Teaching: Preparing for Summer School by 'collecting' the necessary materials and making my Grand Strategy for next year.
Home Improvement: Planning on Turtle Corral Action
Writing & Reading: Will make time to revise my little story.
TV & Movies: Catching up on Battlestar Galactica and Top Chef
Internet: been checking popurls to keep up with the digital world.
Animal Kingdom: Ada is behaving better and we need more walks.
Exercising: Worked out this afternoon with Coach S. Did 14 minutes on the elliptical before lifting & finished with 14 on the treadmill.

Done.

- This school year is officially done.
- I have a week off and then I'll work summer school thru June.
- Put my new in an story online workshop and got good feedback. I'll finish it up this week.
- I've cleaned up some of the 'den' and I've done a little to restablish the guest bedroom, after it spent some time as a reptile room.
- The girls (our dogs) have been behaving better and the reptile/amphibian contingent are doing quite well.
- Watched a couple of episodes of Top Chef, trying to catch up.
- I've had done about 7 workouts now. Used the elliptical for the first time, it's tougher than I expected. I did 12 cardio before & after & 2 sets of 8 exercises in between. Benched 165 - 2x12. A long way to go. Got Coach S. to go with me the last two times.
- Went to Allsteak in Cullman last night. Outstanding. Tobermory said it was one of the best meals she's ever had.

Non-Stop

Teaching:
Completed massive Reconstruction photocopying on Monday.
Completed organization and massive photocopying of 10th & 11th grade AP History summer assignments on Tuesday.
Began Exam Reviews.
Completed Exam Review on Wednesday.
Made out Reconstruction Test on Wednesday.
Checked Reconstruction Assignments on Thursday
Test on Reconstruction on Thursday
Began Exam construction on Friday.

Tuesday already.

Teaching: Grinding toward the end of Reconstruction and then our exam.
Car Improvement: Flat tire on the Sentra yesterday evening. Got a tire instead of breakfast and put it on at lunch. Massive improvement.
Writing: I've been fiddling with the end of my latest story and think I'm done. I'll start submitting it very soon.
Reading: I've been working through the Sci-Fi collection I picked up.
TV & Movies: Watched the first two episodes of Season Four of Battlestar Galactica over the weekend.
Exercising: Put off Sunday's workout 'til yesterday, and then the flat tire. Must work out. Update: Had a great workout - sore & exhausted.

Saturday Morning

Survived the next to last week of school.
Teaching: Finished the Civil War and gave a test.
Writing: Making time to type up my little Suburban Fantasy story today.
Animal Kingdom: Held our snake.
Exercising: Worked out Thursday - almost threw up, so I almost really worked out.

Monday 5/5

Teaching: Notes from Vicksburg to The Wilderness Campaign, with a great reading of the Gettysburg Address by Sam Waterston from Ken Burns Civil War
Home Improvement: Fixed the mower by removing the deck housings and repositioning the belt. Mowed the side & front up until dark.
Writing: I've started typing my short urban fantasy story, and will try to finish that in a bit.
Reading: finished up “In the House of the Seven Librarians” by Ellen Klages from The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year Volume 1 (Spring 2007).
TV & Movies: Over the weekend I re-watched the first 13 episodes of Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica with Clyde Squid. The show is relentless. It rips you apart every episode, makes you cringe and makes you want to save the human race from the Cylons, all at the same time.
Internet: Mostly Civil War stuff for my notes - some cool stuff on the Unionist unit - 1st Alabama Cavalry, U.S. Volunteers
Animal Kingdom: Turtles, frogs, chameleons, snakes, dogs, cats all living the high life.
Exercising: Completed my fourth workout, did two 7-minute rides on the exercise bike and one set of eight exercises for 10 reps, but I'm nearing limit on weight and will move to two sets and then up weight and go for periodization. 175x10 on bench - easily done. Getting very close to actually working out.

It's been a week

Worked out Tuesday and plan to today (Fri.)
Had a great date with Tobermory Wednesday.
Wrote a story yesterday. More on that later.

Exilarated

Lifted weights (one circuit, 10 exercises, 10 reps each, light weight) and rode the exercise bike a couple of miles this morning. Man, I love working out. Overcoming inertia is the key to anything new for me. We'll see if it lasts.

Workout predicted

Teaching: Made it through Chancellorsville in lecture. Won't be long now. Little Round Top & Pickett's Charge and then Ulysses. I spent Wednesday at the 2nd of a three-meeting "Seven Habits" seminar. It's good stuff, and really how we operate around here, but it's tough to not feel cynical at the earnestness of it all.
Home Improvement: My weed spraying in the front seems to of work, so I'll expand the eradication. Mowing today, weather permitting.
Reading: reading through a summary of Cigars, Whiskey, & Winning - basically "Grant on Leadership".
TV & Movies: Got in Top Chef and Last Restaurant Standing and little else this week. There is a bit of freedom in not watching regular shows on TV, and certainly the DVR lets one pick & choose, but I do feel like I'm missing out on things sometimes. I've got another episode of Battlestar saved.
Exercising: Finally took advantage of a gym membership available because of my job. Going to workout in a bit.
Dad's back at home and doing fine.

Teaching: Got all my classes nearly caught up - thru Bull Run and McClellan taking command + test grades, notebooks, and turning in our textbooks. Our librarian retired, so I could end chairing the school tech committee. Got a note from another school about teaching & coaching. AP essay assigned tomorrow. Got to put together notes, so not in the mood.
Home Improvement: Mowed the pasture today. Shined the bathroom Sunday.
Writing & Reading: worked on the Ancient Bridge campaign wiki with Paul.
Exercising: Dog Walks:Mile Friday, 1/2 mile Saturday, Mile & 1/2 Monday

Saturday

Dad's recovering from heart surgery.
Went to see him at the VA in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Had some legendary Cosmo's Pizza in Birmingham - not bad.
Went to the first day of 'Seven Habits' training on Thursday:
Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind.
The week at school was largely a waste, with so many activities, but we did have a test on Wednesday and watched the first episode of Ken Burn's Civil War.
I'm going back down to Birmingham with Paul today - Saturday.

Sunday Morning

- I'm doing my best to keep the house under control.
- At school, I gave notes all week: Trails West, Texas & the War with Mexico, James K. Polk, The Compromise of 1850, all the way through the 1850's to Lincoln's election & secession. Plus we watched the beginning of Ken Burns' Civil War. Gotta make ready with the test.
- Saturday went across the river with Tobermory. We delivered a snake present to Animal Trax. Met up with Paul & Ferlie, ate Chinese, visited the Booklegger (picked up a 1966 Scifi collection & the classic "The Worm Ouroboros"), & cruised the Barnes & Noble for Moleskine. Came home & watched Crazy for You, my school's spring musical.
- Today: the lawn tractor.

Late Tuesday

Teaching: Giving notes though powerpoint about westward expansion Mon & Tues. -sectionalism tomorrow.
Home Improvement: Sprayed half of the "Appian Way" along the front of the yard.
Writing & Reading: Summarized several more chapters of 38 fiction mistake
TV & Movies: Last Restaurant Standing and Top Chef
Internet: My Mallet friends have discovered Facebook so I've been touching base.
Animal Kingdom: Returned Cindy's Pixie frog - very active. There is a chameleon in our future.
Exercising: 1-mile dogwalk Monday & Tuesday.

The Wolf

You are the king of smooth -- enough said. Take the What Pulp Fiction Character Are You? quiz.

Lincoln, of course, said it best:

On a country run by Nativist Know-Nothings:
"When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy [sic]."
Abraham Lincoln - August 24, 1855 - Letter to Joshua Speed

Positive Atheism's Big List of Quotations by and about Abraham Lincoln

After a look at the weather radar

There's just swirling crap out there, with no rhyme or reason.

Back in the Saddle

- I fell off the blogging wagon for almost a week there. Must get back to work.
- Today, April 1, is our (Tobermory's and my) 22nd wedding anniversary. Seems like we've only been together a little while and like we've always been together.
- I've covered the reform movements of 1820-1850 in my classes. Test on thursday/friday. I've had a lot of days out of class for 'school activities' and it drives me insane: school pictures, registration, government day, clubs & 'bus evacuation practice' tomorrow, all during History classes. Better cover all my curriculum though!
- Saw the 3rd episode of Top Chef last Wednesday. I really enjoy the show. I guess the cooking seems to make it a cut above other reality for me.
- Played poker on friday - lost a couple of bucks. I was up, but bet some weak hands trying to push it, of course.
- Watched The Mist with Clyde Frog. I liked it quite a bit, I was a little disappointed with the ending. I understood that it had to be either ambiguous or dark, but I still prefer the heroic rather than tragic.
- Have made little progress on the house. I have kept back the doggy tide, however. We're babysitting a frog for a week. He's a little more lively than Tarquin.
- Tobermory got Horace & the girls (Thisbe & Ada) new beds and their pretty nice, I think I want one.
- Commented on a link at BoingBoing - I'd just had enough anti-fun.
- Links - The 101 most useful websites, Eos Books (Harper Collins SciFi), I'd offer you some, Hitchens unleashes on Hillary, The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource

A busy rest

Saturday evening and all is well.

Back in the Swing

Internet: Read a lot of stuff today
- David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal' puts him much more in the Libertarian camp
- A column about what Hitchens thinks about Eliot Spitzer - Hitchens on Spitzer's Lust: Why else do men run for higher office?
- Something we will see more of in Asia and Africa - Dictatorial Capitalism, based on China & Russia
- Arthur C. Clarke, RIP
and at Gizmodo this evening
- Graphene Chips,
- First Military Pilot Review of the F-35 Strike Fighter (Verdict: Kicks Ass)
- OLED - TV's immediate future
Writing & Reading: Picked out my favorites from the largely sappy, but useful, Life's Little Instruction Book as a start in reviewing my 'success literature'. The glue gave way and much of the book came loose from the binding. I won't spend much time thinking about what that might mean. Since then I've picked back up summarizing 38 Mistakes
TV & Movies: Nothing the last couple of days. Less and less as time goes on.
Music: I've wondered why so many people seemed to care if Amy Winehouse slowly fried her brains. So I got ahold of her album, which won her five Grammys btw, and as it turns out I really liked it. Sounds like a soul singer with a modern edge. She may have only one good album in her, and if she dries out she may not be any good anymore, but I certainly appreciate the effort expended and quality workmanship done in entertaining me.
Animal Kingdom: All is well.
Home Improvement: Working on maintaining an even strain with us both at work.
Teaching: My kids worked on maps comparing 1821 U.S. and 1861 U.S. on Monday and Tuesday my Honors worked on a book assignment on industrialization & my AP on slavery.
Exercising: A mile on Monday & two 1/2-mile dogwalks on Tuesday evening.

Saturday Night's Alright for a Zombie/Vampire Holocaust

- Took a trip to the Priceville Bookmark and The Booklegger used book stores on Saturday with Tobermory.

- Picked up Lyra's Oxford by Phillip Pullman and a little summary/book on Richard Dawson and The Selfish Gene.

- Clyde joined us and we watched I Am Legend. It was really good, except for a little fate/religion tacked onto the end.

- Letting everyone I know in on hulu, which has NBC & Fox Shows you can watch online, like the entirety of Firefly.