I know, we haven't put up Hawaii pictures yet (that's Richard's job, so you can hassle him about it all you like).

But, in the meantime, here's a picture of the little hitchhiker who came with us to Hawaii.  We hope you can all meet him/her sometime in April:

I just finished reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.  Click here to learn more about it.  I love this book!

It is the true story of Greg Mortenson.  He used to be a nurse/mountain climber.  Returning from a failed attempt at climbing K2 in the 1990s, he found himself in a small village in northern Pakistan, one of the poorest areas of the world.  After the kindness the people showed him, he wanted to give something back and decided to build a school for the children there, particularly for the girls.  The story follows his life from that time up through 2005-ish.  You read all about the obstacles he faced as he tried to reach out and help the people in these villages.  I mean, just imagine: one, lone American man showing up in Pakistan, trying to put together everything he would need to build a school in one of the most remote places imaginable.  Well, he did it and went on to do so much more.  He now runs the Central Asia Institute which helps to fund and build schools and other important projects for the poorest areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The story is really remarkable and inspiring.  It's very easy to read because of the flowing narrative style, and this book really gives you perspective on how we can work to make the world a better place and promote peace through communication and education, not through war.  (And you can make donations to CAI through their website at www.ikat.org.)

Anyway, I don't want to get preachy, but it's really an awesome book - one of the best I've read in the last few years.  I HIGHLY recommend it!!!

Today at 12:25pm I submitted my LAST grad school assignment.

I am officially DONE with my masters degree!

And there was much rejoicing... (yay!)

I'm going to go have a celebratory TV dinner for lunch!  (The real celebration commences this weekend!)

WOO-HOO!!!!!!!!

The final installment of our trip pictures have been uploaded.  We haven't captioned all of them yet, but will be working on that this evening.  Go see our day at the Louvre and Orsay, our stroll down the Champs Elysees, our climbing of the Eiffel Tower, and various other stops.

We've just uploaded a lot of new pictures.  Sights include Versailles, The Orsay, Napolean's Tomb, Pere Lachaise Cemetery (with cats!), and New Year's at the Eiffel Tower!

Check them out!

We spent the day in the Montmartre area of Paris.  Pictures of Sacre Couer, Moulin Rouge, Adolph Sax's Grave, and the Rousseau Family Grave over at our picture website. 

Versailles tomorrow.

We arrived this morning around 8:30 AM local time (that's 1:30 AM for you Chicago folks).  Took the RER line into the city center, walked up the stairs and right smack into Notre Dame.  Our apartment is just south of the Ile de la Cite, so naturally our first stop was Notre Dame followed by the Archaeological Crypt just outside the catherdral.

See our pics and check back often for updates!

Now it's time for a nap.

In preparation for our reading of The Great Gatsby, I'd like to show my students a movie to help familiarize them with the basic themes in the book.

What I need are suggestions for movies in which a guy is rejected by a girl because he isn't rich enough/successful enough/good looking enough, etc.  The guy then "makes good" and comes back to win her over with his new wealth and good looks. 

Even if he's not successful (because, if you've read The Great Gatsby, he wasn't so successful either), it will still work.

Got any ideas???

Click here to see them!

My dad is a ham radio operator.  For those of you who have no idea what that is, Wikipedia has a nice summary.

One of my dad's most recent adventures took him to a place called Scarborough Reef in the South China Sea.  His group has posted pictures here.  It's crazy.  You really have to look at them to understand just how insane this trip was.

What's funny is that as a family we never took any camping or boating trips, yet this is what my dad does for fun! 

Thanks to my wife's diligent monitoring of airfare prices, we scored an incredible deal on a non-stop flight to Paris.  Non-stop from ORD to CDG is usually around $2150 for two people (thats with taxes and fees).  Early this morning that same non-stop flight dropped to $1447 for two people!!  That just saved us over $700!  The non-stop was even cheaper than the 1-stop, which we were originally going to choose.  Way to go wifey!

We had seen the rumor on the internets that Wednesday morning was the best time to buy overseas tickets.  Something about the airlines releasing tickets just after midnight.  I guess that rumor is true!!

Now it's time to find the best seat on the plane.

TK posted this a little while ago.  Sadly I'm just now getting to it. 

http://www.ieanea.org/iie.aspx

I know the general attitude out there is, "Well, as long as my kids are in a good district, who cares?"  Unfortunately, it's thinking like this that allows too many school districts in impoverished areas to deteriorate, thus driving down property values and resulting in thousands (or millions) of kids who put no value on getting an education.  And where do you think they end up as adults? 

I'm not saying I am in love with Blago's idea - that whole gross tax receipts thing - but something has to be done.  I don't want to hurt businesses in Illinois, but we have to have a better system that doesn't rely so heavily on property taxes to support public schools. 

Just my two cents - happy Friday!

I know my last post was a complaint about the new, earlier daylight savings policy.

I'm over it.

Why?

Because it means that on my SPRING BREAK, which starts TOMORROW, I will be able to enjoy sunlight until nearly 7pm!

Oh, and did I mention that the yearbook will be DONE TOMORROW!?!?  Literally, all I have to do is give the LAST PAGE a once over, and then it's done.  (That's 2 1/2 weeks sooner than last year for those of you who have been keeping track.  Yes - I rock!)

I managed to get through all of 3rd quarter without taking a single sick day, and I successfully pulled 90% of my juniors through The Great Gatsby before spring break.  (It's an awesome book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't already read it.)  The bonus?  They actually LIKED IT!  Well... most of them.

That evil grad school class I had in Jan/Feb is over, and a new, delightful one has begun!  I like grad school again!

Our little nephew is turning 2 in just a few days, and I can't wait to see him.  He's gotten so big this year!  I can hardly believe it. 

Sure, the Illini didn't make it past the first round, but there's always next year. 

So in short, my dear readers, life is good!  I hope all of you are enjoying the spring time as much as I am thus far.   

This was the first week so far this year that I've been able to drive to work with sunlight!  It makes such a difference compared with driving to work in the dark.  I just realized I didn't even finish my coffee this morning.  That is HUGE for me to be that awake in the morning!  I know it's the sunlight that makes the difference.

Now, thanks to the powers that be, I have to sink back into darkness for at least another month because they decided to make daylight savings time kick in 3 weeks earlier.  It's going to be so sad on Monday morning, driving to work under the stars.

And to add insult to injury, this morning the radio played The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" and Sheryl Crow's "I'm Gonna Soak Up the Sun." 

Grrrr... I suppose the trade off is that I might come home before dark for a change 2-3 days a week.  That will be nice.

I just wanted to put a big thank you out there for Marc and Beth who organized our wonderful weekend in Wisconsin.  I personally didn't ski, but it was the best weekend I've had in a while.  Especially the sing-along!  :)  Same time next year???

I take back anything bad I ever said about my superintendent.  He's a great guy!  :) 

(In case you can't tell, school got called off today on account of extremely cold weather.  What a happy day!)

Now if only I had known school was cancelled before I was already up, showered, dressed, and about to walk out the door.

But that's better than TK - he was 1/2 way to school when he found out.  Bummer.

A Thought for the Day:

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.

If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.

He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.

Let's face it - He is crazy about you and me!

God didn't promise us days without pain,

laughter without sorrow, or sun without rain.

But He did promise us strength for the day,

comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

 

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

From Aristotle:

The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.


From Shakespeare's Hamlet:

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.


African Proverb

However long the night, the dawn will break.


From Carl W. Buechner:

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.


From Carl Jung:

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.


From David Weatherford:

We enjoy warmth because we have been cold. We appreciate light because we have been in darkness. By the same token, we can experience joy because we have known sadness.


From Theodore M. Hesburgh:

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.


From Lisa Hoffman:

Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important.


From Mark Twain:

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.


From William Shakepeare's sonnets:

When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls, all silver'd o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard;
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake,
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

***

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long-since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight.
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restor'd, and sorrows end.

***

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

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