Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Can't sleep, Students will eat me!

Okay, the title is really meaningless other than being a random Simpson's quote (sorry EDMC and TXmommy). In news that should surprise no one, I am far too busy to really update. Yesterday was my first day back to school with students. It is amazing how quickly one can shift back into work mode. I won't lie; I was genuinely dreading the end of summer, but I figured out about 4th period yesterday that I can survive this for four months until Christmas. After that, I may have to take it one day at a time.

Some changes have made my life easier, which has left me conflicted. I honestly believed that the changes were these too-cutesy gimmicks that would be dismal failures, but I begrudgingly implemented them and they are working like magic. Let me give you one quick example (because of the busyness). For the last three years, during our passing periods, our students have had the bad habit of congregating in the halls, causing congestion and keeping even the good kids that are trying to get to class from making it in a timely manner. For three years, I have been coming up to these groups of idle kids and exhorting them to get to class, usually by employing the very creative phrase, "Get to class!" For three years, my efforts have been met by rolled teen-aged eyes and resumed conversations. This year, our administration advised that when encountering this sort of situation, we recite the following poem to the kids, "Walk and Talk, Don't stop and block!" I mean, seriously! Like this will be effective, right? Well, yesterday I decided to be a good little soldier and went to my first group of congregating kids and recite the phrase. They looked at me, giggled (it was a group of girls), and then moved on to class! A fluke, you say? I went to a second group and gave the phrase. Instant dispursal. For two days now I've been reciting this stupid expression and everytime, the kids immediately comply. I am beyond confused, but I'm not going to complain.

Okay, seriously. I have to stop blogging and do some other work before going to bed and getting a decent night sleep.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Summer Recap

Much to my chagrin, the summer has come to an end. Today was On-Campus staff development, which is a fancy phrase that means, "getting you back into the habit of waking up at 6:00am and dealing with commuting before you have to deal with kids, so you don't snap when they do show up". It also, unfortunately, means, "the kids are going to show up." So I thought it would be appropriate to look back at what I accomplished with all of my free time this summer. In other words, this will be a short post. I've got to tell you, it would be kind of depressing to see how little I've done in the last two and a half months if I hadn't set out at the beginning of June to be as lazy as humanly possible. So, here we have Summer 2007 in review.
The Booger Crisis
Despite my best plans of lounging around and watching TV in a totally self-absorbed manner, we discovered in early June that one of our cats, the ever-agreeable Booger, had little kitty cancer. This is one of those things that still amazes me as I look back on it, as the vet was less than subtle in his views that we should put Booger to sleep. More than two months later, Boog is living life more closely to normal than should be expected with the only inconvenience being that we have to give him medicine twice a day. Now, I won't say that we are out the woods here, and things could turn tragically tomorrow, but I know that I've made two months of memories with Booger that I will never forget, and he has not been loved and babied more in his life than he has in these last few weeks.

The Greatest Animated Movie Ever

It tells you how slow my summer was when a movie premier ranks in my top three moments. In fairness, however, The Simpson's Movie was more than a movie. The advertising, especially the cross promotion with 7-eleven, was genius beyond words, and it didn't hurt that the movie itself was very good. By the way, the picture is of a "Simpsonized" Jennifer. You may be able to get a "simpsonized" version of yourself here, depending on if the site is working when you try it. It's been unpredictable for me.

Meet-on-a-stick (Did you catch what I did there?)
Our annual Paul-Fest was, as always, a success. Boi Na Braza made some dramatic improvements in the way that they deal with large groups, which really made the affair all the better. More than the food and the service, however, was being able to spend an evening with my favorite people ever. That fellowship is important beyond words, and it humbles me to know that so many of the people that I love are willing to take time out of their busy lives to celebrate with me. It's strange and counterintuitive, but it occured recently to me that this is the true mark of a connected people. We often feel so much pressure to serve that we help one another unthinkingly. Of course I would help Eric and Larissa move or Ryan and Ashley paint, but the truth is that if just about anyone asked for my help, I would probably pitch in and do my part because it is the "right" thing to do. It takes a real connection, however, to take the time to celebrate something with someone. There's always something more "important", more pressing, than going to a party or sharing a meal, but when someone invites you into these special moments of your life, your response says a great deal about how you regard that relationship. Again, I'm just humbled that so many of you wanted to share this celebration with me.
Well, that was my summer in a nutshell. It was restful, but rest is something I could always use more of. Pray for me this week, and especially next week, as those darned kids will actually be in class.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Quiz Results

Okay, the results are in. The votes from last week's poll was fairly evenly divided between those of you who wanted to kiss up to me by asking about my Restoration History Class and those of you who are just cruel and wanted to hear about my physical mishaps. I'll give you quick looks at both. For the record, Randy was the sole desenter and wanted to hear about the comics. To Randy: I haven't gotten far enough to know about Jan becoming a real Wasp, but she changes outfits almost constantly, so maybe one of her outfits just really looked like a Wasp.
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Restoration History: I have been teaching this classs on and off for the last two months. My thesis for this class is that our movement begins in the midst of Enlightenment thought, which emphasizes logic and reason. This is why our movement is historically weak in issues like the Holy Spirit and Angels. Enlightenment thought also states that we as human beings are capable of solving any problems if they apply reason and logic. The founders of our movement, who were Enlightenment thinkers, struggled with the problem of Christian unity. Our movement, therefore, is a unity movement at its heart, calling all people to be one in Christ. Where we had problems, however, is in what unity looks like. It is one thing to say that all Christians are one, but it is another thing to believe this when you get together and one group uses a guitar and another prays to the Virgin Mary. Our enlightment thinking founders, therefore, "solved" the problem by saying that we would all be unified if we all did things the way they did things in the first century. Therefore the restoration movement, our desire to restore the first century church, began as an attempt to create unity in the body of Christ. But what do we think of christians who don't do things the way we think the first century church did them? The restoration principle, unfortunately, often comes into conflict with our unity principle. Historically speaking, CoC's have tended towards the Restoration principle. In other words, we would rather everyone do things the "right" way than to consider someone a brother or sister in Christ if they do things differently than what we would do. I think this trend is changing, but what do you think?
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Physical Breakdown: As I've mentioned before, Booger the cat does not enjoy taking his medicine. Twice a day, Jennifer has to fill a syringe full of foul-smelling gunk and shoot it into Boog's mouth while I hold him. Thi is decidedly a two person job, because the cat squirms wildly to avoid the treatment. Well, early last week, Jennifer left for work without giving Booger his medicine. I didn't think much of it, figuring that since I outweigh the cat by a factor of 30 that I could hold him down and give him his medicine. Long story short, I was wrong. I would hold him down, but displaying an incredible sixth sense, Boog would jerk away from me just as I pushed the plunger on the syringe. This resulted in both of us winding up with far more of the foul smelling gunk on us than in him. I didn't think anything of this until the next morning when I woke up and found my hands covered in a bright red rash that itched like heck! I'm now a little paranoid about medicating the cat, and am doubly careful about coming into contact with the medicine itself.
The rash breakout occured on the same day as my big bathtub fall, and I wish I could blame my stupidity on the medicine, but it was all me. Sunday morning, as we were once again rushing to get ready for Church in a timely manner, I was taking a shower. Just as I finished getting good and soapy (read: slippery), I noticed a bug crawling on the ceiling. Knowing that Jennifer would over react if she saw bug, I decided to play the part of the hero and squash said bug. Unfortunately, I was six inches too short to hit it, so I stepped up on the side of the tub to get leverage, immediately slipped, and smacked my head on the back of the tub. There was no blood, but I got a pretty good sized bump on the back of my head. For the record, the swelling has gone down and the double vision is getting much better.
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So, I've been writing this during staff development. We are back in the swing of things, and I am so not ready for school to start. Staff Dev. is good, but, boy, would I rather be goofing off.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Blog Quiz


I decided to shake things up and give you a pop quiz. Don't worry, it's multiple choice and open notes. Good luck.

1. Which of the following inane topics do you want to hear about?

A) Paul's day of physical breakdown- In one day, I slipped in the shower and smacked my head but good, and discovered that my skin reacts very poorly to Booger's medication.

B) The Never Ending Comic- After two straight months, I am almost to the decade of the 80's in my 40 years of the Avengers DVD-Rom, leaving just three more decades to read through. I haven't cracked the DVD-ROM's of the Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, The X-Men, The Ultimate X-Men, Captain America, or Spiderman. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will have something to keep me busy during my retirement years.

C) The Fading Summer- Wherein I whine about the fact that have to go back to work in like two weeks. Sure to be a popular choice among those of you who are not teachers (and my wife who is already back into the swing of things).

D) The Awesomeness that is The Simpsons' Movie- So worth seeing on the big screen if you are going to see it. The mockery of Disney was my personal laugh out loud moment.

E) Restoration History Recap- I don't know what it is, but I have felt like my Sunday Morning class at VRCC over the history of our movement has missed the mark. I can spend the blog explaining how our movement is the result of enlightenment thinkers struggling with the apparent disunity of God's church. Warning: Only to be read if you are fighting insomnia.

Alright, choose wisely. Remember to bubble in your answers completely with a number two pencil and to erase any stray marks.