ACHOO. Excuse me, it is a bit dusty in here.

Well it is that time of the year again. Tomorrow I will be in lovely, quiet Ogunquit. That is nice and all, and I am excited, but the best is yet to come...The Midwest.

Yes, I will return to my new love Wisconsin after Christmas. Yeah, this Western Mass girl is in love with Wisconsin, are you really surprised? Well first I have to go to Charlotte for Christmas, then stop in Louisville, KY to rest. I have not been there since went to Lexington for, umm cheerleading camp. You read that right. I went to UK for cheerleading camp, any questions.

Yes, I am visiting Louisville Slugger, that is if I leave by 7am. Now will I make it even better by going to Dyersville too? Then maybe Baseball HOF on way home for trifecta?

My big issue is New Years. I have any number of places to go, Chicago? Cleveland? Syracuse? Minneapolis? Depends on what comes out of the Great Plains. I am just happy to be going back to Wisconsin. I will pull another, leave school, hit Pike and not get off I-90 until Wisconsin, except that I will be heading south first. Through NJ, not PA cause my car hates PA mountains.

Well enough for now, need to make ticker, take my remaining 7 students to the pep rally (aka complete chaos and anarchy). More later. Doing Charlie Brown happy dance.

Film at 11

By some miracle, I am now enrolled at Boston University. How cool is that. Access to a university library and holdings...halfway decent parking for Boston (easier than Cambridge). Plus university life in the heart of Boston moments from Fenway Park.

I am taking a film class: Four nonfiction filmmakers. Already I can say that it is cool. But now I am truly regretting not taking French. All the good stuff is in French. I am going through Metropolitan College and getting 4 grad credits. I am using a voucher from a teacher who could not use it. I look forward to class even though my knowledge of film is well non existent.

Well, off to get a roll of quarters for the meters. And find the course site.

It is Columbus Day yet?

Yep...I am going to be on the road again. But I am flying...out of Logan, on Midwest. I am not looking forward to flying out of Logan and on an airline other than Southwest. Southwest crews are the best. Hands down. To be a plane for two hours without them would be so sad. And expensive. But I had a choice, 2.5 drive with nasty traffic from Midway, or a bit more than an hour from Milwaukee.

And I have to rent a car. So I have to curtail the drinking (I would with my own car. Who needs to lose their license?) AND no bringing goodies home. Sigh. But 18 hours is a long drive. I keep telling myself I will drive up after Christmas. But I am sure there will be a HUGE Midwestern storm and I will never make it out of Indiana. At least there are goats and a pony there.

Don't get me wrong. I am so SUPER EXCITED to go back to Madison. Since I plan on getting a small condo or apartment for the summer, I better start getting myself ingrained in the community.

And I a bummed about not taking classes this semester. I mean yeah, I have an impossible paper due in two weeks, but it is obviously not the same. Maybe I can create a mini-course myself. Hey if I read a few books, I can get PDPs for it. Maybe something on how technology is not necessarily the best for students? You know, a back to basics manifesto. Off to do some more lesson planning.

The Student Becomes the Teacher

Well, last day of vacation. Professional days start tomorrow. I will leave out my opinions here. Honestly, I just want to get started, no prestuff. And we all know the sooner the year starts the sooner summer can begin. I have two days after these to get ready and all. The weather is cooperating, hopefully it will stay cool.

I wanted to see if I could take a class this semester, but not looking too good. I need the rest I guess. That is sad because I love being a student. I can pretend, well let my classes teach me what to do and not do. I have so much to give them, but so little time. I really want to get so much done before all MCAS nightmares begin. I am going to try to get out of proctoring. I am not good at it. I would rather watch a cafeteria full of kids than deal with all that. I might not have a choice this year though, we are short a department head. UGH. Maybe I can coach cheerleading again...NOT.

We are short on paper (woah news, NOT). So I am finding ways to do stuff online. The honest truth is that putting stuff online is tricky. You have copyright issues, distribution issues, and let's face it, kids do not have all the access to online material as we think they do. Plus they do not have lots of printing accessibility. You see, I like technology, but it has its limits. There is too much technology. You have to know when to say no, but when the district embraces it so, you do your duty. It is a constant battle. I am being observed this year by the assistant superintendent, but she is new so who knows. I might be able to get by with a simple PowerPoint. But worry not, I have bells and whistles like no tomorrow.

I need to go to Boston, go to the library, do a bit of shopping, and just hang out for the last time. It was a great summmer, a few notable exemptions, but good, and I am ready to start all over again.

How tired am I?

BORED

I am so very bored. I have spent the last 3 days sitting on the couch doing just about nothing. OK appt and shopping yesterday. And well the weekend does not count. This has been the first time since July 7th, that I have had free time. All other days/hours were spent travelling or reading/studying, etc. But I am also tired. It is like my body is saying, "YO girlfriend, slow down, smell the roses, clean the litter box, how about some clean laundry?"

But I want to be doing things. Thinking Fenway tomorrow, plus there is Maine, upstate NY, Vermont, the Cape, although I may do that Monday. The Raw Bar has the best food evah. Seriously the lobster roll is bigger than my head. Part of me wanted to go to Kentucky...but cooler heads have prevailed. I still plan to go to Wisconsin for Columbus Day. Checking for flights and rental rates. Already have hotel in Madison. But I could change my mind and go to Minnesota, or DC. If I were not broke, you know I would be somewhere. Gotta finish NEH evals, and I will let you know what I personally thought of my seminars...Pretty much you should apply for them.

Back to deciding what to do. This couch is getting old.

Summer winding down

Where has the summer gone...honestly where oh where has my summer disappeared to? Ok, I have had some serious fun studying and traveling, but I am sad to say that it it just about over. I am almost done with 7 straight weeks of workshops and institutes. Yes, it has been stressful and a whole lot of work, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. I love teaching, but if I could do this all the time, you know I would. I love learning. I am a teacher, I have to love learning. I am going to bring back so many great things to my classroom for all this work over the summer. From architecture to George Washington, my kids will hate me beacuse of all that I will be bringing in to the classroom. Well off to have some more fun.

Nevermind. Back to your wonderful 4th of July activities.

Delayed happiness

PRAISE THE LORD. OHIO IS GETTING EZPASS. But not until the 4th quarter of this year. I mean if Indiana can have I-ZOOM (how awesome is that name? I hope whoever came up with it got a huge bonus...or at least lifetime job security) why does Ohio have to stay in the 20th century. When I got off at I90 the other day, they didn't even have a credit card lane, which is no remedy anyway. AND to make amtter worse, only 2 booths open, at 7pm on July 2rd. UMMMM, did someone forget a certain HUGE holiday evoking many 3-day weekends? I love Ohio, but waiting in line for upwards of 15 minutes is too much to take. And yes, I will evoke the trite, "everybody else has done it already." I have not run the numbers, but it is also expensive, or at least I think so because I have to use that strange green paper stuff. Once again, I love Ohio, but despise, loathe, curse the turnpike.

Recovery SUCKS

First let me just say I LOVE LOVE LOVE Wisconsin. I was not too impressed when I visited Milwaukee, it just seemed, you know, normal. Then I went to Madison and well I left with a few real estate books. Maybe it was the weather, the cheese. Or maybe the trolls put a spell on me (no, I did not drink too much beer. Visit Mt. Horeb and you will understand).

There is so much (too much for even 4 days) to do in SW Wisconsin. Aside from dropping a paycheck on State Street in Madison at all the great little shops, I had some serious fun in Spring Green. Warning: If you want to do the 4-hr tour of Taliesin, book it at least 6 weeks in advance. I did the Hillside and 2-hr house tour. The weather was just perfect. And well this is Frank Lloyd Wright, how could you not like it? Although I wonder if he wondered about the long range longevity of his homes. They embrace nature and are fabulous, but over time and a some settlement preservation becomes harder. The trust does an awesome job. It is so worth a visit . If you are lucky, you will meet Sherpa the cat. I only saw her back.

Also in Spring Green is House on the Rock. The architect, Alex Jordan, was rejected by Frank Lloyd Wright and determined to built HOTR in response to that rejection...I wonder if he forgot his meds when he created it. I am sure he was on something when he decided on the Infinity Room...I recommend Dramamine if you visit. Let's just say the house is quite interesting. He certainly loved Tiffany lamps. The other two parts are very cool, and keep those tokens, there are many music boxes and cool aminations. If you go with the ultimate tour, you can do the 3 parts on different days .

There is more of course, but I am slowly returning to Metro Boston life. I slept through the fireworks on TV. And I have to read for my next workshop which I go into more detail on this blog. The sandman beckons...quite loudly.

The Excitement is BREWING (yes, that is a pun)

OK, I will not be going to see the Brewers again...well at least I haven't planned to. That is a 2hr drive both ways. But I digress.

I am sitting here, waiting for them to finish my car and trying not to show how totally excited I am about this trip. Almost all of my reservations are set. I am looking for decent gas prices on the way (PAY ATTENTION...never leave Indiana westbound without a full tank of gas, especially if you are going to Chicago). And it looks like I dodge a major weather bullet.

I still have to book my 4hr tour of Taliesin. According to the WC, there will be scattered t-storms, but otherwise nice. I plan to go up to Marquette on the way to Mackinaw City just so I can say that I have visited all of the Great Lakes. I never imagined I would say that. It will only be in 60/70s, so maybe I will visit Mackinac Island.

Back to reality. I have exams to grade, grades to calculate, and another exam to make. I will miss the end of the year "watering," but it is warmer and sunnier in Wisconsin...I kid you not.

About this blog

Yes, I have another blog. But one of my students gave me the idea to document all of my travels. So I am. The student part refers to my participation in several professional development workshops. I have the blog on George Washington, http://kwashongwash.blogspot.com/, but I have 2 other weeks of study that need to be discussed.

So why do I say professional? Well, I enjoy traveling in the US. This year I am going to Madison, WI and Mackinaw City, MI for vacation. I usually go to Chicago and Washington, DC for fun. And well being so close to Maine and Vermont and Upstate NY, I get these sudden whims to get in the car and go. And well there is a family joke about me being a professional student. I mean I only have 2 B.A.s, an M.Ed., and an M.A. I would not call that professional, just a life long learner ;) . Now if I were to go for that Ph.D or Ed.D., then I would say professional.

That's all she wrote...until I get going...or feel the need to tell you about the fabulous places I have been.