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: