Student Career Goals

Today in Algebra B, I was unsuccessfully trying to motivate some less motivated students. One of these students is a nice kid, but special ed., and has an attention span of less than 2 seconds. The only thing he concentrates on for longer than that is his daily gum distribution to the rest of the class. It drives me crazy that pieces of gum get thrown around the room at the beginning of every 3rd period, but at least it's a positive experience for him. The other kid is also a nice kid, not special ed., but could probably qualify, and is really, really slow, both academically and socially. He failed last term because he left school for 2 weeks to go deer hunting and never quite got caught up. He can appear to concentrate but has no memory and can't really apply what you did in problem #1 to problem #2.

So what happened today? I told them that they needed to do their work. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Ok, let's get going. Open your book. Let's try a few of these. Let me help you.
Kid 1: I don't need math. This is pointless.
Kid 2: Ya, I don't get this either. It's dumb.
Me: But you need to graduate from high school, right? You need some basic skills, right? Even McDonald's would rather hire you if you had a diploma.
Kid 1: I don't need a diploma. I write lyrics. I can rap.
Me: How are you going to pay for things before your first song gets recorded? What are you going to eat while your waiting to hit it big.
Kid 1: My cousins have a studio. Rappers make . . . . like $12 million.
Kid 2: Ya, I bet rappers make a ton of money and they don't have to graduate.
Me: I doubt your cousins make $12 million.
Kid 1: Well, they probably make $100 or maybe $100,000 or something. They drive nice cars. They'll let me use their studio and I won't have to pay nothing.
Me: So what are you going to do for money in the meantime? What will you eat?
Kid 1: I'll mooch off my mom until I'm 18. I got 2 years.
Me: Then what?
Kid 1: It doesn't matter. I don't need math.
Kid 2: Wait! I need math for what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do some work now.
Me: What are you going to do?
Kid 2: I'm gonna be a heart surgeon. They make like $350,000.
Me: Ok. You keep working on that math, then.

In other news, I just finished my first semester of my Master's program and paid the tuition for my second semester (why does USU make you pay before you start?). I crunched some numbers and I figure it will cost around $10,000 for my Master's Degree over the course of 2 years. I have no idea where we'll get $10,000 total, but semester by semester, seems doable. (It helps that I am teaching on my prep this year and in addition, the State of Utah likes to give math and science teachers little bonuses, even in difficult economic times. It also helps that my husband is in the military and his much-higher-than-mine tuition doesn't come out of our savings.)

Anyway, if I graduate on time, my pay increase will take place in my 9th year of teaching. According to this year's salary schedule, during the 9th year of teaching, the difference between the lane I am in now and the Master's Lane is $2735. Assuming that rate stays the same (which it won't), it will take 3.6 years of that additional salary to pay for my degree, not considering taxes or inflation. Interesting.

So, in my profession, it takes 5.6 years of working to increase your pay through furthering your education (2 years of school + 3.6 years of continued work). I don't know what my point is in all this other than I'm weird and was just wondering what all this costs. Hmmmm. You can draw your own conclusions.

My mom says that money is only relative and the more you have, the more you think you need, even though you could do just fine on less. I agree with that and have found it to be true. I think it is also good, though, for me to expand my mind and further my education. Am I doing it just for the money increase, though? No, but it is an added bonus, I guess. If I am not doing it for money, shouldn't I make sure I'm really enjoying it and getting something out of it? Am I? I don't know.

What I do know is that I have no idea what I'd do with $12 million nor do I want to be a rapper. So for the time being (at least until tomorrow), I'll keep my day job.

I'm sorry. I'll try to work on it.

What does it mean when your good husband, who generally doesn't complain much at all about you, yet you constantly nag and complain at him says,

"Haley, you know I really like you, but right now you are driving me crazy."

Later on, I said, "Am I still bugging you?"

All I got in return was a wide-eyed eyebrow raise. No comment. Not sure what that means either, but at least he said he likes me.

Deja Vu

One whole year ago I posted this picture. It's was finals week and school was sucking away the life from James.

It's now almost one year later. Here is James. It's not quite the end, though, since finals week isn't until next week. I hope he makes it to Christmas. Wish him luck!

He Hates Me!

Willie just texted me from the Utes v. Michigan game (a win for the Utes, I might mention). The text said:

Just saw a guy with a red shirt that said max hall hates Me


I googled it and there are several hits. Ha. Ha. Ha.

You can buy one on Craigslist from someone in Boutiful.

U-Fit

This semester, James has been involved in a service learning project with the U-Fit program. Each Friday night this semester, he has spent a couple of hours with special needs kids, swimming and playing games around the HPER at the U.

He was originally assigned to one little kid named Blake. Blake was four and autistic. Blake's mom got frustrated with the disorganization of the program and stopped coming, so then James would work with whatever kids were there that needed a buddy.

He won't admit that he enjoyed it and and he was also frustrated with the lack or organization. Plus, he didn't understand how this connected to his nursing schooling. I, on the other hand, think that it was really good for him. He got to hang around a population of people that he otherwise wouldn't have been involved with. He also got to hang out with kids!

Last night was the final activity. James is relieved that he's done. He even got a new red t-shirt out of it. I, however, still have a big question left. What does "live vicariously through yourself" mean. Hmmmmm.

Cry Baby!

Disclaimer: This post is long. I ramble. It's not my best writing. I don't want to fix it. Read it if you want.

Ok. I'm not one to jump on bandwagons when it comes to my blog posts. I didn't even blog about Michael Jackson when he died, for goodness sake. I am no sports expert and I don't claim to be. Plus, it doesn't matter how many football games I have watched in my lifetime, I still don't understand all the rules and all the penalties (although I have a theory that many of the players don't either, but that's a post for another day). What I do know is a thing or two about the University of Utah and I know a thing or two about this thing called a rivalry.

How do I know this? I bleed RED! I cringe at the color blue. My grandpa played football for the University of Utah, back in the days of leather helmets and wooden pads (or something like that). Two of my uncles have played football for the University of Utah. I even have a cousin who swam for the the U for a season. My mom and dad have taken me to Runnin' Ute Basketball games since before I could walk. My dad even cried during the halftime honoring 100 years of Runnin' Utes. I can't count how many Utah v. BYU games I have attended in various sports (and even a handful of them in Provo). On top of all this sports hoopla, my parents both graduated from the great school on the hill, as did my sister and I, and soon my husband. If my count is correct, 21 of my immediate family members have graduated from or are currently attending this fine institution of higher learning, several earning degrees beyond a bachelors. That's why I am writing this . . . because I can!

So what I am writing about? Max Hall: the "classless" man of the moment.

Here are his lovely comments from last evening after . . . ahem . . . you WON the football game. Not only are you a terrible loser, Maxie, but you have proven you are also a terrible winner.

"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them — I hate everything about them," said Hall.

"I hate their program. I hate their fans. I hate everything. So, it feels good to send those guys home. They didn't deserve it. It was our time, and it was our time to win. We deserved it. We played as hard as we could tonight, and it felt really good to send them home and to get them out of here, so it is a game I'll always remember."

"Do you really want me to go into it? I think the whole university and their fans and organization is classless. They threw beer on my family and stuff last year and did a whole bunch of nasty things. I don't respect them, and they deserve to lose."

Did Utah fans really throw beer on your family? I don't doubt it. Fans can get very rowdy and very often drunk during Utah games. Sorry. That sucks. There is no excuse for that.

But, what bothers me so much is that BYU fans are the worst! I have never seen a group of fans boo and taunt their own players and coaches like cougar fans do. It's absolutely terrible. BYU fans are the absolute worst people to watch a BYU game with. Rather than encouraging a cheering, they boo. I'll never get it.

BYU players are always some of the cheapest players, too. Do you remember Chris Miles giving Andrew Bogut a cheap shot to the back. Yeah, you go little freshman. That'll stop him. I remember Alex Jensen had to leave a Utes game and get stitches when a BYU player clocked him in a basketball game. BYU is great for recruiting bruisers like Bruiser Araujo who's only job is to take players out.

BYU fans are great at joining the bandwagon. Are they winning, "oh yeah, I'm the #1 fan." Are they losing, " BY-who?" Zoobies come out of the woodwork when teams are doing well. (Yes, you could say the same for Utah fans on that one. Why else has Rice-Eccles Stadium sold out most of their games during the last few years after years of empty seats? Ok, I can still complain abut BYU, though, because it's a RIVALRY and I don't like them, generally speaking.)

What else don't I like about BYU? Once we were at a football game and the BYU fans were throwing tortillas onto the field.

What else? I think the comment that bothered me most about Max Hall was that they "deserved" to win. Yes, Maxie, you did. You scored more point than your opponent. You deserved to win. But, anything else that is deserved stops right there. Why do you think you are so high and mighty that you had the right to win a football game before you ever stepped on the field? I don't get it. What ever happened to "It was a tough game, I'm happy for our team that we pulled it out!" You could have stopped right there. That would have shown some "class" and sportsman-like conduct.

This blog post really is just ramblings. I won't turn it in for a grade or anything.
The bottom line, though, is that it's a RIVALRY. Feelings build up, you get into the game, and you want to win. It's a rivalry because it's the team you like the least, or maybe even "hate." However, your comments to the media on television were the most classless act of the whole game. If you're really better than all the "nasty" things Utah fans do, rise above it, Maxie! Keep your mouth closed. Your kind isn't any different.

Thanksgiving Report

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very enjoyable.

It started Wednesday since James and I both had the day off. We slept in, ran some errands, and headed out to Grandma's around 1:00 (with Parker). We had gone out there to set the tables and chairs for dinner. Grandma was going to have around 40 people this year. Her newest count for all total in the family is 52! When we got there, Grandma was pretty distraught because Jackie hadn't contacted her all day long to let her know what was going on with the turkey. We finally heard from Jackie around 2:30, got her garage code, and hurried to rescue the frozen solid turkeys from 2 of 3 refrigerators in her house. It was a little scary, but the turkeys did eventually thaw.

On Wednesday night, we were supposed to do a FHE at the Rocky Mountain Care Center. We had prepared a rip roarin' program consisting of me playing some "thankful" hymns alternating with James reading a Thanksgiving poem and telling the story of the first Thanksgiving in Utah with the pioneers. Unfortunately, the FHE didn't really happen. The people at the care center weren't expecting us and hadn't wheeled anyone in. It was a little bizarre. After wandering around for 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do, we decided to talked to the one lady who was there and then call it a night. The lady we met was Sister Merkley. She was playing "You Are My Sunshine" on the piano and then grabbed a hymn book. Before leaving, we asked if we could share a thanksgiving message with her before we left. She told us sure, told us a bit of her life story, James shared a poem and then we left. She was 94 and her husband had been dead 9 or 27 years from a brain tumor. Her daughter had been to visit her the day before. She had a son die at Guadalcanal (which didn't exactly add up, time wise, but oh well). She told us she would like to crochet us a blanket if we brought her some yarn. She also told us she served as RS President 3 different times. She was still pretty with it and actually played the piano quite well, also.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We headed back out to Grandma's around 1:00 again to finish meal preparations. We ate a little after 3:00. It was a good day!

After that, we headed to Garland to visit James' family - Mom, Dad, Alicia, and Amber. They had already eaten, of course, by the time we got there, but they waited for us to dive into the pie Alicia made. When everyone finally got a piece, it was, well . . . . not good (so I heard). Everyone ended up throwing it away. Alicia said she thought the recipe was a little strange since it didn't call for any sugar. Hmmm. A little while later, LaRon went out to the trash to grab the can with the recipe. Sugar was listed as the first ingredient. Oops.

We stayed at the Binggeli's and went to bed just before 11:00. Departure time for Friday morning was 3:00 a.m. sharp! We made it and were in the car by 3:04, headed to Logan. We shopped at Kohls, Smiths Marketplace, and back to Kohls (with a walk through the entry way at KMart, only to turn right around and leave). James and his dad also went to Sears and Alicia and Amber also went to Sports Authority (where Amber won a $100 gift card).

After shopping and FREEZING (I swear Logan is close to the North Pole) we headed to Angie's for breakfast. It was yummy! We headed for home, but stopped at Smith and Edwards to wander around for a minute before making the last leg of the journey home. I didn't last for much of the ride and James said he got a little dozy. Eventually, though, we made it safely home and both of us passed out for a little while.

Finally, to wind down our Thanksgiving, we were invited to see "Blind Side" with my mom, dad, and Willie. The movie was good and I didn't realize it was a true story until the end. The only downside of the movie was Tim MickGraw and his fake hair, but other than that, a good show. We ate at Red Robin for dinner and then finally home.

We are both very tired, but had a great holiday!!

Tomorrow? . . . Utah v. BYU game (Go UTES!). Put up Christmas decorations at our house and finish some laundry. Put up Christmas decorations at Grandma's.