Day 180 - Out of Office Part 2

Today was the building leadership team's second release day to work on the junior high to middle school transition process.  Our two VP's hightailed it out of there within the first hour which I found perplexing because we are quite a fun group.  We were bummed that we missed a fire alarm at school today. We did accomplish our mission and the following are just some of the highlights of our day.

The tangle of netbooks and laptops in use all day long

Time to order lunch. . .

Bethany provides guidance to our fearless leader while bouncing on the mini-trampoline

Snacks!

Seriously people, we DID work. . .it was not all fun and games.

Day 180 - Aurora Borealis

I know what you're thinking. . .where's all the cool colors?  You were expecting more and I don't blame you.  I am obsessed with the northern lights and have seen them a number of times in my life.  My dream is to stay in a hotel in Alaska where they wake you up when the lights are out.  The best ones I've ever seen were in northern Maine on a dark highway.  They were lime green and lit up the whole sky.  I pulled into the breakdown lane just to watch them for awhile.  But I digress.  As I was getting ready to head to bed last night I looked out the back door and the sky and clouds looked weird.  Something just didn't look right.  I finally realized that what looked like a layer of really low clouds way over on the horizon was moving and had subtle colors.  It was REALLY hard to get a decent picture without hauling out the tripod.  I debated about hopping into the car and heading over to the Snohomish River where I stood a better chance of getting a decent shot.  It was already after midnight and I was in my pajamas so you'll just have to accept the best that I could get.

Day 179 - Unplanned Return Trip AND It's Snowing AGAIN

This morning as I prepared to start grading papers, I was unable to locate two answer keys.  After searching through every stack (two times) it became abundantly clear that they were still sitting in my classroom.  Didn't really want to make the trip but the alternative (falling further behind) seemed worse so I opted to go.  It had been snowing off and on all morning at my house and I decided to make the most of my drive by bringing the camera along.  The Sammamish Plateau has changed dramatically during my tenure at IJH. Years ago, there was a llama farm at the location pictured below. . .back before they built three new housing developments.  At least they had the presence of mind to leave the pond.

Once I returned home, the snowfall picked up.  I just went outside and it's coming down in earnest.  As I was sliding on my own street, I could hear the sound of spinning tires as somebody was trying to make it up the hill over on the next block.

2-26-11 at 8:00 pm

Day 178 - Back to the Salt Mines

I returned to work today after having a 6 day mid-winter break (I took an additional annual leave day), 1 day of working outside the building with colleagues, and 2 more snow days. Everyone agreed it was pretty exhausting; kids were a bit unruly, we were crabby and everybody was hoping for a late start.  The picture is at the entrance to my school at approximately 6:25 am. Notice how little snow there is. . .probably could have had school yesterday. On the bright side, just look at how light that morning sky is!

looking east at the entrance to Inglewood Junior High on 2/25/11 at 6:25 am

Day 177 - Photo Trip Through Snow Day 2

School was cancelled for the second day in a row and while the title says "Snow Day 2", in reality, this is the 4th snow day this school year.  As I indicated yesterday, our last day of school is getting perilously close to July. What follows is a glimpse of my day.

snow NEVER prevents trash pickup in Everett

that special light and sparkly snow you rarely see here

a daylily I intended to plant in the fall. . .

icicles everywhere reminded me of my New England roots

a terrific snowman outside the Everett Public Library

here's what I SHOULD have been doing. . .

but here's what I WAS doing

 plan was to check this off the list of Oscar nominated movies but. . .

It is now about 9:30 pm which means I should probably go to bed.  After all, tomorrow is supposed to be a work day.  That is, of course, if it doesn't snow.

Day 176 - Snow Day

Most school districts in the Puget Sound area cancelled classes today because of an "impending" snowstorm.  Lots of places didn't see any snow at all until about 6 PM.  In my neck of the woods, it snowed yesterday, again this morning and off and on all day.  It's snowing again now but I doubt we will have another day off tomorrow.  I got lots of things done around the house and managed to avoid grading all day.  I'll have plenty of time for grading because we'll be in school until July at this rate.

Day 175 - Out of the Office

Today I spent the day working with nine colleagues at the home of our principal.  We had two items on the agenda:  1) to hammer out a new decision-making model and 2) to create some potential academic models for Inglewood Junior High soon to be Inglewood Middle School.  The transition from 7-9 to 6-8 will occur in the fall of 2012 and it's making lots of people nervous.  We got quite a bit done but there's plenty more to do.  The exciting moment of the day - three deer casually sauntering through the back yard.

Day 174 - Raptor Love

Whenever I am driving, riding in a car or walking my eyes are always searching the surroundings for raptors.  The weather was so beautiful this weekend that I headed out across the valley towards Snohomish to see if I might spy some birds.  I lucked out when this beautiful immature red-tailed hawk stayed put as I pulled over and took a few shots.

Day 173 - Lazy Sunday

These are my three lazy, good for nothing cats.  This is how they spend a great deal of their time.  The least they could do is run the vacuum every once in a while or clean the litterbox.

Finnegan

Skye

Brigid (Skye's mother)

Day 172 - Matinee Grrls

I guess this could qualify as either a Saturday or Sunday post as Saturday evening lingered on into Sunday morning.  The Matinee Grrls are three of my dearest friends - three women I met when we all worked together at KING TV back in the late 80's and early 90's.  It all started one weekend afternoon when we got together for a matinee showing of Singles.  A special bond was formed over the next several years as we continued to attend matinees.  I don't remember who came up with our catchy moniker, The Matinee Grrls, but it has remained to this day.  Tracey and Nancy still live in Seattle but our friend Karin moved to LA and we really miss her.  Our lives have become so busy that we barely get together 4-5 times a year.  Last night we had a great relaxing evening.  Tracey hosted, I brought quiche, Nancy brought salad and the wine flowed freely as we watched Social Network and got "caught up".

With the quiche and salad gone, we brought out more wine and chocolate. . .

Day 171 - Spring Cleaning: Part I

I like to think that there are people out there with garages that look like mine. Something happens at the end of summer.  We start throwing things in there haphazardly and three or four months later, a person can barely move around let alone park the car in there.  I knew it would be a 2-3 day project but I'm pleased to have made some serious progress today.

Garage Before

Garage After Phase I Cleaning

Day 170 - New Glasses

I'm pretty good about getting my eyes checked but always somewhat lazy about ordering new glasses. Don't know why because we have awesome vision insurance and I love the place where I get my classes (Davis Optical). Truth is, I didn't need glasses until my mid-forties and, even then, only for reading.  My prescription never changes much so I tend to keep my old ones as backups. Consequently, I have three old pairs that are still functional and one new pair. After Silhouettes and two pairs of Kate Spades, my new frames are from Jones of New York.  I was a bit hesitant at first as I felt like I was borrowing Sophia Loren's glasses but I kinda like them.  What do you think?

Left to right: Fav Kate Spade model, last least fav Kate Spade, old reliable Silhouettes

New JNY

Day 169 - Is It Spring Yet?

This has been a pretty cold, rainy and, at times, snowy winter. Recently, while working in the yard, I spied quite a few changes that gave me hope.  Many of my plants have buds swelling, some are getting ready to pop open and others are already in bloom.  I don't know about anybody else but I am so ready for spring.

Stewartia tree
S. pseudocamellia

American cranberry
Viburnum trilobum Alfredo

Flowering Currant
Ribes sanguineum "White Icicle"

Bearded Irises

Hellebore
Helleborus x hybridus "Heronswood White"

Day 168 - Procrastination Panic Mode

My students had their first formal lab report due this evening so I thought I'd better check my school email late this afternoon.  First, a bit of history.  We have been working on this thing since January 31st.  We have had tons of time in class using our new netbooks and new probeware that basically creates the graph for them.  We drafted and peer edited then redrafted and self-edited.  Despite all this guidance, as the deadline approached for the final submission to turnitin.com (an online grading/plagiarism check website) the panic ensued.  While they are always polite (notice all the "thanks"), these are just a few of the student emails I fielded as the evening wore on and the deadline got closer and closer. . .

Day 167 - Story of My Life

As I approached the SR522 exit off I-405, my fuel light came on.  At that point, I was only about halfway home which meant I still had about 15 miles to go.  Don't know if it was my imagination, but the light appeared to glow brighter and brighter as more time/miles passed.  Pretty sure I was running on fumes by the time I made it to Everett and pulled into the gas station.

Day 166 - Backyard Predator

As I was having my morning coffee, I overheard a bird screeching and ran out on the back deck only to see this hawk flying up from the driveway and landing on the back fence.  After comparing tons of pictures and sound bites, I believe it is a sharp-shinned hawk.  Thought it was a merlin at first but I believe the tail is too long and the coloring is not quite right.  The bird sat there for the longest time and I noticed his/her feathers were somewhat disturbed.  Just then, Skye jumped up from the driveway onto the fence and I began to wonder if she had tried to take a songbird from the hawk or if she had indeed attacked the hawk.  I found no evidence of a dead songbird and as I have noted before, Skye seems fearless, I suspect she may have tried to grab this hawk.  One of these days she's going to use up her nine lives.

Day 165 - Windstorm Interruptus

Today my friend Paul and I headed to Alderwood to see True Grit.  About 30 minutes into the movie, the power went out.  After about 10 minutes, we were handed movie passes and told we had to leave the building.  The man said the passes never expire but I'm pretty sure that's an expiration date of 1/27/11 (past history) in left hand corner. Wonder how this is going to work.

Since we were planning to grab something to eat later, we decided to do that. Unfortunately all power in and around the mall area in Lynnwood was out.  With no traffic lights and everyone evacuating the mall, it took us about 45 minutes just to get out of the parking lot.

We headed to Applebees and enjoyed some adult beverages and a great early dinner of shrimp and salmon.

Day 164 - Seattle Symphony

I enjoy the symphony anytime I attend but when you get an awesome deal like the one my friend Holly and I got from Living Social, it seems scandalous.  We purchased tickets at 50% off to a series of new concerts called "Rush Hour". They start early and end early because there is no intermission.  They also serve up small plates and cocktails at great prices.  Tonight we listened to Ravel (admittedly, not some of my favorites from this composer) and Brahms 4th Symphony.  We shared plate of wonderful hummus and pita bread while sipping some Yakima white.  A great way to end a hectic week.

The view from our orchestra level seats which only cost us $13.00!

Day 163 - Gull Gangs

Funny how you tend to see gulls in store and restaurant parking lots more often than you see them on the beach.  These opportunistic birds are always on the lookout for a free meal.  One typically finds them hanging around in gangs, ostracizing or beating up on some bird who is just trying to fit in.  On this afternoon, the crows were letting them know they were not welcome but these guys could have cared less.  Apparently, the K-Mart/McDonald's parking lot is now Gull Gang territory.

Day 161 - Thrift Store Finds

Browsing through thrift stores is one my favorite pastimes because you never know what you might find.  While I have my favorite spots, I often pull into any store I come across just to check them out.  These are some of the best deals of the past several months.  The silver items came from a St. Vinny's in Kenmore - it was my first time there.  The pottery was purchased at the Goodwill in downtown Everett.

Sterling silver celtic cross with sophisticated safety clasp - $12.99

I've wanted one of those kitchen composters but $30.00 for some ugly little stainless steel garbage can didn't seem right. I found this great pottery jar for less than $5.00 at Goodwill.

This silverplate tray (Rogers silver, not a cheap import from China) was very tarnished but it cleaned up nicely. - $2.99