Give Me A Break

I went to more summer training yesterday. My training yesterday started at the WISD Playhouse on I-35 by Baylor. The purpose of the training this time was to acquaint the elementary teachers with the new math textbook adoption. The morning training focused on the textbook itself and the various components.

The publisher of our adoption is Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. The presenter started by going into detail about the company and the name. As she was telling some fact about McGraw-Hill the following exchange took place:

Me, "Is Quickdraw still with the company?"

I get a blank stare.

Then she asks,"Who?"

Me, "Quickdraw!"

She, "Quickdraw?"

Me, "Yes! Quickdraw! Quickdraw McGraw.

"Someone in the audience, "He teaches Kindergarten!"

She, "Oh! I fell right into that one. They normally ask if Tim or Faith are there.

Fast forward to the afternoon session.

I arrive at Brook (That's the school I teach at, Brook Avenue Elementary) and am met with several police cars in the staff parking lot. Something has obviously happened and I had my suspicions.

I headed into the building and sure enough I learned that several vehicle windows were broken.

During the school year our parking lot is locked up during the day to keep folks out. However, during summer training with so many people coming and going the lot has been left unlocked.

Enter the folks that have nothing better to do during the day. Then add to that seemingly intelligent people leaving their valuables in their vehicle in plain sight.

Now I know that many of these people are not accustomed to this neighborhood, but gee whiz! Take your valuables with you; or at least hide them so that folks are not tempted.

Give me a break! And Charlie too. He had to clean up all the mess and it was terribly hot today.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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It's A Blue Day But I'm Not Blue

Busy day yesterday. Chris called me at work to let me know that my new phone came in. Great! I couldn't wait to get home and check it out. I had to stay and tutor though. Got home from school after 5:00 PM. I got stuck on the bridge over I-35 and had to sit for a while. It always gets blocked around this time due to truck traffic. The truck stop has just added a maintenance facility. Also, several new truck related services and warehouses have opened recently. Needless to say the truck traffic has picked up and makes it kinda hectic at times.

The state has recently announced that they will begin the I-35 widening project from State Highway 6 down to Lorena this year. That means the highway that I travel on to go to work will be fully involved soon and will last for the next three years. Yippee! Not! They will also be replacing the bridge over the interstate. This is good because there is near total gridlock in the area at times. It will be good to have a new bridge because the current one is a two-lane bridge and carries a lot of traffic currently.

Back to my original story. I got home after 5:00 PM and looked forward to checking out my new phone. NO! I didn't get a fancy one. I got a simple Sony Ericsson. It is the z310a. I was ready to set it up and the documentation said to charge it up first. Rats! I plugged it in and then Chris told me she had some errands to run so away we went. When we got back I was ready. Not for the phone. I had to eat. By now it was 7:00. I fixed supper and ate and finally got to the phone. It was fully charged by now and ready to go.

This phone is pretty cool. It has a camera. Now I know that isn't that cool anymore. Almost all phones have them now. For me it is cool because it's my first. The best part about this phone, at least for me, is the color effects that it has. It rings with colors. Different colors. I like the blue. I like most anything blue. My keyboard has blue lights. The warning light on my truck alarm is a flashing blue light. The light on my WD Passport drive is blue. If you want to sell it to me put a blue light on it and I'll probably buy it. Chris even got me a dozen LED tea lights. Yep. They're blue lights too.

The phone? Oh yeah, the phone. I imagine I'll be spending the next several days tweaking it and getting everything just right. If I have a problem I'll let you know. Lesson plans tonight. The weather broadcast say we may have snow or sleet or some other type of wintry precipitation tonight or tomorrow morning. If so, there's a chance for a late start at school. I'll keep you posted on that too.

I got a sample of dog food in the mail today. Yep. It came from Blue Buffalo. What can I say. I just like blue. One day I'll show you a Blue Sunflower. Ignore the fact that my truck is red. I suppose I was blue and just saw red.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.