My Week at the Zoo.....

Sadly, it's been almost three weeks since my last post.

I'm getting terrible with this!!!

(be excited though, at least it's not four months!)

Anywho, last week my students and I went to the Louisville Zoo, which......was.....AWESOME!!!!

We had such a good time, studying different ecosystems and how animals and plants adapt to those environments. It was a solid week of science that allowed the students to really focus and learn about the world around them. We got to take some behind-the-scenes tours of the zoo and (even more exciting) the students got to pet a ton of animals! They were excited to see a shingle-back lizard, an armadillo, a hedgehog (my favorite!!), a tarantula, a salamander, a sand boa, a HUGE python (probably 16 ft long) and the ever popular box turtle and rabbit.

It was hilarious walking around the zoo with them because all they wanted to do was take pictures with their cameras, while the docents wanted us to keep up with them so they could continue their tour (a bit of a battle of wills really).

The best part: as a teacher, we had planned everything ahead of time, so all I had to do was wrangle students and check any behavior problems (which, sadly, I'm pretty good at).

The worst part: since we were there all day, the kitchen staff made sack lunches for us. I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all week. I had never been tired of PB & J, but that finally happened. Luckily Chelle snuck out on Friday and grabbed me some Wendys!! : )

Well, I'll see if I can find some photos to post this weekend.

I hope things are going well, wherever you are.

Dios te bendiga

My Bench.....

So, the week of Collecting is upon us! Wait.....you don't know what Collecting is, do you? Okay, quick recap:

Collecting is an annual event on the Collegiate schedule. It usually held on a Saturday night and a silent auction is held to raise money for the school. Anything from jewelry, trips and artwork (created by all the classes) is auctioned off. There is a nice dinner, alcohol and all this, for only $150 a ticket. (It's a very formal event)

Now before I go too far, I love Collecting. I think it's a good idea, the silent auction is a nice touch and you get the opportunity to bid for some amazing artwork by the kids. This story isn't so much about Collecting, but more so a story about our piece of artwork for Collecting: The Bench.

The Fourth Grade decided that each class would decorate a bench for Collecting this year, with each bench having a different ecosystem as its theme (in celebration of our Zoo Week, which is the last week in February). The other two classes took the Grasslands of Africa and the rainforests of South America and you know me: I like to be different and difficult. So I decided that my class would decorate our bench with the animals of the Arctic and Antarctica.

I know what you're thinking: 16 animals, no problem! However, I had to distribute the animals, and then have the kids paint their animal on the bench and have it be as close to realistic as possible. Again, silly, right? Sounds easy, right?

Wrong.

This bench was the bane of my classroom last week. We are finishing up six-paragraph essays on our animals and drawing/painting our creatures on the bench, which took a lot more time than it really should have. Luckily, through a ton of help from Chelle (my co-worker and an amazing artist in her own right), we managed to finish the bench on Friday....a mere 10 minutes before our Valentine's Day party (which was another headache by itself!).

I will try to get a picture of the bench on here for you to see, but know this. We've tried to put these animals on a small, two person bench: caribou, wolverine, polar bear, lemming, arctic fox, albatross, weddell seal, leopard seal, southern elephant seal, walrus, harp seal, narwhal, orca, blue whale, emperor penguin and adelie penguin, all on a tiny bench. (although, we did have a ton of fun with Elf jokes featuring the narwhal, "Hello Buddy!....Hi Mr. Narwhal!")

I'm just hoping our bench is respectable on Saturday (although I'll have to hear about it, because I'm probably not attending....unless someone buys me a ticket! : )

Dios te bendiga!

My Dad's Big Find

Those of you that have had the pleasure to meet and know my father, know that Larry loves to hike. Those of you that have known me for a while, will remember me telling you about all the fun-filled times my father and I had as he dragged me throughout the wonderful state of New Mexico for the two years that we lived there.

Now, hiking with Pops is an adventure more than anything else. Dad has this tendency to meander about the trail, veering off to check out even the slightest oddity on the trail. Other that killing rattlesnakes (that are always a threat, even though they're 25 feet off the trail!), this is one of the things that he loves and one of the things that I love about him. He loves to explore.

Well, all of Pops hikes and detours finally payed off. A few weeks ago Pops was leading a hike somewhere near Socorro, NM. As he was wondering around the desert, he happened to see a cave just a touch off the trail, so in true Pops fashion, he and the others ventured off the trail to see what they could find. And this is what they saw:

The basket

Now obviously this basket didn't look like this when they saw it, but they found this 1,500 year old basket in the cave! How awesome is that??? They took some pics, left it and then after showing it to his archaeologist in Albuquerque, Pops took them down there the next day. They dug it up and took it back to the big city to check it out. Rumors are that it is almost museum quality and one of the few baskets of its kind found in the area.

Dad and the basket after they found it.

Congrats Pops! I hope that basket makes it into a museum because I would love to wonder through it one day and see your name on the card beside it!

Dios te bendiga

My glorious Saturday

Good news!!

After working out last Saturday with my buddy Richard....I returned to my house and....

MY POWER WAS BACK!!!

Glorious day! I was so excited. No longer was I Dupree!

My Week Off....

So it continues!!

I thought that Tuesday was the worst of it....no school, lots of ice and a touch of snow. I was really looking forward to the rest of the week....and then Wednesday came.

We received 3-6 inches of snow on Wednesday, which, on top of the snow we already had and the ice.....meant that school was canceled on Wednesday. This extra snow also did a number on the trees and powerlines down here, which were already burdened.

This was taken outside of Target on Wednesday morning

Then I heard that fateful sound on Wednesday morning: "BOOM" I had woken to an apartment with power, which I had thought a blessing (in the night, before going to bed I made a bag of clothes to "getaway" in case something happened in the night. Tuesday night I had seen a transformer explode and watched as the powerline was on fire on the ground in the snow: awesome). That fateful boom was it for me, the power, went out.

This was the view outside my window on Wednesday morning.

The clean-up has been ongoing for the past 3 days. We received a bit more snow on Thursday, but nothing substantial. Roughly 200,000 were without power and they actually said that this was worse than the wind storm we had back in September (My Buddy Ike). The trees and powerlines just couldn't take it and many of them cracked, snapped and came tumbling down.

To be honest, the city wasn't prepared for it and how could they be? Rarely do they have significant snowfall during a winter and the sun/melting/freezing cycle hasn't helped us too much. Luckily it's supposed to warm up today and it is going to be in the mid to upper 40s tomorrow, which should help significantly.

I was lucky enough that my buddy Richard had power, so I stayed with him and his wife Sarah through all the fun. It was nice having a warm place to stay, so hopefully I didn't wear out my welcome!

Here's to hoping it's warm, wherever you are.....

God Bless

My buddy's baby

I would like to announce to all my faithful readers, my buddy had a baby!!!

Big congrats go out to Brad Money and Tiff on the birth of Eveah Ann Money.

Thoughts and Prayers are with the new family. God Bless!!

My Southern Snow Day

You're not going to believe it.....seriously, you're not.

Today....we had a snow day!

It's been crazy. Rumors are that it snowed between 2-4 inches last night and then today we've had sleet mixed with rain all day. I couldn't believe what I heard on TV when they said we could, could get another 3 inches! Could that mean a snow day tomorrow?? : )

The problem with snow and bad weather in general down here, is that Kentuckians have NO IDEA how to drive in this type of weather. First, because they never drive in it and secondly, because all bad weather causes them problems. It drives me nuts to be folllowing someone at 5 mph down the road when the road isn't that bad. Earlier today I was following this Pontiac Vibe that was seriously going 5 mph!!! I was so frustrated. I nearly honked the horn, but then remembered that they don't get weather like this often....so I had to just deal with it while the driver figured it out. (although it was awesome to fly past everyone on the main road-in the lane that wasn't cleared yet. Hilarious!

God bless!

My New Surrounds (a blessing)

This post is more of a thanks as opposed to a "pity me" type of post, so please, no notes tell me you're sorry....thanks!

Greetings to the faithful few that continue to check this lovely thing, even though I haven't posted in roughly four months (bad, I know).

I know it's been a while and for that I apologize again. I know I need to get better about this and I suppose I can apologize all day long, but actions speak louder than words.

I normally keep my personal life out of this lovely little place, but today I'm going to include it. I had recently been dating a nice girl, but unfortunately that has ended and I'll be honest, I was/am a bit hurt and frustrated about the whole thing. Now I'm not here to talk about that or to put her down, but instead I'd like to focus on what has happened in the past four days, for it has truly been a blessing.

I had been slightly frustrated by everything for about a week and I received a call from my buddy Fitzy on Monday night. It was one of those calls that only a true friend could make, that was difficult at the time, but necessary. Shaun basically called me out. He asked me my feelings, what I thought about everything and then asked me what I was doing still in the relationship. Why was I continuing to go through with it, or as he put it: "If she was Venezuelan, would you still be around?" --Good point

That night I also spoke with Dustin, my long-time friend from high school. He spoke along the same lines as I echoed my frustrations.

When everything went down Wednesday night, I was a bit upset, although I saw it coming through interactions and time spent together during the past week. After it happened, I received an amazing call from my buddy Brad, a true brother of mine and he really picked me up and dusted me off a bit.....telling me not to worry, to just live my life and the woman will come into it....and that I shouldn't spend any more time worrying or thinking about it.

I was irritable at school on Thursday as well, but my teammates, as they always do, had my back. Chelle was her amazing self (filled with anger and some profanity about how she felt towards "that stripper" as she called her....and no mom, she wasn't a stripper). Beth was comforting and reminded me how much that girl didn't deserve me. I have to admit, they really know how to make someone feel good about themselves.

Thursday night I was with my buddy Richard and his wife, who echoed the same thoughts. She wasn't worth it.....live your life and the one will walk into it....just watch.

Last night was the same story....I was with Richard again, as well as my friend Mike and his wife Jessie. Jessie said the same, the girl was selfish, you're awesome, don't worry about it and just live for a bit....it'll come.

I guess there are two points at me telling you this: The first is that Louisville was the right place for me to come. In a matter of months I made some amazing friends that have my back and are extremely supportive. I can't tell you what it meant to me to hear them say those things and to comfort me in a difficult time.

Second: Maybe they're right. I've had four separate people, independent of one another, tell me the same thing: Dust yourself off, live your life and she'll come. Don't worry about, don't push it and when it comes, it will be easy and a good fit.

So that's where I'm at now. I watched some footy today, I'm going to a bball game tonight and I'm going to try and live my life.....not pushing it....but not being totally oblivious to it either. ; )

I hope things are great where you are,

God bless

My buddy Ike.....

I'm sure at this point, all of us remember that wonderful little Hurricane named Ike that hit Texas last weekend. Well, luckily the remnants of him came through up and through Louisville on Sunday, which was.....well, interesting. I went for a run that morning and noticed that it was a bit more windy than normal.....and then it picked up more.

It was kind of crazy at one point: I saw clouds moving both East and North at the same time. I know, some of you will say, "Yeah, that's called Northeast." But it wasn't!! Some clouds were actually heading straight East, while others were headed due North. It was odd, to say the least.

As the wind picked up throughout the day and the dark clouds came, lots and lots of trees were came crashing down. Power-lines quickly followed and the next thing we knew, 300,000 people were without power. I can remember going out to see if anything was open and three of the major streets around me were all cut off at some point either due to a fallen tree (over a four-lane road!!) or due to power-lines down. A house near me had it's patio crushed by a huge tree in their front yard and sadly, just two houses down, another house had a giant tree simply resting on the roof. Ironic.

Well, it's now four days later and I am still without power. I am still without power and we haven't had school all week! We'll see if that changes tomorrow. Even though we don't have power, we still have a literacy conference today at 1 pm....in the dark. Awesome.

I hope you're enjoying the electricity wherever you are.....

God Bless

My New Home.....

And so, a month later, I finally blog about this new place. I have to admit, I'm really starting to enjoy Louisville! I've officially been here around four weeks and it's really starting to grow on me. There are some beautiful parks and two of them are near-by, giving me some nice places to run. I also like Bardstown Road, which has a bunch of restaurants. I've even found a pub to watch footy matches at on the weekends!!

To add to this fun, I've started school and we just made it through our first full week, which was a bit crazy, but luckily it's over (and followed by a three day weekend: awesome)....but I will post more on that later.

I'm also a soccer coach. But again, more on that later.

Today I actually volunteered at the Ironman Triathlon here in The Ville. It was a lot of fun!! Roughly 2,500 people decided to try and swim 2.4 miles, bicycle 112 miles and then run 26 miles. While this doesn't exactly sound like the way I'd like to spend a Sunday, I have to admit I was pretty impressed with some of the folks I saw. There were people of all shapes, sizes and age ranges (I saw from 18 to 63).

My job consisted of standing in front of a bump on the course (near where they get off their bikes and then change into running clothes before running the marathon). For 3.5 hrs I said, "Be careful! Watch the bump! Watch the lip!!! and just for fun, when a Spanish speaking participant rode by, "Cuidado!". They'd smile.

There was also a dude with an Iowa Hawkeye jersey on and I cheered for him as he went by. My friend said that he smiled and actually looked back (were we going to have a conversation during the race? I mean, I'm all for chatting about the Hawks, but he still has a ways to go).

Anywho, needless to say, I'm enjoying The Ville.

God Bless

My New Job.....

Well, I know it's been a while and I haven't told you yet (here at least), but it's official....I finally got a job!!!

Okay, truth be told, I've had the job for two weeks now, but I wanted to finish the Road Trip series before posting it (and I was struggling to finish that.....so that's the delay).

I will be teaching 4th Grade at The Louisville Collegiate School in Louisville, KY. Yes, that's right, I'm staying in the States! I know, I know, some folks are going to be really excited (mom, dad) and others might be a bit disappointed (you know who you are), but I'm excited about this opportunity.

The school is a beautiful little private school in a nice neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. There are only three classes in the entire Fourth Grade, each having around 15 students. I will be responsible for teaching Math, Language Arts and Social Studies, which is an exciting prospect (considering Science is my weakest area).

School starts on August 21 and I have so much to do!! If you'd like to check out my new school, the website is now a link on the side. Check it out!

Dios te bendiga

My Springs of Colorado (Final installment of My Road Trip 2008)

After leaving Albuquerque, I ventured up to Colorado Springs to hang out with my buddy Shaun, who I worked with in Venezuela. He had been hired to work at a new school up there and it was close to his family, so he pounced on the opportunity. Shaun was hanging out while his wife Susan was visiting her family and friends in California and Nevada, so I went to keep him company for a few days.

Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Rapids

I arrived on a Saturday and was really, really excited because Shaun and I were going up to Denver to catch a MLS game, the Rapids vs Houston. I absolutely loved the stadium and the surrounding area was really nice, however our game ended in the infamous 0-0 draw that all soccer fans dread.

Coors Park

Then on Sunday I asked if we could go catch a Rockies game. They were in town playing the Mets and I know that Shaun loves baseball, so I thought it would be fun. It had been years since I attended a MLB game (I think the last one was an Oakland A's game that my dad and I went to 14 years ago), but I was excited. Again, the stadium was stunning and we had great seats, but sadly, the Rockies lost to the Mets and I was officially banned from Rockies games for the rest of my life.

It was then Monday and Shaun asked me what I wanted to do. I had been seeing the stunning views of the Rockies for the past couple of days, so I asked Shaun if he would take me up to the top of Pike's Peak. Shaun obliged and he drove me up to the top of the mountain, passing through many beautiful scenes and some pretty sweet views.

Myself atop Pike's Peak

Sadly though, on Tuesday I decided to head back to Iowa. I had been away for a while and still needed to find a job, so I ventured back. I took the long route, driving through eastern Colorado (kind of flat, not really exciting), Kansas (which was much more beautiful than I was expecting) and Missouri, where I hit a nasty thunderstorm (I honestly couldn't see 5 feet in front of me, but I still didn't pull over!) and finally into Iowa.

Overall, I had an amazing road trip! I went through 11 different states and was able to visit some places for the first time. I hope that I have a chance to do something similar next year, but time I need a co-pilot and I need to venture off to another part of the States!

My Week with Pops (Part IV of My Road Trip 2008)

So I left Austin very early on a Friday morning and started the 12+ hour journey to Albuquerque to spend some time with my dad. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to make it in one day, but I left around 6 am and crossed my fingers.

Now I'm notorious for making many, many stops when driving, especially if I have a beverage with me. Luckily though, I made it four hours without stopping! I almost shocked myself really.

Secondly, I don't know how many of you have ever driven through Western Texas before, but if you have a long way to go, I don't recommend it. At first, it was great, different scenery, desert everywhere, rolling hills and some plateaus. But after about two hours......it gets really, really, really painful and boring. It got sooooo bad, that I actually changed my route! I decided to come up through Carlsbad, Artesia and Roswell, NM....places that my dad and I went to many, many times as a kid. For instance, once Dad and I spent an entire day (maybe two, I'm not sure, I think I've blocked out part of this memory) in SW New Mexico, searching for the grave of Billy the Kid....which is the source of a legend in itself.

Luckily (and probably with a little divine intervention) I made it to Albuquerque in a day. Awesome. The next day, dad decided he wanted to try and kill me, so we went on a "short" hike up the mountain to search for a plane that crashed 50 years ago. We had tried this same trip 15 years ago, with no luck (I think the end result was me crying in a fit because I was standing and thought I was lost in the woods....again, another memory I've blocked out). He said that he had been there at least 3 or 4 times since that experience.....and that he now knew the way.

Well.....three hours later, many lost calories and lots of rest breaks, we finally found the plane. Score!!!

Sunday was Father's Day and I told Dad that I would go anywhere he wanted....anywhere. Just think of a place he wanted to go and check out and we would do it. At first, we were heading to Taos to check out a museum, but then, he changed his mind and went into classic Larry & Bill mode:

"Bill, have you ever heard of the VLA?"

my response: "The VL-what?"

"It's a bunch of radio-telescopes out in the desert on the Plains of San Jacinto west of Socorro. I've wanted to go for a while, but no one is willing to go."

That said--I'm in. We ventured to the VLA or Very Large Array, located about 40 miles west of Socorro, NM. It was about a two hour drive south of Albuquerque and into the desert. And again, it will go down in the lore that is the Larry & Bill New Mexico trips. Right up there with the search for the tomb, The Lava Tubes, Climbing Sandias, Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde and my personal favorite, the giant rock that lots of people wrote there names on....including Spaniards when they came up from Mexico (I think it's called El Morro, but I'm not sure).

The VLA wasn't too bad. It was a bunch of giant radio telescopes, which look like satellite dishes) in the middle of the desert. They are shaped in a "Y" so that they can provide a better resolution. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go inside one of the telescopes, but we did get to stand pretty close. Good times.

The VLA

After that, we headed back to Albuquerque. To be honest, it was a lot of fun. We spent the rest of the week hanging out, watching movies and playing golf. It was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed it. It was also great to go back to the city that I used to live in and to relive some of the fond memories I have of there.

However, by Saturday it was time to run, with Colorado Springs the next destination.

Dios te bendiga

My Austin City Limits (Part III of My Road Trip 2008)

As I awoke in my sweet, sweet bed at the Tex Inn, I knew that I had plenty of time on my hands. My friend didn't get off work until 5:00 pm and it would only take me six hours to drive to Austin, so I took my time and cruised through eastern Texas and into the southern part of the giant.

One thing that shocked/disappointed me: it seems as though Dallas and the areas around it are just one giant strip mall. Am I alone in this thought? Am I alone in being disappointed by this? It's almost as if Dallas has opted not to clean-up/develop the inner parts of the city, but instead have allowed it to spread uncontrollably across the landscape, ruining what could be some nice scenery?

Well, luckily I escaped Dallas and made my way to Austin. On the way, I passed probably the town with the worst reputation in the state, if not the US in general: Waco, TX. Is there a town with a worse reputation? I mean, think about it: If you're a random cult or a little odd in the religious department, what better location than Waco!

Okay, enough Texas bashing (for now). I got to Austin with plenty of time and then walked around downtown a bit. I really enjoyed being in the city and being able to wander a bit. We had dinner that night and then walked around a bit.

Me and a sweet statue

The next night we went kayaking on the river with some International students, which was a lot of fun. The last time I was kayaking was in Egypt, so I enjoyed being out on the water again. We saw some sweet turtles and were yelled at by some serious crew teams (rowers). One woman even screamed, "You just lost me 40 seconds!!!" Hilarious.

The International crew

On Thursday night, we had a sweet game of footy with the Internationals. Now if I've every spoken to you about footy with Internationals before, you'll know where I'm going. Unfortunately, everyone wants to be a forward or to try and score goals, which can be very, very frustrating. That leaves myself and anyone else I can convince to play defense, which drives me nuts (because it turns out to be four of them vs. two of us....every time!).

Friday was to be my last day. I got up early and began my 13.5 hour trek to Albuquerque. A long, long road ahead.

Good-bye to the Capital of Texas.

My Journey through the South (Part II of My Road Trip 2008)

I got up very early after the wedding, had some breakfast with friends and then made my way to Lexington, KY to hang out with my buddy Mike and his wife Lianne for a day. Unfortunately, they had some plans that day, but luckily I was able to tag along to the BBQ. I was exhausted, but I had a good time at the party and enjoyed spending some time with them.

The next day I rolled out of bed and drove to Louisville, where I met a new friend for lunch. I enjoyed a tasty lunch at Panera, was given a couple of sweet CDs and then began my journey south to Texas. Now I knew that I wouldn’t get to Austin in one day, but I wanted to get as far as I could.

As with any road trip, loud music and windows down are a must. I cruised through the rest of Kentucky and then flew through Tennessee as well. I loved driving through these states! The trees and the rolling hills were absolutely beautiful and it would have been nice to be able to go to a park and enjoy some of the gorgeous scenery. But alas…..I had driving to do.

All was going well…..until I hit Arkansas. Now this was the first time I had been to Arkansas and to be honest, it will probably be my last! After cruising through the hills/forest of Tennessee….I crossed the bridge in Memphis and in front of me was nothing but flat farmland. I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep due to sheer boredom…..but luckily I stayed awake.

And then…..I hit Little Rock…..which is when the rain came. I could see the storm clouds building on the horizon and I knew something was up. I thought I had moved past the worst…..but it just kept raining and raining and raining. Finally, when I thought that it was about to stop….it rained some more! For the next four hours it rained on me and at times I couldn’t see anything more than the lines on the road and the tail lights in front of me.

When I started the day, I wanted to make it to Texarkana, TX by the end of the day and luckily, around 9 pm, I made it to Texarkana. However, when I made it there, due to the pounding rain and apparently the college orientation day, all the hotels were full…even the Super 8 and Motel 6! So I called my friend Andrea and I continued on. As we were chatting, I keep driving and driving and after 10 minutes, made it to New Boston, TX and I stopped at the lovely Big Tex Inn, which was just as amazing as it sounds (including a hobbit-like shower-where the shower head hit me in the chest). Good times.

My Buddy's Kentucky Wedding (Part I from My Road Trip 2008)

I arrived back in the States almost two weeks ago…..and I have yet to really post anything on here. Well, now that’s about to change with a lot of posts…..all in a span of a couple of days. Currently I am on my Road Trip for 2008….which, to be honest, is a really, really long one! Here goes:

Last Friday (June 6th), I took off very early in the morning to head for Louisville, KY for my buddy Richard’s wedding. Richard and I worked together at Blank Park Zoo and we have been friends since high school. He and his amazing wife, Sarah got married last Saturday (June 7th) at a beautiful Methodist Church in Louisville, where they live.

The service was great and it was really nice in the church. The touching moment came during the vows….as Richard was saying his vows, he had to take a moment to compose himself, as he was about to cry. To be honest, that was one of the more touching things I had ever seen at a wedding and it was one of those moments where you can just tell how much they care about each other.

After the wedding, the scene shifted from the church to the official Kentucky Derby Museum, which was pretty sweet. We got to learn about the Derby and then we were seated in the room where they show a short movie and our tables were named after previous Triple Crown winners, which was a sweet touch.

Dustin and I racing horses at the Museum

As we looked around our table, Lianne & Mike Farley, Sara and Dustin Miller, Brad’s fiancée Tiffany and myself were all seated at the same table and there were four vacant seats. After some discussion, we were wondering who on Earth Richard would set next to us, knowing that we were going to be a bit wild (we hoped Brad was going to sit with us, but he was the Best Man, so we weren’t sure).

Sara, Lianne and Mike

Then, after we had some snacks, the wedding party arrived! After a nice intro, we then got to see who was going to sit near us…..Brad and then Richard and Sarah joined us as well! To be honest, we felt pretty special to be sitting with the Bride and Groom.

After some incredible food, we had the usual wedding fun, the bouquet toss and the garter throw. Then….the dancing began. I’m not going to lie, things got crazy. Eventually we were all out there, dancing and having a good time. At one point Dustin was dancing to Thriller, then my leg was used as a guitar, Brad was dancing with his suspenders……I can’t relay all the fun that we had (and some things happened that can’t be spoken of).

Preparing for the "garter toss"

Dustin and Brad are dancing, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing

It had been a long, long time since I’ve had that much fun and it was great to be back with all the guys. It was also a great start to Road Trip 2008! I also made some new friends, one of which I met for lunch on Monday on Day 1 of my drive to Austin, but that’s another story all together…..

Dios les bendiga

Uh-oh.....

oh….by the way….yes, I caught the garter—but I was set up! All the other “single” guys were about 5 years younger than me and then there was Richard’s brother Ryan, who is two years younger. As Richard shot the garter, all the young guys in front of me ducked and low & behold, it landed right in my hand. Thanks Richard.

My slacking ways.....

Wow...I am such a slacker....again!

So the good news: I'm back in the States.

The bad news: I still don't have a job. : (

Awesome

I've been applying at Districts all over, so hopefully something will come about. At this point, it looks as though I'm going to be in the States next year, but don't worry, we'll still continue the blog....US style.

Currently I'm on my Road Trip, 2008 style. When I have a free moment (and find a coffee shop with Internet) I'll post on the trip so far......

Dios les bendiga!

My Day of Days......

ah May 21st.....this truly is one of my favorite days of the year!

I'm in a great mood and very excited for today. Very, Very early this morning, the State of Origin Series kicked off in Sydney with the cursed Blues defeating Queensland 18-4. Luckily there will be two more matches, so hopefully Queensland will pull it out.

Then.....there's the big one:

Live from Moscow, the biggest event of the football season kicks off this afternoon (roughly 2:30 pm EST--on ESPN in the States!).

If the European Championships weren't this summer, this would easily be the biggest sporting even in Europe this year. EASILY. Hundreds of millions of people watch this game and not because of the commercials (which are very few), but because they either actually like the teams or because it is to crown the champion of club football in Europe.

I'm psyched for the game, although sadly I have to give a presentation on the Inkas at kickoff (but I'll have it on the bottom of my screen--thanks to Soccernet.com).

To be honest, I highly suggest you check it out....even if you're not a footy fan. The atmosphere should be amazing and to even hear the fans singing and chanting at the stadium should be a site to see. If you want to follow it at work (like me!) you can do one of two things:

http://www.soccernet.com/ They will have a little match center that will allow you to track the game as it goes.

http://www.espn.go.com/ ESPN is showing the game live on ESPN360-where they often show different games throughout the year and they showed a lot of World Cup games here back in 2006 and it worked very well.

As for my prediction, I'm a Red Devil, so I'm looking for Man U to win, 2-1. Chelsea is a good team though, so don't be surprised if they win it.

Before I go, I thought I'd share one of my favorite pictures from last year's final when AC Milan defeated Liverpool:

This is Kaka, the 2007 World Player of the Year and the stud for AC Milan. After his team won the title last year, he took off his shirt, dropped to his knees and gave thanks.

My Goal and my Birthday wishes.....

I just looked at my blog count and realized that I only posted 64 times last year! What a slacker!!! (especially in comparison to the 111 times the previous year)......

So my goal is to beat 111 this year, no matter where I end up!

and while I'm at it:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

Hope you have a good day! Love ya and miss ya and I'll see you two weeks from today!!

(on a side note...if today isn't the day....I'm going to be a bit embarrassed)

My Open Doors......

Again, it's been a while and again, I thank you for your patience.

Things have been moving along rapidly here and now I find myself with less than three weeks till I return to the place I call home. I must admit that I'm very excited to get back to the States, to see some friends, take another road trip, go to a wedding and maybe even bale some hay.

But....onto the latest happenings.....We had an elementary softball tournament here at EA. It was a hot, hot day (my peeling scalp can attest). I was on-hand to help out, especially since the tournament was here. Suddenly, I was asked if I would be a base coach for the EA team.

Now for those of you that don't know, I'm a soccer guy. I never played baseball and I don't entirely understand the game (Dustin and Brad can back me up on that). I informed our coaching staff that adding me to the staff may in fact harm our chances of winning....but I was told to suck it up and go stand at 3rd Base (which I did).

Ultimately, my lack of knowledge didn't harm us, as the EA squad won the tournament by going 3-0 against the competition. It was our first championship of the year and the kids were very excited. They defeated their opponents by scores of 18-3, 13-1 and 21-2 (yeah, it wasn't even close). So congrats to the EA team on that.

Other than that, we have really been starting to bring the year to an end and with that, I've continued to search for a new job. After sending out what seemed like a ton of resumes (and getting no love in response.....kind of like last year!) the doors are finally starting to open. I actually have a couple of phone interviews in the next couple of days and hopefully something will come out of one.

I'll keep you up-to-date.

As for the location of the schools.....I'm going to keep that secret for the time being. I will say that they are in the Northern & Western Hemishperes, which is definitely a plus.....and people speak English in both of the countries/territories/provinces.

Well, that's all I've got for now. This weekend I have a wedding rehearsal and Mr. Fitz and I are going to try and go to the Pirate Bar (how could we not?!?!?!).

Dios te bendiga