Week in the Life, Day 4

TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2008

11:24 a.m. Math time. It's amazing how excited kids can get about writing on a whiteboard instead of a piece of paper.

12:22 p.m. Chinese food for lunch today. I'm not a big fan of Chinese food to begin with but Chinese food mass produced for two schools? Not of the highest quality. Still, I got some decent fortunes out of the deal. I think they're both talking about this weekend. I'll be sitting on top of the world once I've cornered Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff and sweet-talked them into a Top Shelf interview.

1:00 p.m. This filing cabinet is right beside my desk so I hijacked the side of it for decorating purposes. The large Sabres pictures (Hank and Jochen) are from the Sabres calendar that the team puts out every year along with the tiny picture of Hank in the top corner. I guess he didn't earn a full month that year. The Derek Roy at the bottom is part of a series of posters put out by the Buffalo News during the playoffs last season. I laminated a few of my favorites and took them home but for some reason Roy-Z stuck around at work. The "Heather" and the drawings are things kids made for me. The "Hammerin' Hank" is from the front page of the sports section the day after Hank scored in the shootout. One of the boys saved it for me because it happened while I was on disability and he was afraid I wouldn't see it. How adorable is that? (We get papers delivered to the school for classroom use.) I didn't tell him I had one at home. Last year one of the kids gave me the big magnetic Sabres logo for Christmas. And that's Paul Posluszny talking on the phone in the middle. One day I had the boys totally convinced that that was Mark. "Isn't that guy a Bill though?" "No, he's just wearing a Bills jersey. Why would I have a picture of a Bill talking on the phone." "Oh, yeah, good point." (It's from a Time-Warner ad, I believe.)

1:08 p.m. A close-up of one of the drawings on the filing cabinet. A little guy in one of the other classes did this for me because he knew I was a big Star Wars fan just like him. It's Anakin - he's the one who's upside down - and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I've gotten a lot of cool things from kids in the last six years but this is hands down one of my favorites.

1:16 p.m. We only have seven days left of school so no one is really in the mood for a lot of work including the adults. We took a little extra free time this afternoon and played a couple games of Sequence. My record for the day was 1-1.

1:47 p.m. Remember that bike I couldn't fix Sunday night? That's right, I fixed it. Unfortunately we had to cut the bike ride short today because kiddo here had a little run-in with a huge mud puddle. I felt bad because he was clearly a little rattled but it was kind of funny. He went through the puddle fine and then suddenly started rooooolling backwards, lost his balance, and flopped over right smack in the middle of it. Poor guy.

Okay, my camera died. Pretend there's a snazzy photo here of various art supplies, board games, and sporting gear. It's very artfully arranged.

9:15 p.m. I generally hate shopping. I'll wear the clothes or shoes I have until they start to fall off my body because I hate it so much. But this is my kind of shopping. We have a big awards ceremony at the end of the school year and I always end up on the committee responsible for buying the awards. These awards are for gym, art, and... I don't know, something else. I think the adults sometimes gloss over the importance because well, don't tell but every kid gets at least one award. But our kids are not kids who've been successful in previous school placements so it really means a lot to them and I've never heard a single kid say, "Hey, everyone got SOMETHING!" (If you're ever looking for a game for a kid that doesn't need batteries, doesn't light up and make obnoxious noises, and actually requires a little brain power, I highly recommend Rush Hour. My guys love it and I do too although I'm terrible at it. I don't have the right kind of brain. There's an online version of it here if you're curious.)

11:52 p.m. Playing Rush Hour when I should be sleeping. (Sorry, no photo to go with that one.)

Okay, it's now Wednesday night (11:04 p.m.). As I said above, my camera died and I haven't gotten around to buying new batteries or finding my rechargeables yet so sadly, there will be no post for today. But for the record, I went to work, handled the class by myself for half of the day, had one kid suspended, picked up Patty at the airport, went to dinner, and drove around looking at houses and buildings in Buffalo. One thing I learned tonight? I'm the worst tour guide in the world.

Patty: Is that an art deco building?
Me: I'm not sure.
Patty: Oooh, is that a rust facade?
Me: I don't know.
Patty: Are those trees planted or do they grow here naturally?
Me: Uh... They grow here. Maybe. I don't know.
Patty: Is that building original?
Me: I dunno. Hey, look! HSBC Arena!

Anyway... I'm leaving for Ottawa right after work tomorrow so I might post something tomorrow night, I might not. But believe you me, I will be getting to this as soon as I have some free time. Word of warning: If Bucky tries to trade Hank, he's going down hard.