Nature Abhors a Vacuum, and So Do I.

You might remember Item C) from last week's to-do list: Vacuum the front room, office, and bedroom. Vacuuming is not my favorite household task, which is why it's taken me a full week to get to it. But I finally got sufficiently motivated and started in the bedroom.

We got a rather nice vacuum for our wedding. That is to say, we used some of the gift cards we got for our wedding and bought a rather nice vacuum with them. It's a Eureka Altima 2971BVZ with all kinds of nifty features: detachable crevice tool with extension, stair brush, and self-cleaning dust wand. And it's bagless, which is cool.

Anyway, I started vacuuming around 10:30 this morning. I got the bedroom done, and the hallway. I got half of the living room (a.k.a. 'The Scrapbooking Area') done, then moved into the main area of the living room.

That's when it died.

Yep, after making my way around the edges of the living room, it just quit working. I found it wasn't the outlet, so I checked the non-bag to see if it needed to be emptied. Yes, and in a big way. So I did that, cleaned the hepa filter while I was at it, and put it all back together again. No go. The motor won't even turn. Our four-month-old vacuum cleaner is dead. And that, for lack of a better word, just sucks.

I can't say this has done much to increase my motivation level for vacuuming in the future.

Cheese and Mice

Since the online learning model is so much different than the traditional brick-and-mortar university setting, part of the introductory course for WGU involves reading one of the most notorious pop-culture books on change: Who Moved My Cheese? We had to write a ~100 word review of what we learned from the book. Here's mine:

I have to begin by saying that stylistically, this book was not my cup of tea. I found it simplistic, preachy, and heavy-handed, especially the 'A Discussion: Later That Same Day' section. Admittedly, most self-help books are like this. It helps to drive home the point. In fact, I frequently heard myself thinking, "All right, already. Change is inevitable. Resistance to change is bad. I get it." So I suppose author was ultimately effective with the style he chose to employ.

Of all the characters in the book, I am most like Haw. I'm not really a Sniff or Scurry personality. I'm not a believer in change for the sake of change, and I don't actively go looking for change. I'm a fan of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. Still, I know that things do, will, and must change sometimes. Without change there is no growth. And while I am initially resistant to change, I usually don't have much difficulty dealing with change once I've had a chance to assimilate the change and to come to understand why it's necessary and beneficial.

My 'cheese' is becoming a teacher. It's a goal I've had for a long time, and in the pursuit of that goal I've seen a lot of changes. My 'maze', then, would be the personal and professional circumstances that I have to overcome to reach that goal. What this book taught me is that the 'cheese' is more important than the 'maze'. It is more productive to focus on the goal than on the obstacles to reaching that goal.

Pot Shot at RIAA

Curtis sent me this link. It's the funniest thing I've heard in a week: Weird Al singing about the RIAA.

Don't Download This Song

Give it a click. You'll laugh.

Collectable Quotes

I'm not a big fan of mailing lists, but there are two to which I subscribe: one for my wife's family, and Wordsmith.Org's "A Word A Day" list. While some of the unusual words that find their way into my Inbox are interesting, I subscribe to it mostly for the daily quotes that some along with these words.

I collect quotes, and have done so for about 15 years. I generally find about 25% of the quotes from AWAD original enough, interesting enough, insightful enough, and/or entertaining enough to jot down. There have been a lot of really good ones over the last couple of weeks, though:

"Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots." -Frank A. Clark

"Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." -James Baldwin

"From my close observation of writers... they fall into two groups: those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review." -Isaac Asimov

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. It it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." -E.B. White

"News is what people want to keep hidden; everything else is publicity." -Bill Moyers

"A child, like your stomach, doesn't need all you can afford to give it." -Frank A. Clark

"It seldom happens that any felicity comes so pure as not to be tempered and allayed by some mixture of sorrow." -Miguel de Cervantes

ISTJ

I took a personality test for one of my assignments. Here are the results. They're probably no big surprise to anyone who knows me.

The Jung personality test classified me as ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging). This result is consistent with personality tests I've taken before. I am very traditional in my outlook and my preferences. I believe that function is more important than form. I believe that performance should measure up to certain standards, and that those standards should be well-defined. I belive in being on time, and it bothers me when I'm late to an appointment.

I also tend to be judgmental. I sometimes have difficulty empathizing with people's problems—especially if I see those problems as being of their own making. I have to make it a point to listen to what people are saying sometimes rather than jumping to a quick conclusion. I struggle with being patient with other people's struggles.

As an educator, I feel my strengths will be my mastery of content, my professionalism, and my attention to detail. But I will need to work to establish meaningful relationships with students, especially those who struggle academically and those I feel aren't taking their education seriously. I will need to reach out to these students to help them get the most out of their educational experience.

Take the HumanMetrics Jung Typology Test. (Based on Myers-Briggs)
ISTJ according to Keirsey
ISTJ according to Joe Butt

Give Me A Break

Nancy starts a new job today, so we both set our alarms to 7:00 a.m. to make sure she got up and out the door in time. As it turns out, I was wide awake two full hours before that. So I've been doing homework. And now I need a break.

I've been having a frustrating time with OpenOffice this morning. I'm writing a report about people's conceptions (and misconceptions) on a science concept commonly taught in elementary and middle schools (what causes the seasons to change). In presenting my results, I've been trying to put together a bar graph showing the most frequently offered explanations—something I can do with minimal difficulty in MS Office. In OpenOffice, though, it's proving to be a real pain in the neck. I can't seem to get the graph to look the way I want it to, and I can't seem to get it to past where I want it to in my report. I'm going to need to spend some time playing around with OpOff to figure out these things. Either that, or buy MS Office when my financial aid comes through. I'd really rather not resort to that.

I've got a lot on my plate today. In no particular order, here's my self-made To Do List:

A) Finish Module 2 for school.
B) Complete items 3.1 - 3.5 in Module 3.
C) Vacuum the front room, office, and bedroom.
D) Clean off my desk. (So that I can actually see it. That would be good.)
E) Pick up and deposit my paycheck.
F) Pay bills.
G) Finish substitute teaching applications for the Salt Lake and Granite school districts.
H) Re-roll the tent so it actually fits into the carrying case.
I) Contact the local high school about interviewing a science teacher (for an assignment in Module 4).
J) Go to the chiropractor.

Items A, B, G, and I are the main priorities, but I really need to get most or all of this done today. But first, I'll see Nancy off to work. Then we'll see.

Return of the Memes!

Part I: Friday's Feast
Friday's Feast, 18 August 2006.

Appetizer What color is your car?
Primarily silver, with a large light blue stripe running the length of both sides. Also occasionally reatured is the distinctive orange-brown of Fe₂O₃.

Soup If you could wake up tomorrow with full training in another occupation and a job in that field, what would it be?
Pilot—specifically, pilot of a small interplanetary and/or interstellar spacecraft. X-wing, Viper, Delta Flyer, Starfury, whatever. I'd just like a chance to see the universe.
(Sure, I could have chosen some mundane job, but why? If I wanted a job like that, I wouldn't have to wish for it, I'd just have to get the training.)

Salad How many times in your life have you had the flu (or something similar)?
At least 3-4 times each year, times the nuber of years that I've been alive, is a very large number. More than I want to think about. Or maybe it's just allergies. I don't know.

Main Course What is something that has happened to you this week that you didn't expect?
I missed an online chat for school. It was scheduled to take place while I was at work, but I didn't check my e-mail before leaving for work. Oops.

Dessert How old were you when you had your first kiss?
14. The details are classified.

--

Part II: Top 5 On Friday
Top Five on Friday from The Music Memoirs:

Top 5 songs to help you vent your frustrations.

I have a CD of good, loud music that I play when I'm frustrated (or to keep me awake when I'm driving at night). Here are some of the selections therefrom:

» "Virtuality" by Rush

» "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater

» "Big Bad Moon" by Joe Satriani

» "My Last Breath" by Evanescence

And one that's not on that CD, but is one of the best venting songs of all time:

» "Somebody Kill Me" by Adam Sandler (from The Wedding Singer)

Friendship

Someone has said, "A friend is a person who is willing to take me the way I am." Accepting this as one definition of the word, may I quickly suggest that we are something less than a real friend if we leave a person the same way we find him....

No greater reward can come to any of us as we serve than a sincere "Thank you for being my friend." When those who need assistance find their way back through and with us, it is friendship in action. When the weak are made strong and the strong stronger through our lives, friendship is real.

How can we help a friend? An Arabian proverb helps us answer: "A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."

Yes, a friend is a person who is willing to take me the way I am but who is willing and able to leave me better than he found me." (Marvin J. Ashton, "What Is a Friend?" Ensign, Jan. 1973; p. 41, 43)

Road Trip!

Part I
Good day, loyal reader(s). I'm blogging today from the New Homestead in Johnstown, Colorado. Nancy and I are in town for my brother's wedding reception/BBQ tomorrow afternoon. As with any trip, getting here was half the fun.

We've been planing this trip for some time, but we weren't quite sure how we were going to do it. We had a friend who had some buddy passes on Jet Blue that she was willing to get for us. The problem: Jet Blue doesn't fly from Salt Lake to Denver. We'd have to transfer flights. And the only Jet Blue location that had flights to both Denver and Salt Lake was JFK airport in New York City. So between the actual flight times and layovers, it was likely going to take us longer to fly than to drive. But I was okay with that, if that's how it was going to go down.

There was a complication, though. I was able to arrange my work schedule to allow for the trip with minimal difficulty. Nancy's schedule wasn't so easy to arrange. She'd been interviewing for a number of positions through a staffing agency and had been offered a position at a local branch of an international bank. But the start date, as well as being able to get time off for the trip, were in some doubt. And there were miscommunications between the bank, the agency, and her. And then the job offer was rescinded. WTH...? Meanwhile, Nancy has fortunately been able to do some work helping the friend of a friend organize her office and get her company's finances in order. So it turned out that she had both the flexibility and the financial wherewithal to make the trip.

Once all of that was settled, we came up with a plan. We'd leave Wednesday night after I finished work and drive for a couple of hours, camping somewhere along the way. On Thursday we'd make the rest of the drive. We'd initially decided to come back on Sunday. But it turns out that my parents have their 40-year high school reunion this weekend, so they would be gone from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. So, with no particular pressure on us to get back by Monday morning, we decided to stay an extra day and drive back on Monday. Simple enough…or so it seemed.

We decided to take Highway 40 for the trip, so we'd have something other than southern Wyoming to look at as we drove. (It's the same route I took two years ago) when I drove to Colorado for the Fourth of July.) The plan was to get out of Salt Lake by 9:00 or 9:30 Wednesday night. Yeah, that didn't really happen. By the time we both got home from work and got the car packed, it was closer to 11:30.

I took the first shift driving and got us as far as Duchesne, where we stopped for a bathroom and Pepsi break. We got there a bit before 1:30 in the morning and found a convenience store where the lights were still on. They were technically closed as of midnight, but the owner let us come in and take care of what we needed. We were most grateful. Nancy took over driving from there and got us to Vernal. We pulled into the Fossil Valley RV Park around 2:30 and set up the 6-man tent we got as wedding present. By 3:15 a.m., we were both fast asleep.

With a long drive still ahead of us, I got up at 7:45 and started to get ready. The RV park had coin-operated showers, three minutes for a quarter. I took a 50-cent shower and, not having thought to bring a towel, used the previous day's shirt to dry off. I got back to see that Nancy had awakened (with plenty of help from the wind and a little rain) and started to pack up the car. We took down the tent, paid the owner for our accommodations, and picked up some breakfast. We were back on the road and headed east by 9:30.

Since I'm much more a morning person than Nancy is, I took the first shift driving. There were a lot of times that morning (and the previous night) that we were the only ones on the road—not another living soul as far as the eye could see. No traffic to slow us down, no big trucks to dodge. Not at all like I-80 through Wyoming. We rolled into Steamboat Springs a little after noon. We made a quick pit stop and put $15 worth of gas in the car (which was not a lot at $3.09/gallon) to make sure we had enough to get to Denver. Then we were back on the road.

Nancy took over the driving at my request. Part of the reason I wanted to take this route was because the scenery is so much more beautiful. Unfortunately, there are some really high places along the way, and I have this well-documented fear of heights. She actually drove over both Rabbit Ears Pass (9,426 feet at the summit) and Berthoud Pass (11,307 feet). The views on this stretch alone made it worth the extra distance on the trip. We ran into a bit of a traffic jam on the down side of Berthoud pass; it turned out that some poor trucker had his engine catch fire on the way down. But once we got past him, it was smooth sailing to I-70.

We made a pit stop in Idaho Springs, and I took over the driving again. We hit Denver about 5:00—just in time for rush hour. (I've always wondered about that phrase. Nobody was rushing anywhere.) We turned off I-70 to I-76 to miss the Mousetrap, but it didn't do us a lot of good. When we finally hit the I-25 interchange, it took us about 20 minutes to get to where we were actually on I-25 and heading north.

We finally pulled into the New Homestead around 6:30. Mom and Dad were there, as was my namesake, my father's best friend from high school. I hadn't seen him in at least 15 years, so it was nice to get reacquainted. Also in attendance were Aaron—not my brother, but a friend from high school—and Sam and Kendra. A barbecue broke out soon afterward, as it typically will at these events, and we enjoyed charcoal-grilled steaks with fresh corn on the cob and baked potatoes. You couldn't ask for a better meal after a hard day's travel.

So that brings us to the present, Friday morning. Mom, Dad, and Mike left this morning for their 40th high school reunion, so we pretty much have the place to ourselves for the next two days. The Jimmy Buffet song Gypsies In The Palace comes to mind....

Part II
Okay, it's Tuesday morning, and we're back in Salt Lake City now. What a weekend it was. Let's see how much of it I can remember.

Friday was pretty much a lazy day. We rested and recuperated from the long drive of the previous day and a half. But we did treat ourselves to dinner at Qdoba. Nancy fell in love with the place when she lived in Kentucky, and they don't have any franchises in Utah. So it's pretty much understood that anytime we go to Colorado (or anyplace else with a location), we're going to Qdoba. She had her favorite, the Chicken mole burrito, and I had the queso chicken burrito. Good stuff.

Saturday brought the anticipated wedding reception/BBQ that had brought us into town in the first place. We first made our way to the closest Bed Bath and Beyond store (in Greeley) to pick up a gift for the happy couple, then over to Loveland for the party. We arrived to find not only my brother Aaron and his wife Jackie, but also the other Aaron (referred to above), his brother Casey and his friend Marlena, Sam and Kendra, and Sam's dog Kona. We also got to meet some of my brother's friends and co-workers. And there was plenty of good food, including a wedding 'cake' made of stacked layers of Ho-Ho's, Twinkies, and Hostess Cupcakes. We all had a good laugh, though it made me wonder if my brother and sister-in-law might be rednecks. No, I take that back. I don't wonder.

Sunday morning we went to church at the Johnstown LDS ward. This is an idea that takes a little getting used to for me. When I was a senior in high school twenty years ago, I was the only active member of the church in the whole town. Now there's a ward there. Freaky. I got to meet some people I recognized from the old Greeley 3rd ward who live in the boundaries of the new Johnstown ward. It was pretty cool to see some of those people again. It was also fun when someone in the hall introduced themselves and asked, "So, where are you from?" "Uh, here, actually...."

Sunday night we got to see the nieces. It amazes me how much they've both grown since we last saw them in April. Kayla starts seventh grade in a couple of weeks, and Jordan starts first grade. They're both a lot of fun. The folks returned from their reunion about 3:30, and Sam and Kendra (and Kona) also came over later in the afternoon. So we had a full house. I had made a roast in the crock pot, so we had another big family dinner. Debbie (the girls' mother) had provided us with some leftover cake, and we had picked up some chocolate-cherry ice cream and raspberry sherbet on Friday night, so dessert was also taken care of. We played Cranium and talked and told jokes and just generally had a good time together.

Somewhere along the way, it had been suggested that we all meet for breakfast one day at Johnson's Corner and have one of their famous cinnamon rolls. Monday was the day. Mom, Dad, Mike, Sam, Kendra, Nancy, and I crowded around one of the tables and ordered our choice of breakfast. And yes, the cinnamon rolls are pretty darn good. I was impressed by the place. When I was in high school, it was pretty much a dive, even for a truck stop. Now it's tastefully decorated, clean, and quiet. Mike snuck away halfway through the meal; we found out later that he was paying the check. Sneaky, but generous and much appreciated.

Mike headed back to his home in Kansas directly from breakfast, and we made our way back to the New Homestead to pack up and head home ourselves. I had hoped we'd be on the road by 9:30 or 10:00, and we just made it. We filled up at the Johnstown-exit Loaf and Jug store, then headed down I-25 toward Denver. Nancy had never been to Denver before, so I tried to point out a few interesting things from the freeway. We made our way south to I-470 and then turned east toward Centennial and Littleton. We got off at the University Boulevard exit, turned left onto Otero, and made our way to the Denver Temple. It was closed, of course, but we took a couple of pictures and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a minute. Then we were off on our penultimate quest: finding another Qdoba location.

With the help of a clerk at a Sinclair station, we found a listing for Qdoba in the local white pages. It was only about a mile away, at the corner of University and Colorado Boulevard/Highlands Ranch Parkway. We made our way there and waded through four corners of strip-mall purgatory before we found the place. It was sunny but not too warm, so we ate outside. (I wanted to sit someplace where I could see our car.) Nancy again had the chicken mole, and I tried the steak fajita classica burrito. Once again, good stuff and very filling.

We got back onto 470 and headed west, a route that took us around the far southwestern and western parts of the Denver metro area. We met back up with I-70 and started the journey west in earnest. About an hour later I got to introduce Nancy to the Eisenhower Tunnel. We stopped for a bathroom break in Vail and a gas and meal break in Grand Junction. The scenery was gorgeous, especially in the mountains of central Colorado. I'll admit that I didn't take it in as much as I could have. I was starting to worry about getting back home.

Nancy had driven from Vail to Grand Junction, and I took over from there. We made our way to Green River, Utah, and turned north on Highway 6. We got rained on quite a bit between Green River and Price, and with the sun starting to set, I was a little worried about wet roads after dark. It ended up not being much of an issue, though. The roads were plenty dry by the time we made our may into the canyons between Price and Spanish Fork.

I drove until it got dark at around 9:30, and we stopped at a little dive of a convenience store in the middle of nowhere. There were nasty little signs on the restroom doors that read, "This restroom is for PAYING CUSTOMERS ONLY. All others use the rest stop 10 miles east." Nice. Yes, we bought some snacks there, but given that there was no soap in the men's room and that it smelled strongly of urine, I'd have been okay to use it for free.

Nancy took over the driving at this point, and shortly we were out of Spanish Fork canyon and on I-15 heading north. I guess I fell asleep here, because the next thing I knew, we were pulling onto Foothill Drive from I-80 eastbound and making our way the last few blocks to home.

And that was our trip: five days, 1200 miles, family and friends, good food, and a much-needed break from the daily grind. And not a whiff of southern Wyoming along the way.

Book Meme

The fine young lady over at Chickeny Goodness said I could steal this if I wanted.

The Book Meme
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.

"You need to go!"

Langdon heard only the faint murmur of her voice. He wasn't going anywhere.

Strangely enough, the 'nearest' book is one I have right here on my desk but haven't got around to reading yet: Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code. No, I haven't seen the movie, either. I intended to do both, but that was before grad school started.

And no, I'm not tagging anyone either. Steal it if you want.

Why I Want to Be a Science Teacher

Editor's Note: One of the first assignments of my Masters Degree program was to write a five paragraph paper on the subject "Why I Want to Be a Science Teacher". Here's mine.
--

I grew up around teachers. My mother taught elementary and middle school for nearly 30 years. My grandmother was also a teacher, as were various aunts, uncles, and family friends. The idea of becoming an educator myself was never far from my mind. As I undertake a course of study that leads toward that end, it is appropriate to consider the reasons behind the decision. My reasons for wanting to become a science teacher include a desire to continue learning myself, a recognition of the extrinsic benefits of teaching, and a desire to have a positive impact in the lives of students.

First, I believe that teaching science will help me to continue to learn about science. Science fascinates me. It always has. I learned about the different kinds of rocks and trees on weekend outings with my family as a youth. In middle school and high school, I started to learn about the foundations of chemistry, biology, physics, and mathematics. As an undergraduate student I began to learn about advanced scientific subjects like organic synthesis, chemical analysis, thermodynamics, and quantum physics. As a teacher, I expect my own learning to continue. As I teach the foundations of these subjects to others, my own understanding will be strengthened and I will be prepared to pursue additional learning myself.

Second, I appreciate the benefits that come with the life of a teacher. I understand that nobody goes into teaching for the money. The benefits of being a teacher are of a different sort. For example, the ability to be at home when one's children are at home—nights, weekends, summers, and major holidays—is quite appealing. The security offered by academic tenure is also alluring in times of economic uncertainty. Teaching also presents new experiences and challenges to teachers each day. There is no such ting as a routine day for a teacher. This combination of stability and variety makes teaching very attractive to me.

Finally, I look forward to the opportunity to have an impact on the lives of young people. I was fortunate to have a number of excellent teachers who made a difference in my life. Mr. Palmer, my high school science teacher, made the subjects interesting by showing us practical applications of what we were learning. Ms. Schulz, one of my English teachers, taught me how to communicate effectively through writing and would never let me settle for less than my very best work. Mr. Hess, my math teacher, taught me that how much you knew wasn't as important as what you know today that you didn't know yesterday. Progression and growth, he taught me, were more important than a simple mastery of facts. In different ways, these and countless other teachers helped to prepare me for a lifetime of leaning, service, and achievement. To have such an effect on my own students will be the most important thing I can accomplish as a teacher.

There are many reasons why a person could choose to become a teacher. Whatever their motivations, however, all teachers will face challenges in the course of their daily work. I know that it will be no different for me. It is not uncommon for teachers to 'burn out' or to become disaffected with teaching. I believe that a larger perspective will help me to avoid such an outcome in my own career. When the time comes for me to deal with such challenges, it will be important to look back and remember why I chose to become a teacher in the first place: to continue to learn myself, to enjoy the tangible rewards of being a teacher, and most importantly, to touch young lives.

Family Motto

A conversation the other day reminded me of our unofficial family motto. I've been saying that I'd like to find it in Latin, but never really had any success. But now I've finally found something that works:

Nos operor non fio iratus, nos pondera libra.

Literal translation: We do not become angry, we balance the scales.
General idea: We don't get mad, we get even.

Isn't it great how much cooler some things sound when you say them in a dead language?