im not quite sure how, but i got myself suckered into changing my tv service. a guy came to my door last week and we started talking and he was saying how much better his service is than the other one. also, its twenty buck cheaper, and theyll give me a dvr with 100 hours on it.
sunday i was hanging with the family for fathers day. my little nephew (hes three and a half) was telling me that he started swimming lessons! he asked if i would come on monday and see him swim at his lesson. my sister said that he did really great at it last week and he could even jump in the deep end and swim all the way to the other side! i was quite impressed with this, because i remember that i was terrified of the water for many years when i was little. i didnt dare go in the pool in our backyard until i was about six (but thats probably due to my big brother telling me evil sea creatures lived in there...), so for him to be that good at his age really impressed me!
where exactly does the name of this blog 'poke it with a stick' come from? well the simple answer is that its an inside joke that most of the people inside have since forgotten. but, the idea that was behind the joke, and the reason for my naming it that is much more complicated.
this past thursday i finally got to meet up with a few students and gollow through on the event that had been auctioned off a while ago. i got together with these students and went mini golfing! it was a lot of fun. the kids that had won it were eight graders this year, so it was cool to see them one last time. we played a good 18 holes, but before we began, as is customary, we gave each other fake names while we played (i was gregory). none of us were any good, so that kept the game light and fun. after we finished that we headed over to the ice cream shop and gorged ourselves on the tasty treats there in. they had a table inside that has a checker board built in to it, so he had a few matches of play. i am typically good at checkers, but i was hustled big time. after that we headed home, but before i dropped them off, i had to take a little stop at gamestop (not really, but i knew these boys loved video games) so we wandered around there for ten to fifteen minutes, then we were off. after that i brought them home and bid them farewell. i hope it was worth their $325!
this past weekend was alot of fun (and im not just saying that because it was the start of my summer vacation. but that didnt hurt either...) on saturday a friend and i headed downtown chicago in the morning. they had a huge book fair going on, and it she really wanted to check it out. i was up for it and tagged along. it was really cool, there were current best sellers as well as some old original first printings and other relics from hundreds of years ago. it was fun to look through the different booths and check it out. i ended up finding a book that reinterpets the book of genesis into poetry. i figure maybe i can find some cool stuff in it to make that text come alive even more when i teach it. i got to talk to the author for a while and everything! quite cool. later that day i went to the merrillville mall to get a gift, then i went to one of my students open house (and then gave him the gift. the movie UHF. inside joke, long story...) where i met his uncle who turned out to be someone i knew from dordt days! how strange!
all of us teachers decided last week that we would get together today for lunch as a last get together of the year. we ended up going to red robin (great burgers!). after an hour and a half we wrap up and ali, the science teacher, remarks 'huh, where are my keys?' we didnt see them so she was worried that she may have locked them in her car. which is bad enough, but the story gets funnier: she did lock her keys in her car, they were right there in the ignition. and the car was still running!!! how ridiculous is that?!? we spent several minutes roaring with laughter as she stood there genuinely impressed with her own stupidity. fortunately she has another set at home, so rick brought her to her house and is now bringing her back to her car.
the much dreamed of day has finally arrived: schools out for the summer!!! i dont have much planned for the summer, ive been looking into a job to keep me busy, but so far all paths have been dead ends. if i dont end up finding anything ill probably have to plan a cool road trip for the end of the summer or something.