New Site

Okay people, it is time to update those RSS feeds one more time because the Web site is on the move. See the new site here. Blogs will be coming next week. Ah summer, you are already missed.

To Summer-ize

Okay, so it is the last day. Students finished yesterday, and the teachers are tying up loose ends. Of course the school insists that we party before we get our last day obligations out of the way. Everybody is rushing around like the last helicopter is about to leave Saigon.

The word is that the school is providing gifts to those teachers who have served the district for at least twenty years. Its show of gratitude will come in the form of a piece of luggage with wheels. Man, I’ve heard a picture says a thousand words, but an apparatus that facilitates one to leave? That doesn’t seem to produce as many words. Nope that’s very direct indeed. Was there a one-way ticket inside?

Anyway, this is where HT takes his summer break. It’s been great that you guys could visit the Web site for another year. I wanted to give you a heads-up that the site may be tinkered with a bit more this summer. The changes may mean that those who get the blog through RSS may have to re-subscribe like you did a couple of months back. Don’t worry. You’ll get an advance notice before anything happens.

Enjoy the summer.

What’s in a Name?

A student I had last year, a Mr. Zapaka stopped by to give me one of his graduation announcements. I remembered him being a good egg, but it wasn’t like we were super close. So for him to give me one of his announcements was a little odd.

He had a very specific reason, though, to give me one. It was actually one from a shipment he got that misprinted his name. He needed to get rid of them and thought I would appreciate the humorous result. According to the incorrect announcements a Mr. Azpaka was graduating this coming weekend.

To aid me in case I didn’t get the crude moniker he emphasized the pronunciation.

“Get it? AZZZ-PAK-A. If you say it real fast—.”

I stopped him there. I didn’t need any further explanation. I picked up on the fact that that the name belonged on the back off a letter jacket. Though I did wonder why he thought I would appreciate such a thing. Hmmm.

A Textbook Situation

We’ve got to get our class set of textbooks in before the year is completed. When that is I’m not entirely sure. It could be today, tomorrow, or the last day for teachers, Thursday. We don’t know because Hammer’s e-mail last Friday about collecting textbooks included that she wasn’t entirely sure herself when she would require them to be checked-in. Great. Thanks for the heads-up about, well, nothing. That’s just what we need while trying to close out the year.

What she did know is that she would charge us “seventy or something dollars a pop” for the ones that do not get returned, so we should “have the checkbooks ready” if we can’t get all of them back. Do you know what’s awesome about someone threatening to take your money? It’s when they’re cavalier about it.

If only she was able to share the message in person. That way she could have given me one of those fake punches where she pulls it at the last second and then laughs at my flinching. Maybe she’s saving that for when we actually turn the books in. Whenever that is.

Finals-ly!

Finals start today. I really hate the academic calendar for this year. We start finals today, then it’s Saturday, then it’s Sunday, and then we have Memorial Day. Well, at least the momentum wasn’t killed (yeah, right). I guess some students will consider it a stay of execution. Unfortunately, it is just a stay and not a pardon. Heads will roll.

What I really hate is the fact that I’ll be working during the break. You guys know just how crazy that last day for teachers is, so I’m going to make sure that I’ve got all of my ducks in a row. And if that means a sunny Monday in my hole of a classroom, then so be it.

Still, I just know that something really cool is going to happen while I’ve got my nose to the grindstone. You watch. LeBron James is going to knock on my door with extra tickets to an extreme stuntman and fireworks show where the grand finale is jumping through rings of fire over 50 Elvis impersonators, and he needs someone to pick up his good friend, Willie Nelson.