I'm not dead! by Russ

Nope, still here.  School and kids have had the better of me these past few weeks though.  So much has happened, that I have forgotten most of it.

Mostly, the with the increase in the school work I either had to play with the kids or write here.  I figured it was an easy choice. I can't hear you whine or complain about my absenteeism.

So I have been doing my clinical observations (sitting in a classroom and doing my best to not dose off).  These entailed, structure of the lessons.  Which was actually useful, mostly, and required a modicum of attention.  The second set of clinical observations concerned itself about technology in the classroom.  I could have done that more efficiently over the phone, or by visiting the teachers in the break room.  Instead, I had to sit through eight hours of classes to get said information.  I don't think I could have had a bigger waste of time.  (I had to have a time sheet signed off to prove I was there, so I couldn't even fib it.)

On the home front, Thursday the Wife and I did our annual Trans Siberian Orchestra concert (got home nearing midnight).  Friday, the Wife thought it a great idea to have the neighbor kids over for a slumber party. The kids didn't fall asleep until after 10pm (I had to whip out the 'Daddy voice' at that point), with wake ups at: 0315, 0430, and 0600.  We finally 'let' the kids get up at 0700.  That night I went to the ACC Championship game and didn't get home until 0100.

I forgot to mention, the $%^&* squirrel is back.  It began its scratching about 0730 every morning.  Needless to say I am strung out.

More on the ACC Championship Game.

Last Monday, one of my buddies emailed me saying that he had an extra ticket and did I want to go.  They were being given to his wife by her employer and he needed a response soon so they could do something with the ticket if need be.

I was a bit torn.  I wanted to go.  Hell, it was in Charlotte, so I could even sleep in my own bed.  He said the ticket was free (big incentive as I have no money).  On the negative side of the ledger, Clemson had been playing extremely poorly for the past four or five weeks and had lost three of four games (just barely beating that football powerhouse Wake Forest* by a last minute field goal).  My friend is a bit of a Clemson fanatic.  I don't want to be near him when Clemson loses.  (Me, I get irritated for about an hour after the game and then I let it go.  He stays pissed for the better part of the week.  Which is an improvement over how it used to be.  Let's not get started on losses to S. Car.  Not pretty.)

Ultimately, it came down to, 1) I had turned down tickets to see Clemson/FSU (stupid on SO many levels), 2) I had not seen Clemson play all season, and 3) the tickets were free.

I went.

I couldn't have been more happy about my decision.  (Other than the outcome!)  Which I will go into tomorrow.

*Mr. B calls Wake Forest the 'Wake Up Crew'.  Just an amusing aside.  Or I think that it is amusing.