Now we can finally have breakfast!

So I finally finished painting the breakfast nook, put up curtains, and got a picture shelf for my kitchen pictures that have been sitting on the floor for the last 12 months...

U is for Umbrella, we use it when it showers, ducks don't need them and neither do flowers...

So a few weeks ago the Valley of the Sun became the Valley of Clouds and rain for three days.  We set the all time 24-hour rainfall record and had some the the worst winter storms Arizona has ever seen.  Lots of rain in Phoenix and over 50" of snow up in the high country north of here...

A rare sight here... an actual rainbow!

Rainfall totals over 3 days around the Valley:

The weather service here is very accurate...  apparently they can predict a flood down to the minute...

Puppies

So over Christmas vacation I watched a colleague's two dogs while they travelled back east for the holidays.  Daisy is a Puggle and honey is a Miniature Pinscher.  They both had a lot of fun sleeping and eating and pooping during the holidays!

Daisy & Honey standing in the archway to the kitchen & living room looking for their next meal:

Daisy asks "Who me?"

Daisy and Honey sleeping in the chair (after I piled the pillows up on it so they could not get up on it... clearly this plan failed)

Daisy sleeping on the couch:

Daisy is taking a nap (as usual...)

Honey having her prison photo taken:

We didn't do it!  

Daisy & Snowy sharing a rare moment together in the chair:

A little extra Christmas cheer

So I went to IKEA saturday and found this red wreath there for $19.99.  I think it looks just right on my front door:

Out for a drive

On the way back from a Saturday drive to IKEA I snapped a few random pictures of the sights of the Valley...

In the middle of a traffic jam on I-10 by Sky Harbor Airport I snapped a picture of a Southwest airlines jet coming in for a landing overhead:

And another jet coming in on the other runway as traffic cleared:

A beautiful view of the mountains north of downtown from the HOV lane flyover bridge on AZ route 51:

The "mini-stack" where I-10, AZ Loop 202, and AZ route 51 all come together:

The "north stack" where I-17 and the Loop 101 come together is tangled maze of flyover bridges going in every direction:

A rare rainy day...

Last monday the sun disappeared for a day and we got our first significant rainfall in over 5 months...

Hmm... where to go?

Heading south on the loop 101, the Estrella Mountains are blanketed by rain-clouds:

The peak of the Estrella Mountains is up in the clouds just south of my home as seen from the Loop 101:

And even the Hedgepeth Foothills by my old apartment were hiding in the cloudy-mist:

Home tour

So here is a video tour of the house... enjoy!

Ghetto-zona

How to move a television in Arizona:

Christmas home tour

Ok, so here's a quick preview of my home Christmased up for the holidays... enjoy!

And of course my favorite ornament on the tree, the Hallmark 1998 USS Enterprise-E light-up ornament

"Is it a harmful cheeseburger...?"

This made my day on friday after a stressful day at school... press play to listen...

Woman Calls Cops on Burger King sound bite Funny sound bites

More stupidity in Findlay

So these were actual events, word-for-word, from the official public record published in my hometown newspaper The Findlay Courier.  These were for the week of Sept 14-19 2009.

Police Department

A Findlay High School student, 16, was cited on West Foulke Avenue for wearing a Taco Bell window promotional sign as a cape. He had taken the sign from the store Tuesday. Umm... What more can I possibly add to this...?

Two high school students were involved in a Tuesday altercation in the 700 block of West Trenton Avenue.

Domestic disputes broke out Tuesday at homes on Breckenridge Road and Delaware Avenue.

Two males tussled Tuesday in the 500 block of Liberty Street over a property line disagreement. Oh no... not "tussling"!!!

An ornament was removed from the side of Early American House, 820 Broad Ave., on Wednesday.

A container of marijuana was confiscated from a Findlay High School student, 17, who was subsequently suspended Monday. Dude, where's my pot???

An intoxicated person was cited for aggravated disorderly conduct in the roadway of the 600 block of Putnam Street on Monday.

A Selby Street woman was arrested for domestic violence after striking her husband Tuesday. Crazy woman....

A Glessner Avenue woman was arrested Sunday for domestic violence after punching her boyfriend. Another crazy woman....

An East Pine Avenue girl was taken to a juvenile detention center on a domestic violence allegation, after biting a family member Sunday. And crazy girl....

Frozen meat and a bicycle were stolen from a garage at 1034 Fishlock Ave. This was noted Sunday. Hey man, look, free meat... and a bike too!

A Mercury was ransacked Tuesday outside 2712 Hollybrook Drive. I hate it when someone ransacks a car!

Sheriff's Office

A rural Forest woman said Monday she had received a suspicious letter, indicating she had won a $2 million prize. She should send in the $1000 to Kenya to claim her prize!

Aluminum was stolen Monday from a front yard at 23469 Hancock County 17, Forest.

Authorities investigated a report Sept. 1 that a substitute teacher at Arlington Schools had hit a student on the top of his head with a pen. No injury was noted. I can sympathize with this one...

A Friday fracas was reported at 820 W. Bigelow Ave.  Oh no, not another "fracas"!

An inebriated Benton Ridge resident was walking in the middle of Main Street in the village Friday. New #1 area of job growth in the state of Ohio is "Village Idiot"

AND MY FAVORITE OF THE WEEK:

A disgruntled rural Van Buren man tried to remove auto speakers while in the bed of his mother's pickup Sunday. The mother reportedly then drove the truck "erratically" in the vicinity of Meadowlark Park in Fostoria and made a sharp turn, tossing the discontented son from the truck. He was treated at Blanchard Valley Hospital for a head injury and "road rash."

Is it November yet?

So the new Star Trek movie comes out on Blu-Ray at the beginning of November... I pre-ordered it on Amazon.com in August and I just cannot wait to see it in High-Definition on the big tv with the surround sound on full blast... now if November would just hurry up and get here... In the meantime random clips of the movie on YouTube will have to do ::sigh::  But just look at how awesome this movie is...

Here is a short scene of the Enterprise about to go to warp... with a minor technical difficulties and a bit of humor the captures the fun of the original Star Trek series and characters:


And here is a three minute FOX All-Access preview of the movie:

What do cats like to watch?

Answer: PBS. 

So on Saturday night I was watching a documentary on PBS HD about the bears in Yellowstone park and when I looked down around the ottoman I saw Snowy watching the bears too.  Fortunately, my camera was sitting on the ottoman so I quickly took a few pictures of her watching TV:

New TV!

So after getting my performance pay for the super awesome AIMS test scores of my students last year, I used part of my bonus to upgrade my downstairs TV from a much too small for the room 32'' HDTV to a just-perfectly sized 46" Samsung LED High-Definition TV.  This new TV has an incredibly sharp picture but is only about the thickness of a double-dvd case.  Because of this it is 14" larger than the old TV yet actually weighs less... Go figure...  It is truly a beautiful TV at only 1" thick and with a 46" diagonal screen.

The new TV on the TV stand (I was watching Law & Order on NBC HD):

The side profile of the TV compared to a 2-DVD case... Just look how thin the TV is!

At the rate televisions are shrinking in thickness, I figure my next TV will be as thick as a piece of paper and I will be able to just glue it to the wall...  

A rare sight in Phoenix

So on August 6th I took this picture of a rainbow hovering over Glendale and the roof of my school around 6 AM when I arrived in the parking lot:

It is truly a special occasion to see a rainbow in Phoenix... since it rarely rains here and even more rarely produces the conditions necessary to see a rainbow!

Kitty gets a haircut (again)

So on Labor Day I took Snowy to the groomers at Pet Smart to get shaved...

Before:

And After:

First day of school

So we started school on August 3, 2009.  As always I was at school insanely early (around 5:15 AM) to make sure everything was ready... Here was the room just before the school year began:

The front of the room with instructions for the students first assignment of the year ready to go on the SmartBoard:

The students new agendas, 2 pencils, and their first bell work on their desks:

The class giving tree we made after reading The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and then making our own tree to share what special talent each student has and then how we can use those skills to help others.  Each of my 60 students got to make a leaf for the tree that shares their unique talents:

Long time no post

So believe it or not it has been over a month (more like 7 weeks) since I last posted here.  Somehow school has been keeping me busy (super busy).  Not to mention in the daily grind of getting up at 4am (or earlier) being at school by 5:30am, teaching from 7:45-2:45 and then trying to be home by 5PM and asleep by 7:30, not much out of the ordinary that is blog-worthy has happened in the last 7 weeks...

However, there have been a few interesting moments between then and now so I will try to update the good old blog tonight...

100th Blog Post!!!

So to commemorate the milestone of my 100th blog post I have decided to introduce a new recurring feature on my blog that will feature the best of the worst that my hometown of Findlay, Ohio has to offer courtesy of the Findlay Courier police and sheriff's department docket.  The local newspaper publishes all of the stupid nonsense that the local law enforcement has to deal with there every day and I want to share the endless stupidity that is Findlay with all of you...  

Please keep in mind that I have copied and pasted these reports directly from the OFFICIAL PUBLIC RECORD and have not edited or altered them in any way whatsoever... 

From the docket in Findlay earlier this week:

Two unlocked vehicles were entered Tuesday or Wednesday at 2901 Greenacre Drive.

A MP3 player and multi-tool knife were swiped from an unlocked truck outside 1435 Plum Creek Drive on Wednesday.

(Why don't people just lock their cars?  I would be embarrassed to report that my stuff was stolen because I don't lock my car...)

Police were summoned to Friday fracases at 311 Center and 827 S. Blanchard street (Really???  A "fracas"... sounds very serious!)

A domestic squabble occurred at a George Street address Sunday. (The only thing worse than a "fracas' is a "squabble"!)

Syrup and pieces of salami were placed Monday onto a garage door at 522 Bright Road while rotten tomatoes were put in a mailbox. (Oh my!!!  A drive-by syruping)

A woman punched her husband and was arrested for domestic violence shortly after the couple had returned home from celebrating their second wedding anniversary early Wednesday. (Happy Anniversary!)

And this was published in the Findlay public record for today, July 31st 2009:

A man was arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence and for possession of drug paraphernalia Wednesday on Cherry Street. After arguing with officers, the man apologized, explaining that he just needed "to poop." (Do I need to say anything about this one???)

A Benton Ridge woman reported Monday that upon returning home from vacation, she found her pet fish missing. (If I was a cop in Findlay I would just hang myself to make the nonsense end...)

Finally!

So I spent about 20-25 hours this week (4-5 hours each day Monday-Friday) working to get my classroom ready... I am finally done!  Desks have been arranged (for the moment...), bulletin boards are up, books are on the shelves, the blinds have been dusted, the cabinets organized, etc.  I could not have believed a week ago that it would take me this long to get to this point, but either way it is done... Now check out the finished results:

Looking at the back of the room from the doorway to the adjoining classroom:

The north wall with the windows, TV, reading table, dry erase board, and some bulletin boards:

The computer center and homework collection point at the back of the room:

My desk area in the back of the room:

The south wall of the classroom where all of the storage is:

The three R's of Mr. VanAtta's classroom:

Progress

So I have spent the last 3 days working to get the classroom in order since school starts on August 3rd and our open house/meet the teacher night is July 31st... So the classroom is slowly starting to look like a classroom.  The work never seems to end but I know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and soon my classroom will be ready to go...

The front of the classroom with some bulletin boards and the Smart Board in the middle:

The back of the classroom with the library in the right corner, my desk in the left corner, and the student computers in the middle:

The wall of storage with stuff piled up everywhere...  I spend most of today putting books and supplies away in the cabinets.

Tomorrow will be more work and I am hoping to have the room at least 95% done by early afternoon tomorrow.

Making a run for the border

So Jenna and I went down to Douglas, AZ for the last 2 days to check out the town (pop. 18,000) and get everything set up for her new teaching job down there.  The town is literally on the US-Mexico border and is on the other side of the border fence  from Agua Prieta, Sonora (pop. 100,000).  The town is much different than life in Phoenix.  The air is cooler, the people friendlier, the cars slower, and the border to another nation on the other side of the street...  Overall I really like this town (and it neighboring town of Bisbee.  

On Highway 80 heading south towards Douglas:

A very unusal-looking mountain slope between Bisbee and Douglas:

A mural and small plaza in downtown Douglas highlighting Douglas' unique role as a cross-cultural crossroads between the USA and Mexico:

A nice gazebo downtown:

At the intersection of 2nd avenue and Pan-American Highway in downtown Douglas.  Mexico is well, one street south of here but as the yellow sign says "Weapons and ammo illegal in Mexico" so leave your guns at the border...

Jenna and I stopped by the Subway at the gas station and then ate our lunch at this park in downtown Douglas before coming back to Phoenix.  This little square park has a church at each corner and a beautiful fountain and band-shell in it along with many shady trees and benches to enjoy the chirping birds and bubbling water sounds:

This is one of the churches at one corner of the park:

More of the park.  If you have a really sharp eye you may spot a certain red Prius in the background somewhere:

One more picture of the fountain:

Bisbee, AZ

25 minutes west of Douglas, AZ and 8 miles north of Mexico lies the little former copper mining town of Bisbee.  It is literally built onto a mountainside and a canyon and so the town's streets and buildings are laid out vertically with streets and stairs zig-zagging their way up the mountainside.  In the 1970's the mine closed and the town became an artists' colony and turn-of the century living museum to live in a mining town in the late 1800's

Approaching the town from Douglas you enter the traffic roundabout to head off to Bisbee:

The old copper pit descends hundreds of feet into the landscape:

Looking out over Downtown Bisbee from highway 80:

An example of the Hippie-arts scattered all over the town:

More hippie-art... this was pretty cool... especially the dino-skeleton in the background:

Looking up from a street at how the parking and housing are often arranged in Bisbee:

More of downtown Bisbee:

The Copper Queen hotel where we stayed overnight:

Should you drive left and up, straight and kinda-level, or right and down?

Walking around Bisbee

So how do you get around a town built on a mountainside on foot?  By climbing up and down a lot of stairs of course...  In Bisbee there are random stairways hidden all around the town to get from on street to the street above or below.

Going up (way up):

And going down (Jenna refused to go down these stairs so we had to walk down the street to the next set of stairs):

Going downhill by the city park:

Jenna enjoying her stair-climbing exercise routine:

Tucson

So on the way back from Douglas I was able to get this picture of the Tucson skyline from I-10.  The city, like Phoenix, is surrounded by mountains, but in Tucson the mountains are larger and much closer to the downtown core.  Tucson has about 1 million people in the metro area and is a lot smaller than here in the valley where we have over 4 1/2 million.  The skyline is a lot smaller but really neat to see with the Santa Catalina mountains rising 6000 feet above the downtown.  The highest point in the Catalinas is Mount Lemmon at an elevation of 9,157 feet above sea level and receives 180 inches of snow annually.

Yeah, it even looks this picturesque from the freeway:

Getting comfy...

So the other day I found Snowy taking a nap on the living room rug.  She seems to be getting a bit tubby lately...  I think the pictures speak for themselves:

Panoramic View

Here is a fascinating 360 degree view of the Michael Jackson memorial service when they sang "We are the World" near the end of the service courtesy of the LA Times. (Click on the link to view)

Jackson Memorial Service Panorama. 

Good Morning Arizona!

Who wouldn't mind waking up to some happy news like this at 4:30 in the morning?

Let's go outside and fry and egg in mid-air...

I don't know if that would actually work or not but it is probably worth a try... if only I had some eggs...  Here is today's weather forecast and the forecast for the upcoming week:

A cloudy day to build a house...

So today the Pulte Building Systems people began major construction on the last 3 houses right across the street from me...  They trucked in the wall sections yesterday afternoon.  The wall sections are built off-site and then they just have to be attached to the foundations and each other... add some drywall, windows & doors, stucco, and a roof and you have a house!  However, it is somewhat difficult to sleep in till noon with this going on outside your bedroom window...  This is the view from my bedroom:

Come on Down!

So I was watching the Price is Right early this morning... (it comes on at 9AM here...) and at the end of the Showcase Showdown I spotted an unusual sight... A "Flat Stanley" on the podium during the showcase:

Sign Spinning

So there a new trend emerging in advertising (at least here in the Valley and other major US cities) called "Sign Spinning".  The concept is relatively simple.  Give someone $10-$20 an hour to stand on a street corner and hold an arrow sign pointing to your business.  But it seems to have become much more than that.  The Spinners (as they are called) have learned elaborate dance moves and tricks with these signs to get your attention while you are sitting and watching them and not the light that just turned green in front of you.  So the moves have become more and more complex and the competition between these spinners ever-greater as those with the most attention getting moves and tricks can command the best paying positions with a potential to do it full time and earn as much as $2000 a month...  (and to think I decided to waste all those years in college!)

McDonald's has even made a series of TV commercial for Phoenix advertising their sign spinners advertising their coffee... Its advertising featuring advertising... go figure:

Here are some youtube videos of the sign spinners in action:

And here is a short documentary (6 minutes) on the sign-spinning culture in southern California (where like many things, it all began):

Cat in a blanket

So the other day I went upstairs and there was a big lump under my blankets... what could it possibly have been?   Why it was Snowy hiding under the covers taking a nap!  Naturally I had to disrupt her sleep to take some pictures...

How many folks does it take to move an 11' tree?

Apparently more than 6...  So I spent the last 3 1/2 hours this morning watching these folks trying to move one of the trees across the street where the last houses here are being built...  The poor tree is on life support after these Do-it-yourself landscaper wannabes manhandled, ripped, pulled, and shredded this poor tree to its last limbs....

After 2 hours of digging and pulling with their suv they got the tree out of the ground and onto their mini-trailer:

The tree was in the hole in front of the foundation by the white barrel:

Then they tied some sheets together to try to cover the tree up...

"The sheet don't fit.... go get me another sheet!"

Oh hey!  lets use pink hair spray to make a sign on the back of the sheet so people don't hit us...  Umm... What should it say???  "Caution" perhaps?   OK... C-A-T-... Umm how do you spell it?   Why did you write some scribbles and then "Cat?"   Isn't that how you spell it???   ::Sigh::  You're and idiot....

Uh oh... the tree is starting to fall off the trailer... go get another sheet....

Meanwhile daughter #2 has died in the back of the SUV from heat exhaustion while the other 5 try to figure out how to get the 4th bedsheet attached to the tree to hold it down...

"Dude, this is really ghetto, even for us..."

"Seriously Dad... this is the worst vacation ever..."

So after 3+ hours they drove off with bits of the tree being ripped off on the asphalt as they disappeared.... R.I.P. tree...

Little Bedroom on the Prairie

So I got the wall in my bedroom painted this weekend.  I painted it "Prairie Grass" as the folks at Sherwin-Williams call the color.  I think it is a very calm and relaxing neutral color for the bedroom.  I once again taped off the three windows over my bed and did a paint 'frame' around them to make it easier to paint around them, and that was probably the most challenging and time-consuming aspect of this room was carefully taping off around those windows to get straight lines and clean edges on the paint...  And then still going back to do touch-ups...

Here is the paint sample card next to the final color...

And here is the painted wall: