Reflecting on 2008

I thought it might be a good idea to reflect back on 2008.

2008 was a time of minor change for me. A time for a removal of stress. A time of growth.

It was the first year I had started without Washington, my faithful canine companion, since 1994. In that respect, it was a time of sadness and a time of moving on. It was a time to see that pets' lives are so much shorter than our own and a natural cycle for all pet owners is the death of that pet. It's sad, but it is all part of the circle of life. That is the way God made this world, it is right that the world has death, but that does not mean it is easy.

2008 saw the end of the former leadership in my school district, and a new (although temporary) leadership put in place. With this new leadership, there was a major time of celebration within my school district, almost a freeing from bondage. I don't wish to underestimate the sense of relief when the new leadership was put in place (nor do I wish to get more specific). The district literally heaved a gigantic sigh of relief, those of us who survived and were willing to wait it out. The stress levels throughout the district have dropped tremendously.

2008 saw the long dreamed of deck added to the back of our house. I don't know how many times I stared at the back of my house, anticipating what it would be like to have a nice deck with a door leading onto it. And we were finally able to see that dream come true.

2008 saw a huge maturing of my stepson. I am very proud of the steps Seth has taken to get his life together. He has grown as a person in the last eight months or so, and he seems to be on the right track.

2008 saw me grow as a writer, publishing two new books, and re-publishing my first book, newly updated. Although I am not making more than change on the books, it is a great deal of fun and I shall continue to write.

2008 saw me return to an old love: painting. I have gotten a new set of oil paints and have begun to paint once again (I think it had been ten years since my last painting). I am very rusty, but I am having fun.

2008 saw me falling even more in love with my wife. I know I don't tell her often enough how much she means to me, but she is everything to me. I love her bigger than the trees.

Finally, 2008 saw Cara and me in the best shape we have ever been as a couple as far as finances are concerned. Do we still live paycheck to paycheck? Yes. What else is new there. But we occasionally have a little extra, which is a nice change.

Here is wishing everyone a fantastic 2009!!

Snow Days

Oh, how I love a good snow day. One of the perks to being a teacher is that you get the occasional snow day, a day off from school due to snow or ice.

My wife and I had one yesterday, this being one of the ice-related varieties. I mean, what can be nicer than getting up at 5:15 in the morning, expecting to have to go to work, and finding out you don't. You have an unexpected free day, a day to do nothing. You can't go anywhere due to the weather, so you can't use it as an excuse to do some errands. You get to stay home where it is snug and cozy and relax, do whatever you would like, read a book, watch television, surf the Internet, play a game, anything indoors. If it is very snowy out, you will eventually need to clear the driveway and steps, but since you don't have to got to work, you can do it on your own time.

My problem is that by the time I get that phone call telling me there's no school, or by the time I see my school listed on the bottom of the TV screen on Stormcenter (love their theme music), I am wide awake. There is no way I can go back to sleep. My wife is the opposite. Which means I usually curl up in the recliner in the living room with my latest book (right now I am reading The Toomyknockers by Stephen King) and enjoy a few hours reading, drinking coffee (pumpkin flavored yesterday), and watching the snow come down (or freezing rain, yesterday).

Of course, the biggest drawback is that every time we have a snow day, it means one more day in June we have to go. Some people say, no, there are snow days built into the school calendar, we don't have to make them up until we go over a certain number. Bologna, I say. They are only there to remind people that we are likely to use snow days. If by some chance we don't use them (rarely happens), then we don't go those days. So essentially, every snow day is another day in June.

But, as long as we only have two or three or four snow days, it is more than worth it. Instant gratification, and all that.

Boston Red Sox Managers

I am very pleased to announce the publication of my newest book, Boston Red Sox Managers. This book profiles all the Red Sox managers, from 1901 to the present. Included are Joe Cronin, who managed for 13 seasons, and Rudy York, who managed for one game. It includes the very first manager, Jimmy Collins, and the present manager, Terry Francona. And it includes all the rest, 44 managers in all.

This book is actually a part of a much larger book I am writing profiling all the Major League baseball managers, from the 1870s to the present. My original hope was to have the larger book finished before Spring Training, 2009, but I quickly saw that that was unlikely to happen, so I have decided to publish shorter books, categorized by teams, while I work to finish the larger book. The Red Sox, the team I have followed passionately since I was a boy, was the logical choice to start.

Boston Red Sox Managers by Brian Merrill is available exclusively on Amazon.com at a price of $9.95 per copy.

We're Bailing Out Car Makers While We Abandon Our Children

I guess I don't get it. I don't understand how the government can be bailing out the auto industry when, here in Maine anyway, we are looking at an unprecedented $26 million cut in education in the middle of the school year. When the auto company CEOs are making $400,000 a year, and a fraction of that is being cut from a statewide school budget that is likely to deeply affect our children's education. When these same CEOs show up to testify to Congress, asking for billions (nor millions) of dollars in free money, and they show up having flown to Washington in their individual corporate jets. Isn't that like driving a limousine to a food cupboard?

Here in Maine, our governor has ordered $26,000,000 in cuts, not for next year, but in the middle of the year, well after school supplies have already been ordered, when schools are trying to figure out how they are going to pay the winter fuel bills. This is money that has already been promised to the schools that the schools have built their budgets around. What are the schools going to do? My school district is giving pink slips to all the education technicians, anticipating that some or all of them may lose their jobs somewhere around Christmas. (Happy Holidays and don't let the door hit you in the butt as you leave for good.) My wife's school is looking at having 30 to 35 kids per classroom for next year. In my school, we are already cut back to the point where we can only offer our students English/Language Arts classes every other day. Are we going to have to do that with Math, too? We have cut our reading instruction from last year to this year by two thirds, from 350 minutes a week to 110 minutes a week. And now we hear that there may be more cuts. Maybe the kids can get by with 30 minutes of reading instruction a week and English every third day. Maybe we can cut Math out completely. I've always heard its over-rated anyway.

But, we better make sure we bail out the auto industry. Some of those executives might not get their Christmas bonuses. Isn't this the same industry that was told to produce more fuel efficient vehicles a few years ago? And they refused? They said people wanted the big SUVs and Hummers. Now, which vehicles are sitting on the lots rusting before they have ever been driven?

But lets cut all those ed techs from the schools. What do they do all day, anyway? They only work with our toughest students: the kids who can't read, the kids who kick and bite and punch, the kids who didn't get any supper the night before because mom was passed out drunk and dad hasn't been seen since last January, the kids who swear at them all the time, the kids who aren't toilet trained. Who is going to work with them? The principals? The superintendents? Maybe the school board would volunteer to come in every day at lunchtime to catheterize that student that used to be catheterized by the ed tech? Lets get rid of some of our most important staff members, the ed techs, and see what sort of school we have left.

I'm not blaming the superintendent. His hands are tied. To have cuts in the middle of the year is an impossible situation. There is very little supply money left to cut. The teachers have signed a year-long contract, there are legal issues if they are let go in the middle of the year. That leaves the hourly employees. I understand his dilemma.

One solution: take one tenth of one percent of the money that may be going to bail out the auto industry and send it our way, toward Maine, toward education, and we might be able to keep our already cut to the bare bones schools going for a little while longer.

Hearing From a Former Student, Too Much Water and Seth Update

I have three topics for this blog entry, as the title of the blog suggests.

First, I got an email today from a former student of mine. When I taught sixth grade, for a couple of years I taught science, in addition to math. I had very little background in science, so I taught what I knew: space. I did a unit on the space program as well as a unit on astronomy. My kids really seemed to enjoy the units. One girl in particular really was especially motivated by the space unit. She emailed me this week. She is going to school at Florida Institute of Technology, with an interest to perhaps work at NASA, perhaps as an astronaut. She was telling me about the program she is in. She has recently been at Kennedy Space Center, where she was taken out to a launchpad, with a Space Shuttle sitting there all ready to launch (scheduled for November 14). I was very impressed. I love hearing from former students, but I particularly like to hear from this former student. This is a young lady who set her sights on working for NASA from the time she was young, perhaps even in sixth grade. She has worked very hard, in school, by attending space camps, and now in college, to meet her goal. I have every reason to believe she will meet that goal. I wish more students could be as goal-oriented and hard-working as this young lady. I am so proud of everything she has done and, whether she ends up working for NASA or not, I will continue to be very proud of her.

Item number two: I discovered a water main break. I was home sick from work Wednesday (I am already feeling 99% recovered) when I noticed that the ditch in front of the house was filled with water. Except when we get heavy rain, this almost never happens, and when it does it drains quickly. I saw that water was coming out of the culvert that crosses under the road fairly steadily. This bugged me and a few hours later I went outside and took a closer look. The ground was beyond saturated along the ditch and, when I checked the other end of the culvert, no water was entering from the other side. To make a long story short, I ended up calling the water department on a hunch and sure enough, the water main was leaking about fifteen feet further up the road. They ended up shutting off the water to the whole street, digging a huge hole and fixing the leak. When I mentioned to Cara (by cell phone as she was on her way home) what had happened, she was impressed. But not with my discovering the leak, but by the fact that I actually called the water district myself.

Update on Seth: Seth is in Vermont working at Sugarbush Ski Resort for the winter. He is making snow for the resort, working very hard, and living in a small apartment near Sugarbush. He sounds very happy and Cara and I are very proud of him. His girlfriend is in Europe and will be back right before Christmas, so the separation is tough on him, but in the long run, it should be strengthen the relationship. I know when Cara and I were first dating, I was in Belfast and she was in Fort Kent and, looking back, I think it helped to strengthen our relationship. Not that I would want to do that all over again.

Forgive my Ignorance

Being a white man from Maine, I had no idea of the impact that Barack Obama's Presidential election victory would have on people, particularly on African-Americans. I had no idea how much it would mean to blacks to have a black man elected President. Now, seeing the reaction of so many people, both black and white, but particularly black, on the news, in magazines and newspapers and on the Internet, makes me wonder where I have been. It makes me see that I was missing something.

I though I understood the significance of having an African-American man elected President. May times over the years, I have had conversations with my students at school about how far overdue this country was in elected an African-American or a woman to the position of President. Yet, I guess I grossly underestimated how much of an impact this would have on the African-American community. Where was I?

To see Jessie Jackson openly weeping on television, to see Oprah Winfrey's reaction on her show the next day, to see Condeleezza Rice interviewed, and to hear many black people interviewed on television sent chills down my spine. But the clincher was seeing Oprah interview Will Smith talk about how much it meant to him, personally. Where was I?

I can partly blame it on where I live. I live in Maine, in an area that is 99% white. In school, I can count on one hand how many black students I have in class each year, many years I have had just one, or sometimes none. We have no African-Americans on our teaching staff. There are no black people in my neighborhood. But, this is no excuse.

How could I not see how important it is to see an African-American elected President? How could I not see how important this is to a people who were enslaved for generations less than 150 years ago? How could I not see how special this would be to a people who only gained their basic civil rights 40 years ago? How could I not see? Am I blind?

In hindsight, I understand just how important this is. Many people interviewed said they did not think they would see this in their lifetime. I think I am starting to understand. The only thing I can relate this to is when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 after 86 years of coming oh so close. And yet, this comparison is not even close. It's probably insulting to African-Americans to even say it might compare. But I know how much the Red Sox winning meant to me. It brought me to tears. It was something I thought I would never see. Now, magnify that a thousand-fold and you might get close.

My ignorance is unforgivable. Hopefully my eyes have begun to open.

School Consolidation

In MSAD 56 where I teach and in MSAD 34 where I live, we have just voted to consolidate our school districts.  Despite much trepidation on the part of many people, the vote was really not that close and both school districts voted to combine, beginning in July 2009, less than a year away.

Not that the state gave us much choice.  It is a law that schools must consolidate unless they are already a certain size.  Then they left it up to the people to vote.  However, if the people decided not to consolidate, the state was going to fine the school district a huge chunk of their funding.  The loss of funds would devastate any school district that said no.  I doubt MSAD 56 could have continued to function without the state funds.  I suspect a third of the teaching staff would have been let go and the smallest of our three elementary schools would have been forced to close.  Maybe even the smallest two.  I suspect those of us who survived the cuts would have had more than thirty students per classroom.

Luckily, the people of both school districts made the only decision they could: to consolidate.  For good or for bad, we will soon be one school district.  I suspect the good will far outweigh the bad.  Then again, I usually see the glass half full.

Voting

I voted today.

You know, it feels good to vote. It feels like you did a good deed when you vote. I'll admit, I don't vote every year, but when I do it makes me feel good.

It does make disgruntled when I hear people say, "it is your civic duty to vote." Hogwash, I say. It is everyone's right to vote, not a duty to vote. If someone does not feel they want to vote, then they have every right not to. Many people make a statement by not voting. "None of the above." I often wish that was one of the choices. Especially this year in the Presidential category. I don't like any of the candidates. I chose one and voted for him, but I am not happy with my choice. I picked the one I felt would do the best overall job, but let's face it, anyone with any common sense would never run for President. Who would want the job. Have you ever looked at a photograph of a President when he (I use he, because we have not had a she yet) first takes office and compare it to his photograph as he leaves office? He has aged double the number of years he was in office. Have you ever compared Abraham Lincoln's photos from his first and last years in office. He appears to have aged 25 years.

Anyway, voting makes me feel good, even when the choices don't.

Fall Update

I realized the other day that it had been quite awhile since I had updated my blog. I thought I should do an update, I had intended to blog once or twice a week, but I just could not think what to say. Then I thought, if it had been so long, I guess it is time to update on everything that has happened since my last blog, this past summer.

School has started up again with a whole new crop of eighth graders. Things are a little different this year. I am on the first all-male teaching team in the history of Searsport District Middle School. We are sharing a principle with the high school. We have a new superintendent. And I have my nephew Jake in class this year. All those things combined make for a different and unique year. Now, I don't mean that in a bad way, nor necessarily a good way either. It is just different. Having Jake in class is definitely good, although odd at times. I don't know how Jake feels, but I do find it strange to have him in class, although I am totally enjoying the experience.

Seth, my stepson, has finished his job at the Jordan Pond House and has moved to Vermont to work at Superbush Ski Resort for the winter. He has definitely grown up and matured a lot in the last year and I am very proud of all he has done.

Cara is as beautiful as ever. I know I don't tell her this enough.

I have a new book out. It is called From George W. to George W.: The Presidents and their Cabinets. It is available exclusively on Amazon.com and has been out since late August. Sales so far have been practically non-existent, but I'm hoping it will catch on at some point. I have a couple projects in the works for other books and am hoping at least one of them will be ready before the end of 2008.

Now that Halloween has come and gone (we had no trick-or-treaters), I am looking forward to the Christmas season, which, as I have posted before, in my opinion starts now and goes through the first week of January. To me, Thanksgiving and New Years are a part of the overall Holiday Season.

Cara and I have battened down the hatches. In other words, we spent yesterday getting the house ready for the winter. This includes putting plastic over a few spots on the house that are drafty, taking care of lawn furniture, flower beds, the gas grill, the kayaks, and a number of other outdoor stuff. Winter is on its way, whether/weather we are ready or not.

I am going to try and update this blog more often, even if the entries are short. Bye for now.

Summer, Slow Down!

Summer vacation has just begun, but by looking at the calendar I see that it is one fourth over already as well. For those of us who teach, summer is a vital time to recharge our mental and physical batteries. Teaching kids, as enjoyable as it is, is both mentally and physically draining. We teachers need the summer to make sure we are ready for the ten-month long school year. And the summer seems to go way too fast.

Cara and I have already spent a week at Camp, the family camp on Center Pond where we love to go to relax, swim, kayak, read, and enjoy each other's company without the day-to-day chores of being at home. We are now readying ourselves for a 2-day yard sale, this Saturday and Sunday. Our dining room, living room and kitchen are loaded with tons of . . . stuff. Hopefully we can get rid of most of it, while at the same time make some money that we hope to put away for a possible trip to Florida next winter or spring. We still have not gotten anywhere on our new deck, which we thought would be done by now. Our carpenter/friend hopes to start next week. Cara's mom is coming for a visit next week and it will be nice having her here. Seth was home for a brief visit this week. We have the annual family reunion in just over a week. The following week I will be at a 3-day conference for school (so much for vacation). Cara and I hope to get back to Camp somewhere in there. The second week of August we will spend with my family at a camp we are renting on a small lake in the southern part of Maine. Cara hopes to get to her Mom's somewhere after that, before she starts back to school a week early this year (due to needing to get out early next spring in order to move her school to her new school before her old school is demolished). Whew! I can tell that this summer, as fast as it is going, may just fly by even faster. Let's hope not.

Camp Kieve a Positive Experience

Last week the entire eighth grade at my school went to Camp Kieve for two days and one night. It was part of their Leadership School, an adventure-based education teaching kids to take healthy challenges. It involves kids climbing on a high ropes course, among many other activities. We actually stayed at Camp Kieve's sister camp across the lake, Camp Wavus. It is an absolutely beautiful campus, right on the lake, with the ropes course located out on a narrow peninsula, with water on all sides. One of the activities involves a giant swing, where students are hoisted thirty-five feet into the air and they swing out over the water.

As a long-time sixth grade teacher, I have always known that the Camp Kieve experience was a positive one, where students came back saying how much fun they had, etc. Until last year, I had no idea just how much personal growth each student returned with. They are able to challenge themselves at any level they choose. I have never seen a program where every student walks away having gotten so much out of the experience. Most were able to do things they never thought they would be able to do. Perhaps they climbed 15 feet off the ground. Maybe they climbed all the way up a tree and walked across a six inch wide pole, 40 feet off the ground. Maybe they paddled a canoe for the first time. Maybe they rode the giant swing. Maybe they just watched, but stayed overnight away from home for the first time. Whatever the challenge, no matter how much gumption it took to meet that challenge, no student was left unchanged. I strongly believe that this camp, this program, has changed the lives of many a young person. I have also been changed by the experience.

Turning 40

Sunday I hit the big 4-0. That's right, forty. I am no longer in my thirties, but now I am in my forties. Wow. That is hard for me to say. I am 40 years old. It seems like just yesterday that my parents turned 40. Its hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly. What happened to my thirties? Or my twenties for that matter? 40 years old. Does that mean I have to start acting like an adult? I sure hope not.

I will say that the days leading up to 40, the days anticipating it, were much worse than actually waking up to 40. I dreaded my birthday tremendously. Yet, the morning I turned 40, it didn't feel any different. If anything, there was a bit of weight off my shoulders. It was kind of like, "Whew, it's finally here, and I'm not dead, I'm not decrepit, I'm actually feeling pretty good about it."

To celebrate, Cara and I had my parents, my aunt and uncle, my grandfather, my sister and her two boys, and my brother, his wife and their daughter over to our house. We had a smorgasbord of food and, of course, cake and ice cream. (My sister and my nephews made the ice cream, homemade, and it was unbelievably good!) I had a great day! It was a lot of fun! And it had been years since we had hosted any of our family gatherings, so that made it just that much more special.

40 really doesn't feel any different. Inside I am still about 10. Well, I sometimes feel like I'm 10. Cara would suggest that maturity-wise that would even be stretching it. I would definitely not like to be 10 again, because that would mean I had the teen years ahead of me, and I absolutely do NOT want to repeat those years! I guess I like 40. There is good and bad about reaching this age. But so far, 40 seems pretty good to me.

Ah, the Life of a Teacher

Just a quick story about what happened at school this morning:

A student of mine that I will not name, a young man who is autistic, came into my room this morning. He congratulated me for my homeroom winning the "pizza party." My homeroom had the best attendance in our grade during our recent round of standardized testing, which won us a pizza party coming up this Friday.
When he said this to me, I immediately remembered that this young man had done some of his testing with my homeroom (even though he is technically not part of any homeroom). I asked if he would like to join us for the pizza party. His response was, "Of course! I would love to join you." I smiled at his enthusiastic answer and made sure he knew when the party was, which he did.
Just after he left the room, I overheard him talking to the lady who works one-on-one with him, saying, "I didn't even have to ask him!"


Another thing happened as well. This happened in one of the other teacher's classes, on the team I teach on, named Josh. A student had finished what the other students were working on, today, and Josh asked if he would find something else to work on while the other students finished up. He told the teacher that he had something he could work on. He took a folded piece of paper out and carefully spread it out on his desk. Josh observed that it was covered in tally marks, four lines with the fifth one crossing the other four, over and over all covering the paper. Next the student pulled out something else, something he unwrapped. It was a Tootsie Pop. The young man took a lick, then added a mark to his paper. He took another lick and added another mark. Josh already knew the answer but decided to ask anyway. Sure enough, the young man said he was doing a scientific experiment to see how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

Kitchen Remodel

Cara and I are always trying to improve our home. We've redone floors, painted walls, and Cara has an icredible way with decorating. Thus, our latest redo: the kitchen. It was not a complete redo. We redid the floor a year ago. But over our recent vacation, we painted the walls and put in a new stone-tile backsplash behind the stove, then decided to extend the tiles to do a border around the top of the sideboard. Here are some pictures:

Condolences to the Ryan Family

As a Boston Red Sox fan, it is only natural to be a fan of all those Red Sox pre-game commentators that I see on an almost daily basis from April to October every summer. One of my favorites is Bob Ryan, who is also a sports columnist for the Boston Globe. Bob's son Keith died at the age of 37 yesterday, while working for the U.S. Homeland Security Department in Pakistan.

I want to extend my deepest condolences to the entire Ryan family over such a tragic loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Snow, Snow, Snow

It seems like we have gotten a huge amount of snow lately. According to the local weather forecaster, Steve McKay, Maine has not had a December like this one, as far as snowfall totals go, for at least 10 years. We had more snow in December 2007 than each of the previous 5 Decembers combined.

Now, I love snow. To me there is nothing like sitting in a warm house and watching the snow fall out the window. But even I am starting to get tired of scooping the snow out of the driveway.

Using my snow scoop is a fairly simple way to clear the driveway. But when you have to push the scoop up a 4-foot snowbank every time because you've run out of places to dump it, that tens to be rather exhausting. Especially when you get two nearly-one-foot snow storms in 3 days.

Luckily, the forecast is calling for a few days in the 40's this week. Hopefully, some of the snow will not survive. I need to shrink the snow banks so I have a place to put the snow from our next storm. And one thing I know about Maine, if it is only January, then there will defeintely be a next storm.