Cadio Funk
I've been running more and more each day, trying to push the cardio envelope, yet I often feel taht I am getting nowhere. I guess I keep expecting to quickly drop the weight, and nothing is that easy. Tonight it's bike riding in the 107 degree heat. Is there something wrong with me?

We had another mouse incident on Monday. Clementine has not earned any bonus points. Now I have the squealing in my head and hear it everywhere. Should I be concerend about auditory hallucinations? I hear the pitter patter of feet. Creepy.

Eric just got good news about his job. He was named Lead Developer for the next few projects. I'm so proud of him!!!!! He's definatley not in a funk.

Letters
Things have been tough at work, but I got two letters today that made all the difference. A student I had last year wrote me a letter thanking me for all I had taught her. She said that her English teacher this year keeps telling her she must have had a great teacher last year because she is doing so well. The fact that she took the time to tell me that meant everything. I also got a note from a collegue just thanking me for being me. It brought a smile to my face.
The principal is driving me nuts, mainly because he is so dark and never tell people, staff and students that they are good. Today I decided to change that, and I bought of bunch of candy. At lunch I gave each student a piece and thanked them for all of the hard work that they do and told them what a good job they do every day. It seemed to mean a lot to the kids and to my coworkers. Perhaps I'm on to somthing. It's amazing the power of positive reinforcement.

Gave at the Office
I am exhausted and frustrated at work. I feel I have nothing left to give. The principal is a chaos monger who seems to suck the joy out of being with students. I am very gratful for the students I have who seem to brighten my day even in all of the craziness. I declared tomorrow Student Appreciation Day. It takes not being appreciated to make me really appreciate other people. At least the lesson is not lost on me.

Pushing it to the Limits
Had a fanstastic weekend at the ACL Festival, although I don't think I have ever been hotter, stinkier, or dirtier than I was this weekend. It's been so dry in Austin, and there were so many people in the park that it was like a cattle drive had come through town. Clouds of dust and dirt hung in the air. By the end of the festival, many people were wearing surgical masks to keep from breathing it in. It topped off at 104 degrees this afternoon. woo!
I can't wait for next year!
This really is one of my favorite weekends of the year, the one where I feel really alive and connected. Perhaps this is too much to ascribe to a rock concert, but the feeling you get when your entire body is in tune with the music and your blood almost hums is magic to me. We saw some amazing shows. My favorites today were Ruthie Foster and Brave Combo. I also liked Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Blue October, slightly Stoopid, Jet, and Casey MacPherson. Amazing! I danced my booty off. Being in the gospel and blues tent was some sort of spiritual experience too.
This weekend has provided the mental health break I needed. I feel ready to face the chaos and ugliness at work again. I also got some good ideas about using music in the classroom.

When I cleaned my ears, the Q-tips came back black leading me to believe that I have dirt in my brain. When can I get my tickets?

Sing to Me Rita
It is probably completely inappropriate, but with all of this talk about Hurricane Rita I cannot stop thinking about this crazy old handyman named John that used to work on our house. My sister and I used to call him "Jerky John." That was the height of wit for 10 year olds. Anyway, he drove us crazy. I remember once I was home sick and he was working on the house and he kept talking to our cats, Ebony and Rita. He would scream out, "Sing to me, Rita!" at which point Rita would run away in terror. For years my sister and I used to say it to each other to get a laugh.

Rita craziness descended on central Texas--although the storm has luckly shifted, there were chances that a storm would reach the Austin area and the entire place has gone nuts. By the time it would get to us, the hurricane woudl be a mere thunderstorm, but there were people boarding thier home and buying supplies for several weeks. Apparently grocery stores have completely sold out of bottled water. Things like eggs, diapers, and canned food are at a premium. Many gas stations have also sold out of gas due to everyone wanting to top off their tanks before a possible price hike. Schools have cancelled classes and businesses are closing. This afternoon the weather reports suggest that now Austin is not going to get any rain at all. I hope those people feel appropriately foolish. I suppose with Katrina images still fresh in everyone's head it is easy to overract. It now looks like even Houston may miss most of the storm. I suppose I would rather have people overreact than underract like in New Orleans.

The good news is that the Austin City Limits Music Festival is still on. I have been looking forward to this for over a year. It's my favorite weekend of the entire year; it's the one that reminds me why I love Austin so much. Up till an hour ago it was still uncertain, but now all systems are go and I'm ready to get my groove on. Jen and Jay are coming in tonight and the party starts tomorrow. I took the day off citing family obligations because my sister is going.

Our building is now set to be reopened in the middle of October. This comes from the same folks who said before Labor Day so get out your salt licks.

Been a Long Time Gone
Yes. I've been totally slacking, horrifically unupdaty. My excuse, and I'm sticking to it, is that I have spent all of my time online reading stupid posts on my class discussion board. This education class reaffirms my beleif that education teachers do not actually teach. The key work is "synergy." Which means let the kids make the rules. According to them I'm a horrible teacher because I occassionally raise my voice. Yet I had an old student stop by today to tell me how much what I taught her has helped now that she is in high school. That was pretty amazing to hear. It's nice after a long day to hear at least you touched one person's life. I guess that's what's cool about being a teacher. Occasionally that happens.
Much excitement this week. We are going to the Neighbors in Need concert on Wednesday which benefits the Katrina victims, and this weekend is the Austin City Limits Music Festival which I am totally excited about. I'm been looking forward to this since the last concert of last year's festival. It's really everything that rocks about living in Austin.

I was horrified at church yesterday when someone said that God would be a conservative. I vowed never to go back. Poor ERic had to listen to my 2 hour lecture on why that is bullshit.

I'm on a new kick of eating right and losing weight. Pria bars are vunderbar! Very yummy. I actually have a good feeling about this.. Any diet that includes sugar free fudgepops is ok in my book!