Recently, I have decided to try and get into better shape. I have always looked the part thanks to good genetics, but it's something that everyone goes through in their life - can I work hard at my age and really change my body? I am motivated by a few things - I want to be an example to my family, and I want to impress my wife. She doesn't really know how important that it is to me for her to continue liking the way I look. I guess it may seem a bit ridiculous given my whole take on love and what it truly means, but I guess that is the physical aspect that I put upon myself in our relationship.
There are two really tough aspects to making this whole body conditioning thing work. First, it is the unending availability of bad food. I try and make myself eat right and avoid the wrong things - thank goodness my will power is stronger than most! It is just the maintaining that is always tough. I hope that my wife and I can grow into our new love for healthy food choices - thank you bountiful baskets!! The second factor that makes my effort tougher is that everyone seems to think that I don't need to do all the working out. Most people look at me and assume that everything is fine and sometimes resent me for talking about my efforts and the weight I may lose. It's not terribly motivating when people resent and talk down your successes.
The good thing about this endeavor is going to be the availability of time, which tends to be most everybody's biggest hurdle. As a teacher, time is definitely not an issue during the summer. Mornings are going to be the easiest times, as the kids are still either in bed or working through their morning stupor. : ) The evenings and Jodi's days off will be set aside for the longer aerobic activity. I have to get out to run. Jodi can do the whole treadmill thing, but I need the variety offered by the outdoors. It's nice to have a general goal, but it is also nice to alter your plan as you go if you feel like it.
I wish I had someone else to work with on this endeavor, but my friends tend to work out differently - long distance training and no real strength training. I guess I need to ask before I make assumptions, and perhaps I will, but that evil 'time thing' will probably be the impossible hurdle to get over. Oh well, nothing like a little intrinsic motivation.
This post is not for sharing all over - those who find it can read it, but I'm not making it readily available through all the social media sites. I may or may not chronicle a few successes (or failures) as I go. By the way...yesterday I ran 6.3 miles (with a 20 minute stop over at the Marlias for water at the 3 mile mark). I have never run that far in my life...so, mini-success!!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Man-Hug
It's a misnomer that guys don't like showing too much emotion...the fact is that most often we are afraid of the reaction of others - you know...societal norms. It's a real blessing when you are able to enjoy something to its fullest and relish in the joys with someone without fear of repercussion (although we all know they are coming in the long run).
I'm not an avid hunter by any means, and I laugh about the fact that two of my four first posts deal with the subject, but I guess the experiences are pretty intense and special...
My friend Blake and I sat out the controlled elk season in the high mountains that contain the Minam wilderness this season (a blessing due to the fact that the snow up there this year was four feet deep in places) and decided to take advantage of the general spike elk second season (everyone can get tag). I knew that we had a few ins with some ranchers near my school, and we felt like our chances would be decent. The season started out like it always does for me - shutout! We searched the local ranches (elk didn't come in) and we explored a few areas in the Elkhorn Mountains to the west of us to no avail. I guess we did see one cow elk that Blake thought might lead us to others. She bolted 15 yards from us (scaring the crap out of me initially), and Blake decided to charge after her. It was raining, and we were in some thick brush. If anyone knows Blake, you know that when he starts after something, he won't go easily. When I saw him plow through the soaking wet foliage, I cringed because I knew I had to follow him or risk losing contact as he scoured the mountainside. Needless to say, we soaked our pants and never saw the cow or another elk that day!
The next morning we tried to find those same elk, but to no avail. We were home by 7:30 in the morning, content in the fact that it was not meant to be. To my surprise, at around 1:30 in the afternoon, a friend from work whose ranch we had explored earlier called and asked if we had filled our tags. Naturally, I began to smile, and I told her no. She proceeded to tell me that there were 200 elk at her place, and we were welcome to come on out to try and fill our tags. I thanked her and told her that we'd be out lickity-split. I called Blake, and told him to be ready in ten minutes because I was coming to get him. I got dressed in about 3 minutes, grinning the whole time because my last day miracles had to be running out (I've killed all my big game on the last day of the hunt at the last hour).
Blake and I were smiling like kids on Christmas morning during the drive to the ranch, shaking our heads at our luck, yet trying to stay calm because we knew it would still take a bit of luck to be successful. We arrived at the ranch, and we were directed to walk in about a mile to get in above the elk in order to catch them on their way out to the cover of the timber. Blake and I made our way to our spot, came up over a ridge, and peered over at a large herd of amazing animals. Neither of us had ever killed an elk, so it would be stating the obvious that we were both pretty energized at this time. We decided to stay on our point, realizing that we could cover ground a lot of ways depending on where the elk decided to go. The elk started to push up the ravine toward us, but they decided that they would follow another way out and Blake and I realized that we were going to miss them unless we moved. That is where the real excitement, hilarity, and elation began.
Once we realized the elk were going to take a path through another ridge, we started running in that direction. Blake and I are of different molds - Blake being the distance/endurance guy, while I have always been the short distance/speed guy. Needless to say there were two different periods to this coverage of distance between us and the elk. Much like the tortoise and the hare, I blazed off down our ridge toward the next one, not giving thought to where Blake was. As I started going up the next ridge, I realized that I was in trouble. It wasn't long before Blake had caught up, and his lungs, having much more training, blew by me up to the top of the next ridge. The great part was that we both were laughing about the whole thing, not having to really discuss what we both knew was so funny. We finally saw the elk headed our direction, and the two of us stood poised a mere five feet apart, eyes in our scopes, praying that our actual abilities would be masked and that we'd just get lucky trying to shoot an elk as it ran past our sights. From 50 yards away, the line of about 25 elk (the herd had thinned into several smaller groups at this time) crossed our path. Unrehearsed, Blake and I, in unison, delcared, "Branch!" as a branched bull passed following a few cows. Once again a larger bull passed the sights, and again, as if we had planned such great communication, we both exclaimed, "Branch!" Finally, we spotted the first spike - we both enthusiastically yelled, "Spike!" and we squeezed our triggers. Another spike came into view, and we both let loose again. In the back of my mind, I feared that we had failed, but both bulls pulled out of the group as they started uphill and fell cleanly within 25 yards of where we had initially shot them. Somehow, we had gotten through the exhaustion, the adrenaline, and the nervousness to fill both our tags on the last day in the last couple of hours before dark. Blake and I dropped our rifles to our sides, looked at eachother with huge grins, and began our celebration. We high fived, and yes, we gave eachother the appropriate 'man-hug.' The emotion was intense and amazing! We had completed something for the first time that was important to us. Naturally, not everyone can or will understand this, but the high we experienced was incredible. We had been given the opportunity to experiece this together and we relished in it.
There is no doubt that the rest of the night was long and tiring - cleaning and prepping an elk takes a lot of time! We thanked our hosts, and drove home with a new story in our pockets and food on our tables.
Men and women are very similar, but the differences are more than obvious. Men's emotions are contained most of the time, but when they are released it is a wonderful thing. Blake and I's experience wasn't gushy and silly - it was just an intense, almost spiritual ordeal. We realize that the story will be joked about with our friends at future gatherings because that's what guys do, but behind every joke is the realization that everyone wants and needs that experience.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Demotion of the Promoted
I was recently terribly aggravated, once again, by the ridiculous efforts put forth by our state's government to 'better help our students succeed.' In an effort to keep up with the Jones's, the Oregon Department of Education thought it would be mindful to reevaluate the standards that students must meet in order to guage the success of the students and the schools. I am all about high standards for my students - I feel that any student that I have taught would probably tell you that I am pretty stringent and hold my students accountable at many levels. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the state of Oregon is wrong!!
The whole point of the much-maligned No Child Left Behind program was to ensure that every student was meeting the same standard, no matter their race, sex, mental capacity, or socio-economic status. Many will tell you that this is a pipe dream to assume that every student will meet the standard, but in our school, that dream was close to a reality. I say our school, and I guess I am referring more to our elementary school. This past year, the 3-5 grades saw 90% of the students meeting the state benchmark in the areas of reading and math. We were very proud of our staff's and our students' efforts. I'm the first to tell anyone that a given year can be a blip on the radar, but our scores are continually climbing, and our staff's efforts to become better acquainted with research-based practices and curriculums has, in my opinion, really paid off for our students.
The state of Oregon decided to raise the math benchmark scores for grades 3-5...significantly I might add. So significant that last year's 4th graders, who I consider my best class academically in the past 7 years, would only have had 58% pass the state benchmark compared to the 92 percent who passed the test with last year's benchmark standard. I feel like that is a travesty in the highest sense...The scores that the state wants to see are going to be very hard to attain for a lot of the students I have on a yearly basis. Oh, and by the way, these standards were raised after the first 9 weeks of the school year...half a month after the testing window opened in the state of Oregon...what about those kids who finished the first round of testing? Do they get a pink slip informing them that the score that previously passed the benchmark no longer counts??!!
Many of you (if any at all) who actually read this are probably saying that I'm sobbing because it will look bad for me, but that is quite the misnomer. I feel for the kids. I have seen the effects of failure in the eyes and minds of students - and yes, failing these tests (or not meeting the benchmark) is very traumatic for a lot of kids. They are very aware of the scores and the significance...they can't help but know with the amount of importance that is placed upon them by the state and school districts. Students feed off success...not the kind of success you get from copying answers off your friend's paper, but that which comes from putting forth your best effort and knowing you conquered something important. That success is what feeds the heart and soul of a student. Raising the standard to such heights is only going to lower the success rate for students, build resentment of the education system, and contribute to higher drop-out rates.
The ironic thing behind all this is what the department of education and the rest of the bureaucratic bimbos didn't do. The standard for the middle school and high school tests weren't even raised!!! The high school standard remained the same, and the middle school score was actually dropped by a point. Tell me how that is setting higher standards!!! The state put out a 60-page document outlining the rationale behind the changed scores and attributed the majority of the statistics to how the scores predicted success on the test once students reached high school. Talk about a waste of resources...how much money did the state pay to get that information and then put together that ridiculously-long document?
I have an idea...how about we try and set our students up to succeed? I'm not talking about dumbing it down, but let's give our children a reasonable chance to experience pride and self-worth. If there are issues at the upper grades, how about we focus our attention on that problem rather than creating more problems at the lower grades? Thank you Oregon Department of Education and political pinheads who haven't spent any time in a classroom actually teaching kids for setting these kids up for failure and frustration. Thank you for making my job even more diverse, as I will now have to hold counseling sessions with kids to discuss how it's ok to not meet the incredibly difficult state benchmark. Thank you for continually chastising me as an educator for not doing my job adequately and not saying thank you for doing a good job when it happens. Thank you for increased mandates on how to do our job effectively and then cutting our budget and taking away the money that would help meet those mandates. Amazing how Obama's education stimulus money came in, and the state decided to reduce school's budgets by the exact amount of money that the stimulus money would have given to each district...I digress...Thank you ODE for making it easier for me to try and not teach to a test. Thank you for taking away a good thing and replacing it with your job security as you must now find out what to do about all these kids who will not be meeting the new state standards!!!
The whole point of the much-maligned No Child Left Behind program was to ensure that every student was meeting the same standard, no matter their race, sex, mental capacity, or socio-economic status. Many will tell you that this is a pipe dream to assume that every student will meet the standard, but in our school, that dream was close to a reality. I say our school, and I guess I am referring more to our elementary school. This past year, the 3-5 grades saw 90% of the students meeting the state benchmark in the areas of reading and math. We were very proud of our staff's and our students' efforts. I'm the first to tell anyone that a given year can be a blip on the radar, but our scores are continually climbing, and our staff's efforts to become better acquainted with research-based practices and curriculums has, in my opinion, really paid off for our students.
The state of Oregon decided to raise the math benchmark scores for grades 3-5...significantly I might add. So significant that last year's 4th graders, who I consider my best class academically in the past 7 years, would only have had 58% pass the state benchmark compared to the 92 percent who passed the test with last year's benchmark standard. I feel like that is a travesty in the highest sense...The scores that the state wants to see are going to be very hard to attain for a lot of the students I have on a yearly basis. Oh, and by the way, these standards were raised after the first 9 weeks of the school year...half a month after the testing window opened in the state of Oregon...what about those kids who finished the first round of testing? Do they get a pink slip informing them that the score that previously passed the benchmark no longer counts??!!
Many of you (if any at all) who actually read this are probably saying that I'm sobbing because it will look bad for me, but that is quite the misnomer. I feel for the kids. I have seen the effects of failure in the eyes and minds of students - and yes, failing these tests (or not meeting the benchmark) is very traumatic for a lot of kids. They are very aware of the scores and the significance...they can't help but know with the amount of importance that is placed upon them by the state and school districts. Students feed off success...not the kind of success you get from copying answers off your friend's paper, but that which comes from putting forth your best effort and knowing you conquered something important. That success is what feeds the heart and soul of a student. Raising the standard to such heights is only going to lower the success rate for students, build resentment of the education system, and contribute to higher drop-out rates.
The ironic thing behind all this is what the department of education and the rest of the bureaucratic bimbos didn't do. The standard for the middle school and high school tests weren't even raised!!! The high school standard remained the same, and the middle school score was actually dropped by a point. Tell me how that is setting higher standards!!! The state put out a 60-page document outlining the rationale behind the changed scores and attributed the majority of the statistics to how the scores predicted success on the test once students reached high school. Talk about a waste of resources...how much money did the state pay to get that information and then put together that ridiculously-long document?
I have an idea...how about we try and set our students up to succeed? I'm not talking about dumbing it down, but let's give our children a reasonable chance to experience pride and self-worth. If there are issues at the upper grades, how about we focus our attention on that problem rather than creating more problems at the lower grades? Thank you Oregon Department of Education and political pinheads who haven't spent any time in a classroom actually teaching kids for setting these kids up for failure and frustration. Thank you for making my job even more diverse, as I will now have to hold counseling sessions with kids to discuss how it's ok to not meet the incredibly difficult state benchmark. Thank you for continually chastising me as an educator for not doing my job adequately and not saying thank you for doing a good job when it happens. Thank you for increased mandates on how to do our job effectively and then cutting our budget and taking away the money that would help meet those mandates. Amazing how Obama's education stimulus money came in, and the state decided to reduce school's budgets by the exact amount of money that the stimulus money would have given to each district...I digress...Thank you ODE for making it easier for me to try and not teach to a test. Thank you for taking away a good thing and replacing it with your job security as you must now find out what to do about all these kids who will not be meeting the new state standards!!!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Infatuation
My wife made a comment to me tonight that made me think about some things - she tends to do that!! We were having a family night out at a favorite restaurant - El Erradero - when I guess she saw me looking at her, and she commented, "Are you in one of your infatuation periods again?" It struck me because it is a topic that comes up often in our marriage. I have professed forever that I have never lost that sense of infatuation for her - she tends to lean in the direction of the words her mother said to her many years ago, "You must choose to love when the infatuation ends." I never liked the thought of that, and I guess it's not something that I want to consider having an ending.
I guess it's a testament to the downward spiral that our society has taken. Our society doesn't respect the place of marriage, family, and true love anymore. It is as if true love is strictly left to fairy tales. I guess I'm lucky in that I know I have my true love in my life, and I guess it's hard to watch and listen to those who espouse that it's ok to experiment with love, it's ok to get married even if you're not certain and use divorce as a get out of jail free card. Is it too much to ask that people respect the institution for what it truly is - a commitment, a journey, a joy? (By the way, this is not a discussion about the institution of marriage and gay rights - I beleive that many gay people probably respect marriage more than heterosexuals, anyway!)
I see so many of my students today who struggle to get any affection at home, and I think it's because the parents themselves aren't showing eachother that affection. Love is contagious, especially in a home. I know that my wife and I are not afraid to show our affection in our house, and I think that it's a benefit to our children. They know how much we love eachother, and they know that we love them all just as much. You wouldn't believe how many students in my class just want a hug - even the boys!!
Family values gets a bad rap nowadays due to the fact that it is so engrained in the rhetoric of the Christian conservatives. I don't claim to support all sides of the CC's, but is it so bad that we live up to a standard that says love one another, respect one another, give yourself to eachother and to your children? Are those such bad things? I don't think so, and I can't imagine many saying the contrary, yet we see it every day when men ogle at girls in advertisements or watch a show on TV because it has someone in it who might take off his shirt and show off his abs - yes, I'm talking to those of you who watch Grey's Anatomy - admit it, why else do you call them McSteamy and McDreamy? Those are the standards you set for yourselves!
Infatuation for me isn't a choice - I'm addicted to my wife, and she's stuck with me. I just wish that others could enjoy the amazing feeling that I have knowing that I've found my true love. Perhaps if people spent a little more time respecting it and appreciating what it can do for them, they wouldn't dare take it for granted. Maybe they too couldn't help but stare at their spouse at the dinner table despite how obvious it is that they can't take their eyes off of them. Maybe their kids would see it and know how wonderful and powerful it really is!!
I guess it's a testament to the downward spiral that our society has taken. Our society doesn't respect the place of marriage, family, and true love anymore. It is as if true love is strictly left to fairy tales. I guess I'm lucky in that I know I have my true love in my life, and I guess it's hard to watch and listen to those who espouse that it's ok to experiment with love, it's ok to get married even if you're not certain and use divorce as a get out of jail free card. Is it too much to ask that people respect the institution for what it truly is - a commitment, a journey, a joy? (By the way, this is not a discussion about the institution of marriage and gay rights - I beleive that many gay people probably respect marriage more than heterosexuals, anyway!)
I see so many of my students today who struggle to get any affection at home, and I think it's because the parents themselves aren't showing eachother that affection. Love is contagious, especially in a home. I know that my wife and I are not afraid to show our affection in our house, and I think that it's a benefit to our children. They know how much we love eachother, and they know that we love them all just as much. You wouldn't believe how many students in my class just want a hug - even the boys!!
Family values gets a bad rap nowadays due to the fact that it is so engrained in the rhetoric of the Christian conservatives. I don't claim to support all sides of the CC's, but is it so bad that we live up to a standard that says love one another, respect one another, give yourself to eachother and to your children? Are those such bad things? I don't think so, and I can't imagine many saying the contrary, yet we see it every day when men ogle at girls in advertisements or watch a show on TV because it has someone in it who might take off his shirt and show off his abs - yes, I'm talking to those of you who watch Grey's Anatomy - admit it, why else do you call them McSteamy and McDreamy? Those are the standards you set for yourselves!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Special Times
I'm not sure how this whole blog thing will go for me, but I've always talked about writing - especially about the amazing things that surround my life, whether it be my family, my friends, or my coworkers. I have so many things I'd like to write about, but many things will have to wait while I reflect on the most recent occurrences.
The past 10 days have seen me hiking and driving throughout the Sumpter Unit in northeastern Oregon trying to fill my buck deer tag. I was fortunate (for the second straight year) to fill my tag in the last hour on the last day of the hunt. One would think that that was the highlight of the week and a half, but it was the night before the hunt that would be the true high point for me.
When I got out of coaching, my good friend Blake decided to introduce me to hunting. Growing up in Montana, one would think that hunting would be a given for me, but, as usual, football was my fall. After my first season, which is a story unto itself, I decided to try and bring my dad into the fold. If we couldn't coach together, then by God, we were going to something together in the fall! I wasn't really sure how my dad would do with the whole thing, as he is, in general, a pacifist and has never really been around guns and hunting. Whether it was for my sake or his own unfulfilled curiosity, he joined our party and was going hunting!
The past 10 days have seen me hiking and driving throughout the Sumpter Unit in northeastern Oregon trying to fill my buck deer tag. I was fortunate (for the second straight year) to fill my tag in the last hour on the last day of the hunt. One would think that that was the highlight of the week and a half, but it was the night before the hunt that would be the true high point for me.
Two years ago, I made a decision to stop coaching football. For the previous 22 years, football engulfed the fall season, whether I was playing or coaching. Football gave me a lot as far as values, work ethic, and a way to reach young men, but I made a decision to commit more of my time to my family. I guess when I made the decsion, I was anticipating spending more time with my immediate family - Jodi, Kaeli, Riley, and Makenzie (which I have done in spades thanks to soccer!) I hadn't put much thought into what it would mean for time spent with my parents, who recently retired a short 8 hours away on the Oregon coast. The ironic thing is that I thought that football would be the common thread with my dad, as he was the long-time coach and influence on me as a player and a coach. It figures that the year he retired and returned to the mainland (8 years in Alaska), I decided I was finished with coaching. We had joked (with a hint of sincerity) about coaching together somehow down the line, and the moment he is (sort of) capable, I get out!
Blake and I spent a fair amount of time scouting out an area for the hunt, and we were determined to get my dad and Blake's brother, Pat, their first deer. Little did we know that the actual hunting would be secondary to the experience that took place while we weren't hunting. It is customary for us to spend the night before opening day camped out near our hunting area, and Blake, my dad, and I went out early to set up camp and await the arrival of Blake's brother later in the evening. I guess it is primarily a guy thing, although I know quite a few women who enjoy and appreciate the experience of a simple camp out, but there is nothing like sitting around a fire, eating a grilled burger, and sipping on a world class beer (thank you Shawn Kelso). A lot of peole consider camping to be dirty and perhaps rustic, and while it probably is those things, it is also an opportunity to commune without all the bustle of a life centered around dishes, laundry, chores, and homework.
After we set up our tents, got the fire going, and prepped our dinner and beverages, we spent the next three to four hours around that same fire discussing life. It seems a silly thing to say - "discussing life" - but it's exactly what we did. We didn't discuss politics or world views, but we discussed the everyday things that affect our lives and how we handle them. It isn't every day that one gets to sit with a best friend and a dad to share experiences this way. My dad had a permanent smile on his face as he drank his beer and smoked his cigars in the clear, star-filled night. Many of the topics of discussion will stay only with us, but I guess that is also the purpose - to open up with those you trust and relish in the fact that everyone deals with some of the same issues that plague our thoughts at times.
While we weren't successful that weekend in getting my dad his first deer (Pat got his first), it will remain a weekend where I recognized that the simplest things in life can offer a lot in the way of relationships. I have always been close with my dad, but this one evening set a new standard that I look forward to reliving in the years to come.
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