Halloween!

JOHN - Last year, Jayma and I had a blast when we went out together for Halloween. We ended up dressing up as zombie doctors and had a great time. This year, we wanted to do something different. Since we like calling ourselves the Dynamic Duo, we figured we would be Batman and Robin for Halloween. Jayma would be Batman and I would be Robin. However, procrastination got the best of us and when we went to buy our costumes a day before Halloween, there were none to be found. After arguing back and forth as to what we were going to be, we finally settled and agree to be nerds. But not just any nerds. We decided to be...ZOMBIE NERDS!! As you can see, there is a theme going for us.

Anyway, Jayma had the great idea to go to Goodwill and we would find clothes that would work perfectly for our costumes. We spent about $30 each on all our costumes and they turned out great. I ended up getting some pleated trousers, an old tie, sweater vest and Jayma found me sound glow-in-the-dark neon green glasses. She had this cute skirt, bought some teeth and glasses and we did our hair (of course, mine was parted down the middle).

Jared ended up coming over and we went to this party that Lisa knew about. Evidently, her dog groomer has this party every year at their house. It's called Pawderosa. There was a live band there that night and for $5, we got some really good food. Jared dressed up as a skeleton or as I like to refer to him as a x-ray machine. Don dressed up like an 80's white rapper and Lisa was a Twister board.

The party, itself, wasn't too exciting but we had a good time, nonetheless. Jayma and I, of coursed, danced our zombie dance. Bentley, Lisa and Don's dog, was a "hot dog" and was freakin' adorable. He entered the costume contest but didn't win (I smell conspiracy or is it dog poop?). After hanging at the party for a few hours, we took off to this pub called Jack's. There, we played some darts and had a good time looking at all the slutty costumes. There was this one costume on this girl...I can't say too much because I am trying to keep this a PG-rated blog but, man, was she HOT!!

After Jack's, we went up to Don and Lisa's for to finish off the night. There, we played some darts and Jayma passed out on the couch. Needless to say, Bentley made sure she wasn't going to rest easy. We had a great time that night and even though we didn't get to dance and party as much as we would've liked to, we had a blast nonetheless. Next year, maybe we will be zombie ducks or something...

Sara & Leann's visit (Oct. 22 thru Oct. 25)

JOHN - My friend, Sara, and Jayma's friend, Leann, decided to come spend a weekend with us in October. We were really excited to have the girls here because it was a new visitor for us and we haven't seen them in awhile. So, we decided to show the girls all around San Antonio and Austin. Leann flew in Thursday night and we took her to dinner over at Mamacita's. Sara flew in on Friday.

I decided to take the girls downtown and show them the Riverwalk, do a boat tour, visit the Alamo and go up the Tower of Americas. We hit all of the touristy places and spent a few hours just walking around downtown. The girls seemed to enjoy the area and I was glad to finally get to see the Riverwalk and Tower.

Later that night, Sara was wanting to go to Cowboys, which is a huge dance club. HUGE!!! And it's named fit right in. The minute we walked in, we were taken aback by how much area this building took. The dance floor is huge. There was a live, country band playing but in between sets, the DJ would rock the crowd with some hip hop beats. It was a great mix of country and pop and the crowd was just as diverse as the music. There were a lot of authentic country boys and girls there, all decked out in their country regalia. We are talking creased jeans, cowboy hats, big belt buckles, long skirts, and boots. It's like Sara died and went to heaven.

The girls had a blast at Cowboys. They ended up meeting some guys who were in the military so they had built-in dance partners for the rest of the night. I was on purse/drink watch the entire evening so I didn't get to partake in all the dancing that I would've liked. Regardless, the girls had a blast and Leann even got to ride the electric bull!!

The next day, once we finally got up and moving, we took the girls to Gruene where they got to see some of the little German shoppes. Leann's family has a strong German background so we thought she'd be interested in that. After stopping there for a bit, we proceeded to Austin where we had dinner and another night out on the town. The girls left early the next morning and I think they seemed to enjoy their weekend.

Spurs v. Cavaliers game (Oct. 16)

JOHN - One of the great things about being a teacher is all the little perks you get. For instance, the Northside school district had some connections with the Spurs and we were able to get really cheap tickets. Jayma and I, deciding that we haven't done enough already since moving here, decided to go to the Spurs-Cavaliers game. I thought it'd be really cool to see a game, especially one that has Tim Duncan, Ginobli, Shaq and LeBron. Well, the night of the came and did it turn out to be quite the adventure.

It all started with Lisa calling and saying that her and Don had tickets to the game. To be more specific, they had great box seats where Don't employer, HEB, owned. We told them that Pete was flying in that night but we would meet up with them before the game.

As Jayma and I left for the game, I told her to head down to the Alamodome. Well, once we arrived there, we saw that there no cars around. Not one! I was thinking, maybe I got the wrong night. But, silly me, I didn't think to look at my tickets. Nope, I called Don instead. Don said the game was that night and that him and Lisa were on there way there. I asked him if the Spurs played in the Alamodome and he started to laugh. He informed me that they haven't played there for a few years and that they now play at the AT&T Center. Jayma called me an idiot and we proceeded our way to the AT&T Center.

Once we arrived and parked, we went up to the will-call ticket window and I gave the lady my name. She said that she didn't have the tickets. And then I realized, at that very moment, I had left the tickets at home. You see, the guy I bought the tickets from is a broker for the Spurs but they were purchased through him. Therefore, there's no way they would even have my name to look up. Jayma looked at me like I am an idiot (which I was) but she was pretty cool with the whole thing. Anyway, we decided to wait for Don and Lisa to see if they could get us in. Unfortunately they couldn't and Jayma and I decided we were going to leave. However, Jayma informed me to talk to the person in "ticket resolutions" to see if there is anything they could do. Well, by this time, much of the first period was over and we had no idea what to expect. Guess what, the lady immediately reached into the drawer, pulled out two tickets and told us to have fun!! The John and Jayma luck comes through again!!

We ended up going into the game and having these amazing seats. Not only were they great seats, they were in a suite!! Talk about getting lucky!! We watched the rest of the game where the Spurs ended up defeating the Cavs and we got to see Shaq and Tim and LeBron. I cannot believe our luck sometimes but that's all it's been since coming here.

All-Day Party in Austin (Oct. 17)

JOHN - Pete decided to make another visit because he was missing the beautiful weather and girls of Texas. He flew in a Friday night. He arrived a little early because Jayma and I were still at the Spurs game. There is a funny story about the Spurs game that I will cover in another blog. Anyway, we ended up picking Pete us because he took a bus downtown to have a drink.

We picked Pete up and headed home. We weren't going to stay up late because we had a full day ahead of us partying in Austin. We woke up early the next day, got dressed, packed our bags, picked up Jared and headed to Austin. The Red River Shootout (UT v. OU game) was that day so we wanted to get to a pub to watch the game. After finally deciding on where to park our butts, we commenced with the daytime partying. We stayed at one pub until halftime until moving to a rooftop tavern that was also playing the game. The game, itself, was kind of boring but my Horns ended up hookin' the Sooners so I can't say I was disappointed.

After the game, we headed on over to another bar that Pete had read about. If I remember, it was called DB or something. Anyway, this place was known for it's travelling gnome. In fact, there were pics all over the place of where this gnome had been to. Plus, this place had lots of old-school video games like Centipede, Galaga and Joust. Needless to say, we stayed there for awhile.

Once we left DB, we went to the hotel where we would rest for a minute. I forgot to mention, Don and Lisa ended up coming to Austin too and they also got a hotel room. Anyway, we took showers, rested and proceeded to head out for a night of crazy fun. Jared was a dancing machine. In fact, I don't think he stopped after awhile. Everyone seemed to have a great time, the weather was gorgeous and it was nice to have such a large group of people to hang out with.

The next morning, I had to take Pete to the Austin airport real early. After waking and picking up Jared and Jayma, we headed back home for a nice, restful Sunday afternoon. It was great weekend, it was fun seeing Pete so soon and we had a blast.

Full-time Student Teaching

JOHN - Hi everybody (all 2.5 of you who are actually reading this), I am back. I would apologize for not keeping this blog as updated as you'd like but considering there are probably only 3 or 4 people reading it, I don't feel that bad. Besides, I have been too bizzy teaching school and playing on the weekends to actually sit down and blog. But, now that I have a little time, I figured I would do a little writing. Oh, as you can tell, my roommate is completely useless when it comes to updating the blog so it's really just my dog & pony show now. Let's talk about school, shall we?

Over the past few weeks, I have been in full-teach mode at school. This means that I am responsible for the planning of lessons, teaching of them and everything in between. Mrs. Schiebel has been a great help by assisting me when needed but hanging back when she knows it's something I have to do on my own.

The first coouple of days were a bit rocky when it came to teaching the A.P. class. By the time I full taught, I was pretty familiar and comfortable with the Regs curriculum and had already been teaching a lot of the students. However, the A.P. kids had an entirely different curriculum and I wasn't as comfortable knowing those kids. For some reason, I was a bit nervous when it came to teaching them and some of the lessons were a bit rocky. The downside to that is, I only have ONE A.P. class and they are my first period students. This means I only have ONE shot to get it right whereas with my Regs, I have multiple classes to fine-tune the lesson. Like I said, it's been a bit rough but by the end of the first week/start of the second, I was getting used to the extra responsibilities of that class.

On top of the additional class, I have also been lesson planning with Mr. Wogstad, the other 7th grade Regs teacher. Each week, during our 3rd period prep, we'd meet and discuss the upcoming week's curriculum. Northside provides much of the curricuculum for its departments so we already have a nice foundation from which to work. It's definitely suited to assist new teachers. Anyway, I have to not only look over and understand the curriculum but also write lessons that will be posted on our website as well as given to the administration. It's been a lot of work and late nights but I really feel like I am getting a good hand of all a teacher's responsibilties.

While all of this is going on, I am still planning and teaching my 5 Regs classes, going to different meetings either for the math department, PBS or everything in between. I have been helping out as the assistant tennis coach for our fall intrumural season. In fact, there was an instance where I had to actually conduct practice because the coach had to leave for a family emergency. Again, great practice and training. I hope to coach someday and I can see that takes a lot of work to balance teaching and coaching.

If there is any advice I can give to future student teachers, it's these 3 things: 1. Time management, 2. Organization and 3. Comfortable shoes. When it comes to time management, you have to just be ahead of the game. Unlike college, where you can cram a paper and stay up to 4 AM drinking Red Bull, you don't have that luxury as a teacher. First, you'd be too tired to teach effectively the next day. So always be ahead of the curve. Plus, you will have to be ready to improvise. Next, you should be organized!! Organizationg goes hand in hand with time management and you need to have both down pact. In fact, one cannot work w/o the other. So be sure to stay organized. The better you are, the more smooth your life will run. And last, wear comfortable shoes. I bought these nice Skechers and have they been great for my feet. Teachers at Rawlinson are not allowed to wear sneakers (unless it's a jean or spirit day) so I needed some dressy yet comfotable shoes. These are great because you are on your feet ALL DAY LONG!! Trust me on this, you don't get to sit until after the bell rings. Invest in comfortable shoes, you will be glad you did. Jayma would agree 100% with me on that one.

Other tidbits about school... On the day before Halloween (it fell on a Saturday this year), Mrs. Schiebel decided to scare the kids. We rearranged the classroom to have her hide in the back corner. As the kids came in and class got started, I informed them that she was at a meeting off-campus and it was me that day. Then, after taking attendance, going over the Focus problem and homework, she would slowly creep from the tree and kids would begin to notice them. It was pretty funny because some of the students didn't know how to react. It was great time for everyone and most of the classes were surprised. It's nice to know you can still have fun with the kids in this day and age of accountability. They seemed to really enjoy it and I got a kick out it. Oh, I forgot to say, she dressed up as a gorilla for most of the day. For last period, she decided to be an alien.

I caught a nasty cold last week. Jayma was sick the week before and kids have been out sick all school year. I am surprised it's taken this long for me to get sick but I knew my luck would eventually run out. So, last Wednesday, I noticed that scratchy feeling in my throat develop and I knew then and there, it was all downhill. By Thursday, I started the day off alright but by the middle towards end of the day, I was in full-blown sickypoo mode. My head was throbbing, I couldn't breathe and I was making careless mistakes in class. I was really out it. Good thing it was a test day and that Mrs. Schiebel was there to back me up. I ended up calling Mrs. Schiebel that night telling her that I wouldn't probably be making it to school the next day. It ended up working out because Friday was only a half-day and that we were going to be in the library conducting Math Blitz so there was already going to be a substitute teacher there. It worked out well for me to miss that specific day. I do feel better now but I still got that lingering couch and stuffy nose but I do feel much better.

Next week is my last week of full-teach and then I start giving back classes to Mrs. Schiebel. To be honest, I am ready to be finished with student teaching. I have loved the experience and have learned so much from my time there. I still have a lot to learn. But it's coming to the point where I am going to have to do this learning and training on my own, inside my own classroom. Mrs. Schiebel has been extremely patient and helpful and I am ever grateful for that. But it's time to do this on my own. Plus, I am looking forward to finally graduating (again) and start making some actual money. I am broke as heck and living off credit cards which isn't a good thing. On top of that, my car has decided to have a some major problems which is going to cost me some major coin.

Alas, I have less than a month here before heading back to cold and snowy Illinois and getting my degree. It's been a great experience so far and I have no regrets taking this journey in my life. From going back to school to coming to San Antonio, it's been an amazing experience. But, I still have few weeks left and an upcoming 7th/8th grade dance I need to talk about. I will probably be posting 2 or 3 more times before ending it with graduation day. Thanks for reading.... all 2.5 of you!

By the way, here are some new classroom pics. The leopard, Decimo, I found at Goodwill. I bought him for $2.15!! I donated him to the class and had the kids come up with a name. Decimo was chosen (like decimals in math, get it?) but we call it Deci for short. The door is the one created by my advisory class. The girls who worked on this put a lot of time and effort into it. I wanted to make sure there was a picture of it.