IVY Tech +

Had an enjoyable day at IVY Tech today. They hosted a get together for dual credit instructors, that is, people like myself who teach classes at the high school level that have signed an articulation agreement with IVY Tech so the high school students will receive college credit. They had all the teachers seated at tables according to classes taught and they had IVY Tech people at every table as well. There were some nice introductory remarks and then we all had a chance to talk over what ever was on our minds. We had some very good discussions, much of which centered on what the state mandated changes are going to do to us. It wasn't just a bitch session, however. I learned a few things about IVY Tech and what they're doing, had a chance to talk to a couple of younger teachers in my field, and got a chance to just talk a little shop - nice to be able to hear what others are doing. They fed us lunch, we talked some more and then went on a tour of the facility. I also got the door prize for driving the farthest - about 70 miles one way. That's dedication there, Mitch.

This was posted at Bookpuddle:

Don't you know that love isn't just going to bed? Love isn't an act, it's a whole life. It's staying with her now because she needs you; it's knowing you and she will still care about each other when sex and daydreams, fights and futures -- when all that's on the shelf and done with. Love -- why, I'll tell you what love is: it's you at seventy-five and her at seventy-one, each of you listening for the other's step in the next room, each afraid that a sudden silence, a sudden cry, could mean a lifetime's talk is over.

Nice, huh. Shop Teacher Bob's an old softy at heart.

And, how 'bout them Bruins? They're my second choice to win the Cup but I would have worn my Bruins sweater today if the weather had stayed cool.

I'll close by reiterating what was in my last post as well as the theme for today's meeting. Get some training/marketable skills. Vocational classes, IVY Tech, wherever. Not sure what to go into? How 'bout this? IVY Tech is now offering a class in servicing the big wind turbines. Lots of things out there. You just have to go for that brass ring.

Motorcycles and Voc. Ed.

Photo From Here

I came across a pretty cool blog - Life with Tin Toys - the photo link will take you there. It's got lots of motorcycle stuff with nice photographs. I haven't had a chance to dig too deep into it and a lot of it is written in Italian but since I'm trying to learn a little of it, that's a plus for me. It also features a lot of vintage and racer stuff that hopefully will inspire me to get busy on a couple of things around here. Won't be today, however. I've got a meeting at IVY Tech for dual-credit instructors.

I finished the screen door for the shop and the hired guns finished the roof and gutters. Just in time for the storm that came through yesterday morning, I might add. I need to work on the front steps next. I get those done along with a little painting and the outside of the shack will be in pretty good shape. I've still got some things to take care of inside but there is progress being made.

My buddy Kevin sent this along. It's a short editorial about the prejudice associated with vocational education. It's definitely worth the read. It's also evidence that in spite of everything that has been going on in education this Spring, the pendulum, if not starting to swing back the other way, has at least slowed in it's arc towards insanity. Mike Rowe is a very strong advocate for the working man and what that means to this country.

Last week's Time magazine stated 47% of Americans said their household couldn't come up with $2,000 in 30 days without selling some possessions. Being the cynic that I am, my first thought was maybe they should give up the satellite dish, the fancy cell phone, cigarettes and beer. Or better yet, maybe they should have payed attention in high school. Vocational education is optional but everyone has to take economics. Maybe everyone needs a little refresher in the definition of opportunity cost. Get some skills, get a job and save a little money for a rainy day. Live within your means. These aren't new lessons but if 47% can't put together two grand in 30 days, you know many of these people are of retirement age, particularly when it said households. People my age damn sure should know better than to put their full faith and trust in the government to take care of them. The government made IRA accounts available to people something like thirty years ago. Take some responsibility for you own well being.

We need to once again become producers of things. When you manufacture goods, you manufacture wealth. Someone needs to be able to pay for the war effort, the interest on the debt and Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Only people with decent jobs pay taxes. Only people with decent jobs can afford to have a satellite dish, a fancy cell phone and money in the bank as well.

Read what Mike Rowe has to say and sign the kids up for some shop classes.

Screen Doors

Got busy on the new screen door for the shop today. Since I'll be teaching woodshop next year, I went to school and made the door over there. I got a chance to use a few of the tools and see what was what for hand tools and supplies. I need to spend a day cleaning and organizing and then put a list together. I've been digging out some project books here at the house to start putting a few ideas together. I have a copy of the curriculum from the last couple of guys who were in there. I need to spend a little time looking at that before the first day of school.

Tomorrow I'll finish up the door for the shop and work on one for the gym as well. The Missus picked up a couple of screen doors for a couple of bucks each and I need to figure out how to hang at least one of them. The gym is in a steel building and the door frames are not made to accommodate screens. I'll cut the door to fit the opening and take it from there.

It's going to be a little bit of work getting the woodshop (and me) all up and running, but I need a new challenge and some more experience with woodworking tools. I should be able to squeeze my wooden boat project in there somewhere, which will be fun. Maybe a boat and a canoe. I want to tackle the Northern Forest Canoe Trail someday before I get too much older. 740 miles from northern Maine to Old Forge, New York. Camping, portaging, paddling - could be quite the adventure.

Now that most of the storm damage is cleaned up here, I'll tackle a few of the jobs around the shack while I'm waiting to hear what's going to happen with the barn. I should be able to start working on a few of the fun projects before too much longer. I need to get my fishing tackle out. I bought my license and the place I'm staying in Southern Indiana for the forestry tour has fishing. I didn't get out once last year. There's just no excuse for that.

Time to Relax ---

put my feet up and catch my breath. I got the yard all cleaned up and mowed except for the downed tree. I got things straightened up best that I can for now around the barn. I took apart the remnants from the walls that I could reach, pulled all the nails and stacked all the lumber out of the way after the insurance adjuster came out and took pictures. I called a guy in the house moving business about lifting the top of the barn back up onto new walls. He's supposed to come out the beginning of next week. I also talked to the wrecker service here in town. They have a couple of BIG wreckers. I did a little math and the top part of the barn weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 6500 lbs. They would have no problem picking that up with the one big momma they have. Depending on what the mover says, I might be looking at building new walls and setting the top back in place again. That should make for a couple of interesting blogposts.

I've got a couple of things already lined up for next week but I'm going to try and get out in the shop a little. Maybe get my screen door in place and get things cleaned up if nothing else. The roofers got started on the house. I hated to farm that job out but in light of the barn and chest deal, I'm glad I did. The acupuncture seems like it helped my chest but the lady said I should plan on quite a few more sessions as well as some dietary changes. I'm not so sure about all that. I think I'll see how I hold up to the barn project. I really don't want to be running up to the clinic twice a week putting a hole in the middle of the day, not to mention the money involved. Hell, it's been hurting for a year. No point getting in a hurry now. Plus, I think I actually figured out what's wrong. There's a name for it and everything.

Looks like we might get a little bit of decent weather this weekend. Hope you get a chance to enjoy it.

Things Are Looking Up

After leaving the gym last night I took a little side trip through the subdivision to the west of me. It's a rather up scale area that's been around for a while with lots of big trees. I had heard that it was hit pretty hard in the storm the other day and sure enough, it had been. Mother Nature doesn't seem to care whether you live in the double wide or the big spread, apparently. I ran into one of my former students with a tree service and made arrangements to get my downed tree taken care of. So that's a good thing. I also received a couple of comments on the blog and some phone calls of concern and support. That's another good thing. I was also able to ride my bicycle a little the last few days with out chest pains. That's a real good thing.

I had a couple of acupuncture treatments last week and it seems to be helping. I couldn't tell anything after the first one but after the treatment on Thursday, I woke up Friday morning feeling like a million bucks. Part of it might have been the fact that it was the last day of school but regardless, I felt pretty darn good. I over did it a little Sunday maybe. I used a bow saw to cut up some of the big branches that had fallen in the yard and that made me a little sore but I still was able to go for a short bike ride Monday morning with no pain. I'm going back for two more sessions this week. I'm not sure if this is a fluke, a short term, or long term solution. As long as I can start riding my bicycle again, I'll be a happy camper.

I received a couple of comments lately from other "shop" teachers - one teaching at the high school level, the other at the college level. I've received a couple of other comments in the past from other teachers, I remember one from North Carolina teaching machine shop specifically. From what I've seen, all of us have a lot of things in common. First of all, We're all makers of things. We all like things with wheels - cars, bikes, planes, trains - we might like some things more than others but basically gearheads. We're all pretty opinionated but you would expect that from people who are passionate about what they do.

Where am I going with all of this, you might ask? Not sure. We no longer have professional development time at my school any more. In fact, they ran a couple of people off this year who I had never even spoken to even though they had been there a year. I used to be able to get together with the other shop guys in my co-op once a year but that too is long gone. Other than eating lunch and gabbin' a little after school with a few of the guys in my department, I basically teach in isolation. That's not good. Not good at all. Is there some type of "shop" teacher forum or does someone have a blog that's linked up to a bunch of other guys and gals doing the same type of thing that I do? I've stumbled across a few good education links but I'd really like to know more about what people are doing and how they're dealing with all the legislative happenings across the country. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

The best thing going this morning is the fact that my colleague, running buddy and good friend is leaving my school and pursuing his PhD. We have done a lot together over the last twelve years and I'm going to miss him. He was always a good sounding board and commiserator. Several of us went out for lunch on Friday and I was thinking the rest of us were like POWs in the old war movies. We were all cheering because Kevin made it through the wire. In bocca al lupo, Kevin.

The Big Blow

Track Clean-up

Downed Elm Tree

Downed Barn

Damn!

Saturday morning I get up and cut the grass in the front yard, fart around a little and head for the gym. I ran a little short of time and didn't quite get everything mowed, so when I finished up at the gym I just put on a dry shirt and headed home. Because I was going to do some more mowing later, I didn't bother taking a shower. About 4:00 pm I was just about ready to go back outside and finish up when the wife comes running into the house screaming to get down the basement. And then it started. Rain, wind and hail. Wind like Hell wouldn't have it. I could hear all kinds of things blowing against the house and a couple of big noises. It turns out one of the noises was the elm tree behind the house and the other was the new barn. I could see the barn from the basement window as well as the wind and the all the crap sailing by the house. Some of it went the against the prevailing wind, which was kind of scary. Especially when the prevailing wind had to be about 80 miles per hour.

The Missus missed the last step when heading down the basement stairs and banged herself up a little and the power was out for about 26 hours but other than that, everyone in the neighborhood was OK. I probably had the worst damage due to the barn going down but with all the trees that went down in my little hamlet, most of the houses were spared but garages and sheds were hit pretty good. Lots of trees down and roads closed because of the trees themselves and the power lines they took with them.

I don't know what I'm going to do about the barn. The building trades instructor stopped by on the way to the open house for the house they built this year. After seeing all the damage on his drive up from his house, I think he sensed there might be a problem. He didn't have time to talk but we'll get together and see what we can do. Besides the one tree that went down, a couple of them are leaning now. One of them has started pulling out of the ground quite a bit and the other has a few cracks in the dirt around the base.

The preparedness plan went well for us. With no electricity, we have no running water, lights, air conditioning, etc. We had plenty of water for the animals, drinking and toilet flushing. I wish I would have taken a shower as soon as I came home from the gym, but I do have a shower bag that I would have hung up tomorrow and got myself hosed off. I bought it after having to go three days in the Mississippi heat and humidity on a bike trip without a shower. We have several flashlights and a scanner to listen to what's going on. I'm going to buy another battery operated radio - maybe one of those crank jobs - to keep down the basement. I filled the crisper drawer of the refrigerator with ice to help keep things cold in there and we never opened the lid on the big freezer. I've got a motor drive welder that needs work. It has a 4500 watt generator on it. I'm going to quit farting around and take it in and see if someone can get it working. If not, or if it is going to be cost prohibitive, I think I'm going to spring for a generator. It's supposed to be in the 90's in a couple of days and the Missus can't take the heat. As long as the generator is big enough to power the little window AC unit and pump water, that would be plenty. Wouldn't even have to do both at the same time.

So we're safe and sound, and every time I went outside to take a whiz I picked up branches for a while so the backyard is mostly cleaned up, other than the tree, of course. All the neighbors are in good shape and firewood will be plentiful. The trains are running again and we'll all have stories to tell about the big storm of 2011.

Thanks to all the people at REMC for getting my electricity back on again, the county workers for clearing the roads and the police and firemen for running your asses off the last couple of days to keep us all safe while you're out in the biggest storm I've ever experienced.

Helluva way to start a vacation!

In Vacanza

Photo from here:

I made it through another school year. That makes 35 total. I've had a few rough years along the way but this one was rough in a different kind of way. Much of what occurred didn't really have a direct effect on me, even though there was enough of that, but rather it was all of the crap that was going on in the various state legislatures. Since the laws have been passed, there's not much I can do about it now except wait for the pendulum to swing back the other way. I probably won't be in the classroom to see it but it'll come back around. Regardless, it's time for me to stop dwelling on the subject and move on.

I'm going to have the opportunity to use my little camper pretty soon. It won't be a nice beach setting like the one in the photo above but I've got a couple of excursions lined up. I'm going to the woodworking/spindle turning class and the forestry tour. The little camper and I will be able to get back on the road for a couple of days each time and should be just the thing to get my mind right. Traveling, learning new things and skills, - just what the doctor ordered. I'm also heading to Oklahoma with Jimmy for a fight in July. He's scheduled for a 10 rounder against the "Comanche Boy".

So the summer, for me at least, is officially here. I've got some plans for work, travel and goofing off, in no particular order. Spend some time outside, spend some time in the shop, spend some time at school, spend some time with family - just enjoy myself and keep working towards the goal of having everything pretty well ship shape for retirement. Also, I'm planning on working a little more on my Italian while I'm in vacanza. I'm not sure how or when but I'm planning on going back.

National Donut Day by the way. I'm thinking skip the donut and go right to the beer, myself.

Enjoy the weekend.