Officially Technological
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Moving On
Not really, I just thought that sounded better than "Not Moving On". I'm still really bummed about Sam, but at least I can look at his kennel without bursting into tears, and Brian gave me a book that he made of pictures we had of Sam. That was really sweet. So, I am doing a little better, but still sad about that.
OK so in other news, my student teaching is getting totally out of control. I'm so frustrated. I think that's all I work on, think about, dream about etc. etc. I think it's driving me nuts. I think part of the problem is that I only have one class, so there's nothing by which to compare them. Am I effective? Don't know. Compared to what? Am I fun? Don't know. Compared to what? Have I made positive relationships? Don't know. Compared to what? Have I taught any math at all?... You get the drift. It seemed like when I had several classes throughout the day I didn't have this particular problem, because a bad day with one class was a good day with another. Ugh. Then, I am being observed literally the rest of this week, which is a lot of pressure and hours and hours of lesson planning (every time you're observed, you have to put your lesson plans in the official lesson plan template). Today and tomorrow, I'm being observed by my cooperating teacher, and Friday I'm being observed by my university supervisor. So, I'm a little stressed out. I also sent mid-terms yesterday, so now I have residual paperwork that accompanies those. Yikes.
Anyway, I would love to teach non-freshmen some time and see how it is with other classes. Better? Worse? The same? It would be fun to be a fly on other people's walls. Just so I'd have something to measure by. Although teaching is not really the type of field where comparing serves you well, it would just be nice to know that others are in the same boat as me.
Well, enough ranting. I promise to try to be much more cheerful the next time I post. Until then... :)
OK so in other news, my student teaching is getting totally out of control. I'm so frustrated. I think that's all I work on, think about, dream about etc. etc. I think it's driving me nuts. I think part of the problem is that I only have one class, so there's nothing by which to compare them. Am I effective? Don't know. Compared to what? Am I fun? Don't know. Compared to what? Have I made positive relationships? Don't know. Compared to what? Have I taught any math at all?... You get the drift. It seemed like when I had several classes throughout the day I didn't have this particular problem, because a bad day with one class was a good day with another. Ugh. Then, I am being observed literally the rest of this week, which is a lot of pressure and hours and hours of lesson planning (every time you're observed, you have to put your lesson plans in the official lesson plan template). Today and tomorrow, I'm being observed by my cooperating teacher, and Friday I'm being observed by my university supervisor. So, I'm a little stressed out. I also sent mid-terms yesterday, so now I have residual paperwork that accompanies those. Yikes.
Anyway, I would love to teach non-freshmen some time and see how it is with other classes. Better? Worse? The same? It would be fun to be a fly on other people's walls. Just so I'd have something to measure by. Although teaching is not really the type of field where comparing serves you well, it would just be nice to know that others are in the same boat as me.
Well, enough ranting. I promise to try to be much more cheerful the next time I post. Until then... :)
Thursday, February 05, 2009
The Streets Are Paved With Bacon
Sam and a "hat". It's actually a rubber ball that he chewed until it was half gone.
Sammers sleeping in the sun on the back of our Transformations chair
Sam and his fifty pound minion, Maggie
We had to put Sam to sleep this morning. It was really peaceful and the vet said we did the right thing by him. He had what the vet called a non-regenerative anemia. Basically, his body was no longer producing red blood cells. What happened was, he was bleeding someplace (the vet thought partially through his tumors, but also someplace internally), and his body stopped replacing his red blood cells. So, we had to say good-bye. It was terrible. My eyes are so swollen I can hardly see. But, regardless of how I feel, Sam is God's creature and now he's in God's place. I'm sure where Sam is, the streets are paved with bacon, and fenced with rawhides. And I'm willing to bet there's lots of places for adventures. Because a dog like Sam would like a good adventure. Preferably one that ends in a wild chase where his ears lay flat back against his little head to give him better aerodynamics (I'm sure he's thought that through). Yup, that's where Sam is. So, in loving memory of Sam, I'm going to end this post with a few Sammisms that I'm going to miss (some maybe more than others - lol).
Sammism #1: Howling at the sound of sirens (he will still practicing this the other night, so no matter how little energy he had, he could still muster up enough to howl at sirens).
Sammism #2: Sitting on everyone's lap (Sam knew no strangers. I really admired that about him. He was the most social creature I had ever met).
Sammism #3: Being bossy (let's just say... Sam typically got what Sam wanted)
Sammism #4: Sunbathing (Sam was known to sleep for hours out in the hot summer sun, belly up)
Sammism #5: Getting the squeakers out (even until he started getting really sick, Sam was ferocious and did NOT put up with squeaking toys. He could tear the squeaker out of a toy in 30 seconds flat - no joke)
Sammism #6: Out-smarting us (I mean, he was a Jack Russel after all, of COURSE he can out-smart several humans at a time)
Sammism #7: Out-smarting his Kong (somehow Sam learned that if he licked all the gooey stuff out of his Kong, he could put it on a hard surface, spin it, and use centrifugal force to get all the hard treats to come flying out)
Sammism #8: Two things Sam hated, squeakers and being cold (Sam would wrap himself up like a mummy in his blankets until he nearly died of heat exhaustion, he especially like fur blankets)
Sammism #9: He liked music (sometimes I would play the piano or put on opera music and Sam would lay there completely mesmerized)
Sammism #10: He was sweet (every time I was going through something, he curl up in a ball and snuggle with me)
Good night, Sam. Eat lots of bacon. I'll see you later.
