Tuesday, June 08, 2004

I've put off doing this because I wasn't quite ready.

In 1996 I lost my father. He'd had multiple sclerosis for decades and we knew he was going to go, but it still hurt—more than I expected it too. I still think of things I would like to tell him, just for a moment forgetting he's gone. You've heard the cliché about not appreciating someone until they're gone. Well it's true. I miss him.

When I got the news that President Reagan had died, I realized I felt the same way as when my father died. Ronald Reagan was the first president I ever voted for. It was the primary when he ran against Gerald Ford. I met him during that campaign, across the street from John Ascuaga's Nugget in Reno, where he made a campaign stop. When he lost to Ford, I reluctantly voted for Ford. I was thrilled four years later to vote for him again against Jimmy Carter. He was a wonderful president to have for the next eight years.

I will miss him.

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Sunday, June 06, 2004

I've had several interviews at various schools for next year, but as of this moment I'm still at my old school, where I definitely don't want to be next year.

When I got to school Friday, I found that I had forgotten my keys, which I needed to turn in so I could check out for the summer. I also had an interview for ten o'clock, which I scheduled at that time so I would have time to attend the faculty meeting first. Well they delayed the faculty meeting until 9:30! I told my supervisor I was going to go get my keys. I called my son, Charlie so I could get him to meet me half way, but he decided to come in to see the latest Harry Potter movie. It worked out well. By the time I was done, he'd arrived, so I was able to get my keys and check out by one PM.

Yesterday we loaded up my daughter, Valery's things and they headed back up to Idaho. Her father-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew, having come all this way, had to cope with record heat all day as they helped load.

My daughter-in-law, Jessie finally passed her last test, the math portion of the tests. Since her kids score higher in math than any other teacher's in her school, it just goes to show that's it's not content knowledge that's important, but knowing how to teach! People used to realize this. Now everything is the teacher's fault, despite that fact that the teacher is probably one of the most powerless to change the real problem, which is discipline!

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