That guy's a great big phony

I just ordered myself a new phone. Christmas marked the 5 year anniversary of me & my current phone. It was time to get a new one since it decided to shut off in mid-conversation, and often does not ring. The new phone was free, except for that bogus activation charge. And it's actually a phone I sort of wanted. No fancy picture nonsense. I upped my minutes to the next cheapest plan, which is only $5 more in order to get the rebates. I'm not sure if my number will change or not, but if it does, I'll keep you posted.

Day After Blahs...

Hope Santa brought all you girls and boys what you wanted for Christmas. I was happy to spend most of the day with Kim and my families, so that was the best part. The only thing I asked for was undershirts, socks and boxers, and got them all, plus other bonuses. I got a few shirts, ESPN NBA game for PS2, a gas and food gift card, and some money. Kim's gift was surprising and entirely amazing. She's taking me to Toronto in July to see the Blue Jays. And we're staying in the hotel inside SkyDome. Un-freaking-believable! I am so excited to go. Too bad it's 7 months away. Anyway, the day after Christmas is usually depressing and/or boring to me, but I'm going to try not to let it be like that this year. The Bengals are on, minus several key players, and I'm going to see Kim again. I'm off this week, so it will be a nice un-stressful week.

Merry Christmas To All!

Why does anyone like G-Unit?

Dennis-My guess is some Duran Duran song, though I'm not sure. I haven't blogged regularly for some reason lately. I guess partly not a lot of good is happening.

My grandmother passed away last week. It was pretty awful. I feel really bad for my dad, especially since she was suffering for a while. It's never easy, especially around the holidays...

I found out officially today that I didn't get the 5th grade job in Saddle Brook. I called the principal on my lunch and she said the person who got it had more experience and that I interviewed well. I should also expect a call tomorrow from another principal about a basic skills job in her school. I guess I'd be interviewed by her and she'll see if she likes me. It's only part-time, so I don't know much else about it. I'd have to find out more before I made any sort of decision if I was offered the job.

I was supposed to meet Rob and his girlfriend Amalea last night, but as luck would have it, they got a flat tire on the parkway and nutty circumstances ensued. I was bummed because I hadn't seen him in a while, and haven't met his girlfriend yet, but there's always time during one of my weeks in April, or if something else comes up. I was really glad they were ok, and were able to get towed eventually. Ended up going with Kim to applebee's for dinner, which rightly earned the name crapplebee's by me again, and has so been blacklisted by yours truly forever. Their food sucks.

Weird that it's only 10 days till Christmas. I'm officially done with my shopping. Picked up my last order today after school. Just have to wrap it and that's it. I'm not really in a great mood for Christmas due to the instances mentioned above, but still will enjoy the time off spent with my family.

So far this week, I've had a variety of jobs. Monday=Art teacher. Tuesday=1st grade. Weds=5th grade. Tomorrow=maybe custodian, or even turd sandwich.

Music makes the people fucking bored

I went back to work today to find myself subbing for a music teacher. Probably the worst possible teacher to sub for. All you do is set up the tv & vcr to watch a movie. Easier said than done. The only movies available to watch were all seen by the classes at least 2 times already over the years. So they are bored. I'm bored sitting there. About 10 minutes into the movie with the first class, I could tell they were ready to cry, so I stopped it and started playing Simon Sez with them. They seemed relieved the movie was stopped. Unfortunately, the 3rd class of the day is the Kindergarten from hell. Surprisingly, they were pretty good today. They didn't understand the concept of sitting down when they messed up in Simon Sez, but that was ok. They weren't running around and playing with the instruments in the room. The day went ok after all, except her last class in our school ends at 2. She goes to another school in the district to teach the last period. The principal asked me if I would go to the other school to help them out. So I did.

When I got there, they didn't know I was coming and were all a bunch of jackasses. They treated me like crap. I had never been to the school before, so I didn't know where to go. Instead of making a wisecrack about how bad their school was and assuming I know where all the classrooms are, they should have showed me where to go and introduce me to the teacher I was doing the favor for. Anyway, they didn't. I hope I never have to sub in their school again. I was doing them a favor but they just sucked. It's over.

I'm excited for Friday. I hope the interview goes well. I then have to go to a holiday party for the teachers at my school at one of the teacher's houses. Considering I'm one of maybe 10 males that work in the school, it should be interesting conversation. And I forgot that I still have to buy a grab-bag gift. I really hope I don't come home with feminine products as my gift.

I stayed home today because I'm not feeling well. I hope this extra day of rest will get this stupid cold out of me and keep me from getting worse. Supposedly, we're getting our first fall of snow and slush today. So at least I may miss out on that. Pretty crappy weekend. On Saturday, I worked my final game for GHT. I've been there for 7 years or so (I honestly don't remember when I started, but it's been around there), so it's time to move on. I'm hoping I'll be teaching full-time, so I can solely concentrate on teaching and planning during the week, and have the weekends to unwind and have fun.

Last week, I subbed all week in a 6th grade class. The class talks too damn much, but overall, I think I did a pretty good job filling in the teacher's plans. It wasn't easy, but it was good experience nonetheless. I had 2 interviews last week as well. I hope the 2nd one went well enough to at least get me to the 2nd interview. There are lots of positives about that job. I'm hoping...

I hate to say it, but Christmas is fast approaching, and I don't believe it. There's always so much preparing and looking forward to the day, but it goes by so fast. It's definitely not the same as when you're a kid. I still love the feeling of the holiday, though, and that will never change.

Since you're all probably sick of hearing about it, I'm going to add to the crap...This stupid steroids "news" is everywhere. The only thing I'll say is this...I heard this morning that Hank Aaron's HR numbers declined as he reached into his 40s each year. Barry Bonds' mysteriously increased by 40 a few years ago, and have been abnormally high over the past few years. Obviously the man knows what he was doing since I learned he had a personal nutritionist and chef when he was in college. Now that he's older, he becomes unaware what he's putting into his body. I'm no fan of the Yankees or Jason Giambi, but if his contract gets bought out and he's thru with baseball, then why does Bonds get different treatment? What a great message to send to kids playing ball today. I'm proud to say I'm a Blue Jays fan because there's no way any of them are on the juice...they suck...and I love them even more for that now!