I was a distinct victim of false advertising today. Beki and I stopped into local upscale joint that promised to offer a "brunch buffet with jazz". As a fan of both brunch and jazz my curiosity was intrigued by this notion. There was indeed brunch...jazz...not so much. There concept of jazz included a goofy looking guy in a suit playing a keyboard. Yeah, I mean the kind with the built in drum machine, that kind. It was more like "Sunday brunch with the lounge lizard".
The was really good though. Good enough to keep me there through bad covers of Billy Joel tunes and uninspired old R&B songs. The final straw came in the most unsexy version of "Let's get it on" I've ever heard. Marvin Gaye was doing somersaults in his grave to this guy. Seriously.

...Jon Tickle that is
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Got back late last night from a family get together at the lake house. After some really good food and a very impressive fireworks display (much of it from the people on the dock next to us whose mortar exploded. Don't buy illegal fire works people) A fine time was had by all. Still tired, but it was worth the drive.

Today while I was out stretching on the driveway about top go for a jog, a FM code enforcer strolled up to me to inform me that it was against code to have a vehicle parked in the grass within city limits. The vehicle in question belongs to my sister in law. She parks in the grass due to the fact that she works all night and when she gets in the driveway is full (due to the fact that there is 6 adults here). Other than that there are no problems with our house. The problem is that this guy was very smug and high/mighty about the whole situation. It just bugs me because there are houses in this neighborhood that need much more attention than ours do. These guys really need something else to do with their time.

In an attempt to keep myself occupied while waiting for news I've been following several pursuits:

1. Learning Spanish- something I've wanted to do for awhile anyway. Plus, most of the schools in this county have a significant Latino population so it's a practical thing as well

2. Learning to juggle- a little thing (again) that I've wanted to do for a long time, but never got around to. I'm up to three balls four times in a row,

3. Working out- a never ending activity for me, I have lost 8 pounds thus far this summer with more to come.

4. Housework- especially with Beki taking her classes here recently. Again both practical and helping to keep m y mind off my lack of employment.

5. Baseball- Having signed up for MLB's Internet radio service I've been listening to most every Rays game recently. I've also (with much help form Beki) started a community for baseball in general and the Rays in particular right here:
the_deadly_rays 

6. Reading/ writing- I've been reading even more then normal. Plus, my short story ought to be ready to submit to   apex digest  next month

All in all many things going on. Sadly, I still find myself thinking about the job situation. Gotta keep going.

With all this extra time on my hands I've started writing again. Hopefully, my story will be ready for Apex next month. I wanted to ask what would be a good goal for writing on a daily/weekly/monthly basis?

I very much enjoyed watching the Lakers blow a 24 point lead and get it handed to them by the Celtics. Sweet!!!

On a different note, am I the only one who sees some irony of a team called the Celtics on which there isn't a single white dude....seriously.

Ran across this amusing pic. It's from a science website explaining fight or flight response.

The Seminoles defeated Wichita St. to advance to the College World Series in Omaha. This is their first time back to the tournament since 2000. Hopefully we can finally win one.

GO NOLES!!!!!!

The Boston Red Sox are officially on my shit list. Why? First on Wed. Coco Crisp (yes that is his real name) slides into Rays 2B Aki Iwamura hard and takes him out while stealing a base. Coco was out by a long way and had no need to crash into Aki like that. Crisp could have really injured Aki that way. Cut ahead to last night:




I've been routing for the Rays this year because they finally show some promise and they are as close to a home town team as I'm gonna get. (The BoSox play spring here, but even that is in question right now as they are debating w/ FM city council or some such).

Anyway the Sox were already leading 5-1 and I'll even admit they have a better ream than the Rays do. Therefore, Coco had no reason to nail Aki like that. It proves he's just a little punk. What gets me though is that the Red Sox as a team didn't censor him or anything for that. Guys get injured and have their careers ended because of crap like that, so it really pisses me off when I see it happening.

Today was the last day of my long term sub job. We also had our awards ceremony, during which the regular teacher showed up to present her awards. I have to admit that I felt like someone who has had a divorce and the ex hasn't checked up on them for awhile and then suddenly comes over on a visitation. I was somewhat standoffish. the kids were, of course, happy to see her.

This fact irritated me.

Probably due to the fact that the last time that I heard from her was when she called in the middle of class to ask me what her husband's contractor's number was (it was on one of his business card on her desk) Other than that I haven't had any contact from the woman.

I just hope that I will have a class of my own next year.

As you go through life its important to examine all the facets of your existence. Even little things like what foods you don't like can be roadblocks that make the day more difficult. I recently reexamined two particular food prejudices that I've held for a long time:

1. Cantaloupe- Ever since my mom left a half melon of the stuff in the fridge and turned the whole gallon of sweet tea into a weird melonaide I have loathed the stuff. I decided to try it again and see if I still didn't care for it. Result= I don't despise it, but still not the greatest stuff ever

2. Horseradish- I used to shy away at the very idea of the stuff. However, after falling in love with wasabi I decided to give it another try at the Arby's the other day. I am now officially addicted to the stuff. Holy crap.

Now real point to the this post, just something I've been thinking about.

This guy obviously didn't

I recently finished a really fun book that I'd like to share. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is the first in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and is a fantastic book. The HP fans out there will be familiar with this territory, even so this is still a very good read. It's your basic story of a 6th grade boy with ADHD and dyslexia who discovers that the Greek gods are still around. Not only that, but he in fact is an offspring of one of those gods. Compounding the issues he is sent out on an urgent quest to prevent a war between the gods. For those of you familiar with Greek and Roman mythology (Cliff I'm talking to you here) you'll enjoy anachronistic makeover the old myths get. For example the entrance to the underworld is in LA and Mt. Olympus now resides at the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. 
I first spotted this book on the desk of one of my students in a 5th grade class I was substituting for and have been wanting to reead it for a while now. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to get a hold of the rest of the series.

From now on the Tao of Deric will be known as the Dao of Deric due to its alliterative nature

Thank you

Seeing this reminded me of Christin and Jon's wedding, so enjoy

My father in law have got me watching the Deadliest Catch on Discovery now. This show features some of the nuttiest people on the face of the planet. For example, the deck chief on the boat Northwestern named Edgar likes to bite of the heads of herring for good luck. Yeah...these guys ain't got it all together

Hope it's not the train

Things are somewhat muddled around here now. A real best of times worst of times situation.
I wanna go fishing

I finished a three day stint at Riverdale Academy. Here are a few of the highlights of my stay:

1. Being told by two different students that because I was a substitute that I couldn't do anything to them. Both got referrals. (BTW, Lee County schools have a policy that if you get in trouble with a sub. you get double punishment. Nuff said)

2. Once again being called a racist because I gave a black kid a detention for talking the whole class period. Before the class was over two white kids also got detentions. See, I am an equal opportunity punisher. :)

3. Possibly the best, I found a paper airplane on the floor of the classroom that said "Mr. Markham is uncool"...of all the things they could have written about me...simply saying I'm uncool is just...quaint.

Total tally for the three days: referrals-3; detentions-6

I hate having to punish kids. It's a waste of both our time and I never ask them to do anything unreasonable. Just come in, do your work, and then we leave. Apparently this too difficult of a task for most of them to do.