The Human Antenna

I’m a pretty cheap person and as a result my apartment is furnished with things that I got for free.  For example, my couch is my parents’ old couch that was banished to their basement and my washer and dryer I got for free from a friend at school who was upgrading.  My TV is no different.  It came from my cousin’s garage and, yes, there is tape holding it together.  On top of this electronic beauty there are two sets of bunny ears because, let’s face it; I’m too cheap to pay for cable.  This set up works pretty well and I normally get two and a half channels.  Actually, I get about 7 channels, but 5 of the channels only show infomercials (If anyone wants a collector set of dimes just let me know because if we call now we’ll get the whole set for just three easy payments of $19.99).  Now you may be wondering how I get half a channel.  Well, the weather is the major factor.  On a very clear day the channel will come in no problem, but when there is a thick cloud cover the channel does not even exist.  Most days are in between very clear and super cloudy and then the reception depends on where I stand in the apartment.  On very special occasions, like the Olympics, I have been known to stand on one foot while holding the bunny ears just to see Michael Phelps swim to victory and his 8^th medal of the games.  This weekend I discovered that sitting on my bike works almost as well as the one footed bunny ear holding fiasco.  So, you can be assured that if I watch any TV I will also be on my bike training.

Teaching Middle School

Today was the first day that I had a student say it right to my face.  I know he’s probably not the first one to say it and he most likely will not be the last, but still, it’s discouraging to hear.

“I hate you”

That was the low point of the day.  In spite of this event, or maybe as a result of this event, I need to reflect on the reasons I love teaching.  So here they are: some of the good, fun, and completely unique to middle school things that I was able to do today.

1.       I get to say things like, “Billy, please stop sitting in the trashcan.”  Yeah, that’s right; one of my students was sitting IN the trashcan.  He was not forced into the trashcan by other bigger kids, he just saw the trashcan and thought, “Wow, I wonder if I can sit in there?”  Since he hasn’t hit his middle school growth spurt yet he was able to fit quite nicely.  I will admit it was humorous watching him try to get out of the trashcan; he looked a bit like a turtle that was flipped over on his shell.

2.       For the most part, sixth graders just love life.  They don’t really know how to contain all their excitement about life so it squishes out of them in silly songs, funny sounds and awkward dances.  Today, on the way back from lunch, one of my girls was skipping, singing and swinging her lunchbox like she was surrounded by a field of yellow flowers rather than 350 other 6^th grade students.  Of course she got a little carried away with the lunchbox swinging and she ended up hitting herself in the face.  Don’t worry, her nose only bled for a few minutes.

(Okay, so far I’ve told a story about a student saying they hate me, another student sitting in a trashcan, and a third student getting a bloody nose.  I would like to take this opportunity to say that despite what these stories may suggest, I do have control in my classroom.  It’s just that middle school is...middle school is…well, it’s middle school and you just never know what you are going to get.)

3.        Getting hugs from students is great.  Sure, it’s a little awkward because I normally go for the high five approach.  But sometimes middle school girls just need a hug and I’m glad to be there for them.

4.       I’m coaching girls basketball right now and I’m in the process of figuring out which guys my girls are talking to/dating.  We’ve made up some secret hand signals so that when I see them in the hallway I can find out which boy they are interested in without causing them all sorts of embarrassment.  I’m not actually that good with the signals, I keep forgetting which is which, but the whole process has made passing periods a lot more exciting.

This post didn’t really have anything to do with biking.  I guess I’ll tie it in by saying that this summer has a lot to live up to…I’m used to dealing with middle schooler. J

Reactions

The Big Deal reveal went well at school.  At first the students were a little disappointed that it wasn’t something for them, but overall they were accepting of the idea.

Some of the students’ reactions to the fact that I am biking across the Pacific coast are priceless.  When they ask me questions like how fast I will ride or how long it will take me I help them set up a proportion and then make them solve the problem on their own…haha, the math teacher strikes again.

I’m not sure middle schoolers have a great grasp on how big the United States is (and I’m sure I’ll have a better understanding of the size after this summer J).   A lot of them have asked me if I will get to take any breaks; apparently they think I will be able to complete the whole trip without stopping to sleep, eat, or use the bathroom.  One girl was feeling very generous and she said I could stop three times to take some pictures.  I even had one kid ask me how the ride went last weekend…he thought I rode the whole way over our three day weekend.

Big Deal video

Here is the video that we will be showing the students in school tomorrow.  It's pretty sweet...if I do say so myself.

And a huge THANK YOU goes out to all my friends at school who made this possible.
Mr. Arvin and his wonderful narrating voice.
Mrs. Wiltrout for her technical support and art directing
Mrs. Hesson...who is really the brains of the operations
and of course the producer/director/editor Mrs. Williams

The Big Deal Reveal

The Big Deal idea worked great at school. The students are all excited and extremely curious about the big deal…

…but I’m starting to get nervous.

I’m not nervous about the ride, that will be a fun and challenging adventure, but I am anxious about revealing the Big Deal to my students. You see, for the past two months these children have been contemplating all the possible things that the big deal could be and I think they are expecting something for themselves. Something like a free IPOD for everyone… or at least an extra cookie at lunch. I’m afraid that they will be a disappointed to learn that they Big Deal isn’t at all about them; rather, it is about people in Africa who desperately need our help.

I’ll this being said, I’m trying to come up with a cool way to unveil the big deal. Right now my plan is to create a short video that explains the crisis in Africa and the work of the Blood:Water Mission. In my head I’ve created a really sweet video, but it turns out my videography skills aren't actually that great so this has proved to be a difficult task.

Right now, there are two major components to the Big Deal. This first is the 8th grade versus staff basketball game which will occur in April. The other is a coin war between the 8th grade teams at school. If anyone has any other fundraising ideas that would be helpful in the school please let me know. Thanks!

New Years Day Ride

In Midland, MI there is an annual bike ride on January 1st.  The temperature and number of participants varies greatly from year to year.  I figured if the weather wasn't horrible I would give it a try.  The weather on Saturday morning was great; it was in the 40s and sunny.  That's unusual for Michigan in January, in fact it was so peculiar that it only lasted a few hours.  By the afternoon it was back down to 20 degrees and the wind was whipping around fiercely.  Needless to say, I rode with about 70 other people.  It was a record turn out for the ride.  Everyone was excited about the warm weather. 

When I was in middle and high school I played in a lot of travel basketball tournaments.  My team was always intimidated by the teams that would come in with matching warm-ups, shoes, bags and hair.  Our parents always told us that just because they had making equipment didn't mean that they would be any good at basketball...I'm not sure if any of us ever really believed them.  At the ride I felt like the team with all the matching equipment.  I have all the right gear, but I've never really used it.  In fact, this was only the third time I have ridden my bike outside.  Despite all that, the ride went well.  We rode a little over 19 miles and I met a lot of nice people.  They kept inviting me to ride with them in their other group rides...but I think the commute from Indy is a little much.

The best part of the ride was my fan section.  As I was riding along the trail I saw my sister and her family cheering on all the bikers.  I stopped to say hello to them and they said they had to get all their cheering in now since they wont be able to come to California to cheer me on.  When I got back on my bike and started riding away my two year old nephew ran after me yelling "Kekah!" ('Kekah' is two-year-old for Bekah.)  My mom also came to the ride to see me off and watch me finish.  My family is great!

Since it is normally so cold they have a bonfire set up half way through the ride.  Here is a picture of me standing awkwardly by the fire.

New Gear

The Christmas and birthday break was good to me and I got all sorts of cool new gear.  I am now the proud owner of bike shorts, leg warmers, and bike gloves.  All are things that I never would have worn a year ago, but now I can’t live without them (and yes, the gloves are great for nose wiping ;).  I also got a sweet biking jacket that has removable sleeves so that I don’t get too hot while I’m riding.  I now have a climbing block for my trainer that has three different levels so I can simulate different kind of elevation climbs while I am riding inside.   I also got new skinny tires to put on my bike before I leave.  All of this gear is really great, but my favorite part is my new sunglasses.  They come with three extra pairs of lenses so that I’m ready for any kind of weather.  Bring on the sun or the clouds…I have glasses that can handle anything. 

Okay, quick story about the glasses.  I was feeling pretty cool on Sunday when I had to drive back to Indiana from Michigan.  I decided that I would wear my amazing new sunglasses.   I was around the Michigan-Indiana border when I started chewing some gum.  It was not particularly tasty gum, but it was producing some monster size bubbles.  Do you see where this story is going???  Yep, that’s right.  I blew a giant bubble that popped all over my face…and my glasses.  The gum covering the lenses rendered them useless for the rest of my drive.  But don’t worry, with the help of some peanut butter I was able to remove all the gum and the glasses are as good as new.