The Marilyn Monroe Flying Experience

So I got up at the ungodly hour of 2:45 am (after maybe 2 hours of sleep) to trek on out to the Denver International Airport. I checked my luggage, printed my boarding pass and headed to security where I was rudely "puffered". They have these new GE machines you walk into, the door closes and air blows at you from all directions - and I do mean ALL directions. The machine reads the air quality (presumably for explosives, etc) and after 20 seconds or so it sends you on your way.

So ladies, you REALLY might want to think twice about wearing a skirt while flying in the future... I'm a blue-jean girl all the way, though I did have to hold down my shirt.

*chuckle*

Ah... technology.

Anywho... Running on almost no sleep for about two weeks now. Can't really recommend that. I love sleep. Sleep is my friend.

At least Denver International Airport has FREE wi-fi. Woot!

I did want to mention the wildlife I've seen:
*Deer
*Elk
*Bunny
*Rocky Mountain Goat
*Big Horn Sheep
*Loads of Mocking Birds
*Fox

Interesting story about the fox... When I was in Greeley my hotel was right next to this little pond. I was about to enter my hotel at around 9pm when I heard this horrible screeching/caterwauling sound. I looked around and across the street I saw a fox cowering from a domestic cat. I don't know who the sound came from, but the cat proceeded to hiss and spit and claw at the fox, who promptly backed off a few feet. He then stopped, looked back at the still hissing cat as if to determine if it was really worth it. The cat continued to hiss and spit and call the fox all sorts of nasty names and after a minute or so the fox gave up and ran back across the street, towards the pond, to wallow in defeat. Goooo kitty cat!

Less exciting story about deer. I took this one little road out in the country. It had a 65 mph speed limit and people were zooming past me. There were all these signs warning about wildlife, even a big lighted one like they use to warn about construction. On a 10-15 mile stretch of that road I saw 26 dead deer by the side of the road, quite a few live ones, and the one that jumped right out in front of me. It was on a soft curve of the road, with a guard rail and at least a 20 ft drop on the other side. He just came sailing over as graceful as can be. I slammed on my breaks, but the guy coming from the other direction didn't miss a beat. Deer's lucky he was so fast.

Which leads me to another two-fold conclusion. Coloradans are fearless. I mean yeah sure they drive on mountain roads, through all types of weather conditions and with loads of wildlife, but they also do it at extreme speeds. They go at least 10 mph over the speed limit at all times, even when the speed limit is 75 mph. Sheesh. You're really lucky to find a road with a 60 mph speed limit in MN. I guess if you've always wanted to drive on the autobahn, but can't make it to Germany you can always come to Colorado and drive I-70. It's not as fast, but it'll make your heart beat faster.

So my flight takes off in about an hour, then I've got a two hour layover in Minn (where I have to PAY for wi-fi - Bah!), then home. I get to pick Sheba up at 6pm and I'm sure she'll tell me all about it. And I'm supposed to bowl tonight at 7pm. Then teach at 8am tomorrow morning.

*ponder*

I could have planned this better.

Maybe I'll skip bowling. But then again it is the next to last week of league bowl.

*sigh*

So tired.

Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane.

LOL I just got scared to death by a sparrow who flew right by where I'm sitting... IN the airport.

Aspen in Aspen

Yup.

I'm blogging from Aspen, Colorado.

Spiffy.

A lot has happened this week and I'm exhausted, but I took the time to hop over the mountains to visit Aspen. It's been almost 11 years since I've been here. I've driven all over and walked through the downtown. I had lunch at La Cantina, very good Mexican food (with a British waitress). It really is a beautiful town and the streets are easy to navigate and wide (don't always find that in mountain towns) and it's clean and friendly.

Warning: Beware the skiers and snowboarders - they'll run you over in their rush to hit the slopes. They don't care that you're in a car and they're on foot.

So I guess you might want to know what happened at the job fair? Well I only went to the first day of the fair. My first interview went really well and lasted for almost an hour. Wonderful lady interviewed me, she'll be the superintendent next year. She wanted me to come back and talk to her in the afternoon so I agreed to do that.

I spent the rest of the morning wandering around the fair, dropping off resumes and shaking hands, getting my name out there. I had a second interview at 10am with a funny British man who's the principal of high school in another town. That interview was ok. It's always hard to read Englishmen. Ah well.

So that afternoon I went back to meet with the lady from school 1 and she offered me a job, teaching middle school (5-8) technology. I said I'd really like to come look at the town first and she said she'd really like me to see the school. So, I left that afternoon and drove down to Denver and over the mountains to a little town of 1500 people, almost two hours from any good-sized town. I got there just before dark, so I didn't see much.

Friday morning I got up and drove around the town a bit and then met with the lady at the school. Beautiful school, built in... 2006 I think she said. It's not very large, just 300 students, but a beautiful building. And the technology they have... Unbelievable. 300 students, 200 computers. Amazing. The school is up on a hill and has a 360 degree view of the mountains and every classroom has big windows with that view. That'd be tough to see every day, huh?

I won't go into all the details, but I will tell you she made it very, VERY hard to say no and she gave me two weeks to think it over. There are two reasons I'm hesitating:
1. It's very rural, 2 hours from good-sized towns.
2. It's middle school and I really was looking for elementary.

So... I'm making a positives and negatives list.

Negatives:
*Very rural
*Not my first choice in age groups

Positives:
*Amazing school facility
*Technology support team to manage computer labs
*Working closely with other teachers to integrate the curriculum with technology
*Beautiful area, completely surrounded by mountains
*Lots of wildlife - eagles, moose, deer, elk, mountain goats, rocky mountain sheep, mountain lions, bears...
*Wonderful future superintendent (who promised to find a wonderful principal - she's the current principal but has been promoted)
*Climate is similar to where I live now, but not as cold during the winter and not as hot during the summer, plus more snow!

Hmmm positives seems to be winning, eh? Well, I still need to look at the money vs cost of living, though I'd be making quite a bit it is extremely expensive to live there. I'm going to call the school district Monday morning to see what my actual paychecks will be and do some research about apartments and stuff. From what I saw in the newspaper they'll be double what I'm paying now.

Oofda.

So much to think about.
HUGE decision incoming.

Colorado Bound

Dropped off the kitty cat at the kennel and boy was she MAD.
Took time to go to trivia - we got 3rd place and COFFEE as a prize.
Packing my last odds and ends right now.

Tomorrow at 7am I fly out to COLORADO!

Hope I get *some* sleep tonight.

Sleep is gooood...

Too bad I've been denied.

Woke up at 3:30am and wasn't able to get back to sleep.

Stress is bad.

I know, right?

Three emails, two phone calls and one interview. That's what I've got so far.
Eeee!
And they're all from places I would love to live and teach.

All the schools that have contacted me want me to fill out online applications. The ones that have not set-up interviews want me to find them on the first day of the fair to set up interviews.

I'm really excited and really scared.

But at least school districts are interested in me... interested enough to respond to my letters of interest.

Yay!

*deep breath*

Happy Birthday Aya

We're the same age again :)
Went out to dinner with her and a few friends.

And... I got a call from a school in Colorado. We set up an interview for 8am the first day of the job fair.

*grin*

Cha-ching!

Get Fuzzy

Crack Kitty

This is kind of sad and more than a little funny with a dash of annoying for good measure.

When I was home during Christmas break I bought a big container of cat nip for Sheba. I've been giving her a pinch a day, every other day or so.

This morning she woke me up at 8:14 am (yes I was trying to sleep in) crying. She doesn't really "meow" she squawks and when she's upset she sounds a lot like an angry/upset baby. So that's what I woke up to *squawk* *Squawk* *SQUAWK!*

And so it went for over 2 hours. I checked and she had water, food and a clean cat box. I tried loving her and she didn't act like she was hurt just really upset and trying to tell me something REALLY important. I was flipping between mega-concerned for her well-being and annoyed because that is not a sound you want to hear for two hours straight.

Finally I called my dad to see if he had any suggestions. I told him the only thing I hadn't tried was giving her cat nip. He said to go for it - and I did.

And guess what? As soon as I said "Sheba, do you want some cat nip?" She started squawking double-time and looking between me and the cabinet I keep it in. Yeah. She's freaking smart when it comes to food and drugs.

So I gave her some and she stopped squawking. Thank goodness.

She spent the rest of the day sleeping, until about 15 minutes ago when I went into the kitchen to make some tea. Then she came running into the kitchen and started squawking again and looking at the cabinet.

I told her "No way! No kitty nip for you. You'll just have to face the cruel hard world of life without drugs."

/sigh

It's my fault. I've totally spoiled her. I'm a baaaad mommy.

One last road trip...

Yesterday Aya and I went to Duluth for a day of shopping and girly fun. We left at 9am and got back here a little after 9pm. 12 hours together. We haven't spent more than a couple of hours together for a LONG time.

It was a blast.

We had lunch at the Olive Garden *nummmm* and then we shopped til we dropped.

It was loads of fun and just the break I needed from working on my paper and job hunting. Today I'm back to the real world, but I feel rejuvenated!

Truckin' Away

I've been taking breaks in the evening, but for the most part I've been working on either job applications or my paper.

/pats self on back

I went to trivia again on Monday night, this time we were 5th out of 12. They had one round that was entirely date-oriented - the answer to every question was a date. We didn't do so hot. Ah well.

I'm getting ready to print off my letters of application and resumes and send them out. *keeps toes crossed* Right now I'm trying to get interviews set up for the Job Fair.

*edit: I did not send out "lob applications" - heh*

Ya know?

When you walk outside on a sunny day and think "Man this is t-shirt weather!" and then you drive by a bank sign that says it's 25 degrees... You know why they call it Brrrrrrmidji - because it's March 9th and it's the warmest day all year.

Ahhhh.... Gotta love it :)

So... The reason for my outing was to purchase job-hunting supplies:
*Resume paper
*Folders
*Mailing labels
*New briefcase/bag for interviews

I'm spending the rest of today writing letters of application, printing them and stuffing envelopes.

My Final Spring Break has officially begun.

Random thoughts...

Now that the snow has melted I can tell that the previous link (form the snowstorm in Texas) is to the University of North Texas. I left that page up on Thursday while I was editing a 72 page document for work. I saw three different snowball fights and a person walking around with an umbrella.

Yesterday evening I received a phone call from three of my former residents. They've come back here for a "Where it all began weekend" and wanted to see their old RA. So neat! We went out to dinner last night and they've invited me to go bowling with them tonight.

I spent all day yesterday looking up the school districts that are going to the CO Job Fair - trying to see where they're located and what types of teachers they're looking for.

It's snowing here and I've spent all day reading what's left of my articles for my paper. Two articles left.

And good news - I spoke to Concordia Language Villages about working there this summer. I wasn't sure what they'd say because my schedule is a bit wonky - I'm also teaching two classes for Upward Bound - but they're willing to work around the UB schedule and really want me back for a 3rd summer.

That's my summer-job situation sorted!
/huge sigh of relief

Yep. That's Texas.

So... Mom sent me this pic at 7:40am


And today the expected high is around 50 degrees - meaning the snow will melt.

And the low tonight is expected to be 21 degrees - meaning the run-off will freeze.

Yep.

That's Texas.

In other news... First day of Spring Break today! No work and no class (not that I'm taking any) until March 24th!

I celebrated by sleeping in a bit.
I need to go grocery shopping and then I'm locking myself in my apt and working on my paper.

I'll let myself out for bowling on Sunday night and lunch with Aya next Thursday. Otherwise... I'm all about blogs in classrooms.

As of 9:30pm

Denton has 8... EIGHT... inches of snow!
Ha!

Denton, Texas & The Blizzard of 2008!

I've had multiple calls from both of my parents and my dad sent me a picturemail of our dog (Kodi) in the snow.



And I found a live-video stream where I can watch the snowstorm myself. It's a big 'un. At one point they had flakes almost an inch in diameter and they've got almost 1 inch accumulation (from 12pm - 2:20pm). Schools are closed and my parents are considering closing the shop early and going home.

It's SUCH a HUGE deal when they get snow there. They never had a storm this big in all the years I lived there and Dad says this is only the second time in his life he's seen a storm like this (in Texas).


From THIS site... It looks like UNT campus, but hard to tell cuz I've never seen it WHITE!

Goin' to Colorado

*tee hee*

I've been trying to get back to Colorado for years. The last time I was there was 1997 (not counting a short stint in the Denver airport).

I'm going to an Educator Job Fair at the end of this month. It just happens to be in Greeley, CO.

*cheer*

I've got my tickets, rental car and I've registered for the fair.

Just need to book a hotel, pick out my interview clothes and brush-up on my interview skills. I haven't had a job interview since 1999.

Eeep!

Loralee is promoting...

Loralee is giving a shout-out to a friend of hers. This friend is making some "Saucy" aprons found HERE.

Loralee's got a contest going to help promote her friend - and someone will win a free apron. What a cool idea!

I like the pink one ;)

Art meets Yuck

Good grief.
I guess some people have more money than they know what to do with...
And who was the previous owner of that skull... I mean did they really donate it for something like THIS?
*cringe*

The only skull I want to see is THIS ONE!

"Take Damien Hirst, the British artist famous for his pickled shark and, more recently, a diamond-studded skull. (The skull attracted a lot of media attention and reportedly sold for $100 million -- but to a group of collectors that included the artist himself.) Hirst continues to be a collector's favorite -- so expect prices for his work to stay high. The artist "will remain fresh in buyer's minds," ArtTactic reported in May, "in a market where the attention span is getting increasingly shorter." Photo: The $100 million skull"



Found here: Hot or Hype

Subbing 11.0

I forgot to mention that I subbed at the HS last Friday - First time all semester.
I *almost* went to a pep rally, but by the time they called the cheerleaders, pep band, etc to the gym (early) - I only had 6 students left. They all went their own ways, so I went home.

Also, went to Monday Night Trivia for the second Monday in a row. Our team placed 4th both weeks (though we actually got a prize last week - but not this week). Good times.

Best sidekick?

Wired Magazine has listed their top 9 Sidekicks. I know who my top pick would be... I mean really...



Well... I might have picked Willow, but without Xander there to remind her about the "Yellow Crayon" I don't know if she's safe to have around...