun. When they saw the replay, they sent him around the bases with a walk-off homerun, and the Braves had come back from a 6-1 score to win the game 7-6. We talked about that drama most of the way home.

We're enjoying our water adventures and baseball, and we're looking forward to some more water next weekend at the river.

One week down

I've spent the past week learning what my life will be like until December.

First, the good news is that I'll be done with the semester before my birthday, and that's never happened before. Maybe I'll have a countdown on here to the last class of the semester. I'm already looking forward to it.

On Monday nights, I go to my Reading class at 5pm. The class is based on the assumption that students will be reading in every discipline and that they need to be taught how to read the texts that are specific to each course. Already, I know that when students struggle in math, it is usually with the directions on tests and quizzes or with word problems. If someone sets up the problems for them, then they can do the math. So, I'm hoping to learn how to teach them reading skills so they don't get in the way of doing the math.

On Tuesday nights, I go to my Technology class at 5pm. The class starts with the assumption that educating students is changing with the technological advances we are seeing in the 21st century, and teachers need to use what's available and already understood by students to make the learning environment more accessible and student-friendly. Some of our classes will be online (we won't have to go to campus). There's no book for this class, so it will all come from our teacher and the articles that she gives us to read.

On Wednesday nights, I have a class about special education, which also starts at 5pm. I like this teacher best so far. She started the class with a list of acronyms and asked us to write what they mean. I bet there were 30 items on the list, and I know that wasn't all of them. The class is the most traditional format with tests and two papers. So far, she hasn't even set up an online page for the class. We'll learn what the law is about students with special educational needs, and we'll see how those laws actually work in the classroom. Our teacher is part time at our school because she's a special ed teacher for kids during the day. I think her experience will keep the course very practical.

On Thursday nights, my class in about culture and diversity, and it starts at 5pm, too. We started by looking at pictures of several students and writing our predictions about their race and personality. Then we heard their self-descriptions and got to see how close we were to the real thing. I suppose we were supposed to learn not to judge a student by appearance.

All of my classes are done by 7:45, so I'm usually home by 8:00. Keith and I watch some baseball, I eat dinner, we talk about our day, and then it's time to get some sleep.

The last class I'm taking doesn't have much of a consistent meeting time, but it is already causing the most drama for all of the students. Since we're going to be teaching, we will be seeing "a day in the life" of several teachers this semester. We're going to local middle schools and high schools to see how they work. We'll be doing some lesson planning and teaching short lessons when our host teachers allow it, and we'll also see what students are like in the schools. I will be in schools on Mondays and Tuesdays each week from 7:45 to 3:45. The county I chose to do my Field Experience in is Monroe County, which is just north of us. When I rode my bike long distances last summer, I rode to the high school in Monroe County before I turned around and came home. The county is relatively small, so there aren't many schools there. My first placement is at a middle school (so I can see that first and decide if I like the age group in comparison to the high school kids I've worked with for the last seven years), and I'll be there for three weeks.

During the week, I stumbled upon information about a Ph.D. program for teachers at Mercer, and Keith and I are talking about whether that's a good next step for me.

So, let's all count down together....my last class appears to be on December 2. I know I'll learn a lot before then, but I hope I don't go crazy in the process!

Puzzle update

Two years ago today, we got engaged. We've come a long way since then, including lots of projects in our house. Keith has always wanted some kind of artwork on the wall, and now we have it--assembled by our own hands.

It's hard to get a good picture up close, but you can still see the puzzle pieces around the reflection of the flash.

Thanks to Ginger for her expertise and advice on how to glue the puzzle together and ideas about where to look for frames. Since it's hard to tell in the pictures, the frame is 27" x 40". Those 2000 pieces took us nearly two weeks to get together, and that's with Jennifer on summer break!

We love our new artwork, and we're already thinking about what will be next!

Some fun and two projects

Last weekend, I was "not in Kansas anymore." We went to see our first American League baseball game, and it was insane. We watched the Tampa Bay Rays play the New York Yankees (Alex Rodriguez was eligible for his 600th homerun that night, but it came later). The game was literally sold out, the fans were behaving like northern folks not like the polite southerners that we're used to, the teams were excellent, and the parking was outrageous but cheap for us. As we walked up to the stadium, we passed several outdoor bars where people were already celebrating (or something). Once we got to the stadium, we walked inside and saw what looked more like a basketball arena. I decided that the air conditioned dome would work for me any time. Since we didn't care so much who won the game, we could watch the great teams of the American League East battle for first place in their division. And, battle they did! So did the fans around us--with each other. We managed to stay out of most of the drama, but we sure did get our money's worth for our tickets since a sideshow came with the price! Before we left town on Sunday, we went to Clearwater Beach, which was excellent! That alone makes me want to go back. Since it's close, I think we might get to do it next year. Also before we left, we stopped at Target to look for a puzzle that we've been trying to find. It was there.

Our puzzle was inspired (okay, copied) from our friend, Ginger. She has a framed copy of DaVinci's "The Last Supper" on her wall, and we were really impressed with it each time we've been to her house. The 2000 pieces take up a ton of space, so we've allocated our dining room table plus a card table to the project. We've made a lot of progress, and we'll figure out how to hang it up in our house after we're done assembling it. The disintegration of the art is shown in the puzzle, so most of the features are speckled. That's making it tough for us so far, but we're having fun with it even if we do have to find other places in our house to eat!

Keith went to do some yard work for friends today, so I decided to tackle a drip in my bathtub. It's not too bad, but it's been there a while, and I had some time and energy to work on it today. I've replaced washers in bathtub faucets before, so I had an idea of what I was getting into. We didn't have replacement washers at our house (but we did have all the necessary tools), so I made a quick run to Lowe's. I always say that a successful repair project is one that takes only one trip to Lowe's. After I installed the new washer, I put all of the pieces back together, but the handle wasn't working. Turns out, prying it loose broke the ever so slight connection that allowed the handle to open the water flow. The connection should be better, but the parts are old and just finally wore out. So, back to Lowe's I go for a new handle. None of the modern handles fit right, so I got a universal fit model. The handle fit fine, but it would sink down into the flange like the old one had to. Now, I need new flanges, but nothing is short enough to work with our current parts. I'm ready to concede that we can replace all of the parts to get things that work together, and the salesman explains that it will be almost impossible to get something that will fit the plumbing in the wall of the house. We invented a solution that would work "until we get ready to remodel the entire bathroom," he said, but that solution turned out to be unsatisfactory for Keith and me. In the end, I visited three different stores for a total of five visits, and Keith got involved later in the day. Together, we fixed the situation to the point that we can live with it for a long while. I still don't know if I actually fixed the drip that started this whole thing, but I'll discover the answer to that question in due time.

Certainly our trip last weekend was much more fun than our ever-increasing plumbing issues this weekend!